Ranking 5 internal candidates to replace Adbert Alzolay as the Cubs closer

3. Yency Almonte has turned things around after a rocky start to the year

The 'throw-in' piece in the Michael Busch trade, Yency Almonte, got off to an eventful start to his Cubs career, allowing five runs (four earned) in his first five appearances. Since then, however, the righty has run off a half-dozen consecutive scoreless outings to level things off a bit from a numbers standpoint.

He's got the swing-and-miss arsenal for the late innings, too. During those six appearances, spanning 5 2/3 innings, he's racked up nine punchouts. The big question for Almonte, as is often the case with relievers like this, is control. He ranks in the bottom 13% of the league in walk rate and free passes are obviously something you want to avoid with the game on the line.

Maybe Almonte getting things back on track will prompt Counsell to at least give him a chance in the ninth here soon. After all, it was just two years ago he was a shutdown reliever for Dave Roberts and the Dodgers. But I think the Cubs have a couple of internal options better suited for the role and that'll keep Almonte in more of a seventh-inning role for now.