These 2 Cubs relievers could get bumped off the 26-man by the Ryan Brasier trade

The Chicago Cubs completed a trade for former Los Angeles Dodgers setup man Ryan Brasier on Tuesday night, setting up a crowded bullpen situation as the team heads to camp next week.

Brasier seemingly completes the front office's goal of adding two high-leverage arms this offseason, and it comes a week after the team acquired former Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly. According to Pressly himself, the 36-year-old will compete for the closer job with 2024 rookie breakout Porter Hodge. With Brasier in the mix, who logged a 1.89 ERA with the Dodgers over the past two years, these three arms are expected to see the bulk of the late-inning work for the 2025 Cubs.

The Cubs will have eight total spots on the Opening Day roster for their relief core, with Pressly, Hodge, and Brasier all but guaranteed to claim three of them. A fourth will go to a long reliever, who will either be Javier Assad or Colin Rea depending on who wins the fifth starter job in Spring Training. The other four spots will depend on who is healthy when the Tokyo series rolls around on March 18, and who has minor league options remaining.

Barring injury or extremely poor performance, Tyson Miller, Caleb Thielbar and Julian Merryweather seem like good bets. After the Cubs traded for Miller last May, he pitched lights-out with a 2.15 ERA and 14 holds over 50 1/3 innings. Thielbar was signed to a major league contract and will give the team their only lefty in the bullpen, a role they've desperately needed in recent years. And Merryweather was the Cubs' most reliable reliever in 2023, striking out 98 batters in 72 innings. All three have no minor league options left, so if they do not make the Opening Day roster, they will have to be designated for assignment or traded.

Eli Morgan and Nate Pearson each have one minor league option left on their deals, and both are slated to have important roles with the team. Morgan is coming off a 1.93 ERA effort with Cleveland last year, and the Cubs gave up Alfonsin Rosario to acquire him in November, an intriguing minor league slugger.

The last spot could boil down to what the Cubs want to do with Pearson. Last month, President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer told the Chicago Tribune that Pearson will be stretched out to a certain extent, hinting at a multi-inning/spot-starter role for the big right-hander. Since Assad or Rea will theoretically be covering the long-reliever spot, it might make sense to start Pearson's 2025 campaign in Iowa since he has an option left. Almost the same can be said for Ben Brown, who is going to have an inning limit this year after coming off a mysterious neck issue. Injuries will occur, and it's almost certain that if both men begin the season with Triple-A, they won't stay there for long given their strike-throwing talents.

However things actually shake out next month, adding Brasier just makes the Cubs bullpen stronger and their quest for the playoffs closer to reality. The team suffered several major pitching injuries last year and their depth proved inefficient to sustain itself over the 162-game season. But things look much different now, and fans should be encouraged by the current pitching depth chart.