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Cody Bellinger's return changes the tune of the Chicago Cubs' off-season
The Pitching additions were pretty spot-on
After Marcus Stroman surprisingly opted out of his contract, the Cubs were completely fine with him hitting the road thanks to their deep pool of starting pitching depth. But the Cubs would have found themselves leaning heavily on young and unproven arms if they didn't sign another starter, so they went out and got 30-year-old Shota Imanaga who has the potential to be a serious strikeout threat. Interestingly, Imanaga reportedly left much more money on the table to sign with the Cubs which means he really wanted to come to Chicago.
As for the bullpen, the Cubs will have a lot of young arms competing for jobs but they shored up the veteran end by landing former Astros set-up man Hector Neris. Over 68.1 innings pitched last season, Neris turned in an impressive 1.71 ERA. If he can put up numbers anything close to that, Neris will be exactly what the Cubs need to complement Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr., and closer Adbert Alzolay.
Not to mention the team acquired Yency Almonte in the Busch trade. Almonte admittedly had a horrible year in 2023 but he has flashes of greatness throughout his career.
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