Chicago Cubs get a concerning update on once promising reliever

Of everything that has gone wrong during the Chicago Cubs' 2024 season, at the top of the list may be the ineffectiveness and cosequent, injury to closer Adbert Alzolay.

During the 2023 season, Alzolay showed promise while serving as the team's closer, completing a two-month stretch during the second half of the seaon where he did not blow a save.

While it is fair to have some pushback on the idea that the Cubs used that two-month stretch to cement Alzolay as the team's closer in 2024, no one could have forecasted his season derailing in the way that it has.

Over the course of the past month, Alzolay had been rehabbing with the Cubs' rookie team in the Arizona Complex League but has since suffered a setback. In expanding upon that setback earlier this week, Cubs' manager Craig Counsell told reports that Alzolay will be undergoing surgery that will end his season officially.

The frustrating part of the news that Alzolay will be undergoing surgery is that this is a diagnosis that was speculated at the beginning of June. Meaning, it would seem that the Cubs were trying to avoid surgery as long as possible, as a way to potentially bring bing back Alzolay to help in a contending bullpen during the second half of the season.

Where it becomes cloudy for Alzolay's future role in the bullpen for the Cubs is on the type of surgery he will gave. Generally, if a second opinion is needed, the surgery likely will involve a lenghty recovery process.

All this to say that there is not a scenario that exists where the Cubs can depend on Alzolay being a legitimate contributor in the bullpen next season. While the Cubs are keen on the idea of their young arms taking meaningful spots in the bullpen, Alzolay's imminent surgery should push the club to adding a legitimate external solution this winter.