The clock has struck midnight on the Chicago Cubs' beleaguered closer

Seiya Suzuki saved the day Friday after closer Héctor Neris couldn't. The veteran reliever came into the ninth inning of a 5-2 game to try to seal a fairly easy Cubs win and notch his 18th save on the season. However, Neris surrendered four hits and three runs that allowed the Blue Jays to tie the game. It was his fifth blown save of the season.

Friday's game saw Neris' ERA climb to 3.98, as he sports a 4.18 FIP and 1.5 WHIP on the year. While the overall save percentage could look much worse, there has just been too much drama in virtually every save chance this year. An ERA and FIP in the 4.00 range and a 1.5 WHIP is well above the ideal mark of a closer. It is pretty amazing that the save results do not look worse. Playing with fire and still getting out of it as often as Neris has this season is hard to do, even with his solid strikeout numbers (9.42 K/9).

Cubs can't keep trusting Hector Neris with save opportunities

It is long past time for Craig Counsell to make a change in the ninth, similar to what he did early in the year with Adbert Alzolay. While the Cubs are probably not making the postseason, they should be playing with a sense of urgency until they are officially eliminated, at the very least look to salvage as much as they can in 2024. Chicago has gotten great pitching from Jorge López, Porter Hodge and Tyson Miller lately so there are alternatives. Even if it's experimental, it's hard to continue watching the tying and go-ahead runs reach base every save opportunity regardless of the outcome.

Not to mention, Neris is quickly approaching 60 appearances, which would turn the $9 million team option for 2025 into a player option the right-hander would almost certainly opt into. That's something we've talked about previously - and something the Cubs need to avoid at all costs.

The red flags that peaked out in 2023 have taken center stage this year. He has had a good career as a reliever and came into 2024 with a career 3.24 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 1.2 WHIP, 11.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. That might not sound like an elite closer, but those numbers tell the story of a very effective backend reliever. Over his career, he has sported sub-3.00 ERAs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, while having an ERA above pushing 4.00 in the ninth. The numbers tell the story. It's time for the Cubs to listen.