What Cubs' acquisition of Drew Pomeranz says about president Jed Hoyer's approach to bullpen
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has acknowledged how hard it is to get every reliever on the roster clicking at the same time.
To some extent, it’s out of his hands. What he can do is make sure the Cubs have depth to turn to as they try to solve the bullpen puzzle.
‘‘Ultimately, the goal is to get to the point where eight guys in the bullpen are throwing well,’’ Hoyer said Tuesday. ‘‘We haven’t gotten to that point yet.’’
The Cubs’ acquisition Monday of left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the Mariners was the beginning of what’s expected to be the in-season approach to fortifying the bullpen.
The Cubs already have done some shuffling through middle-inning relievers. On Tuesday, for example, they optioned left-hander Jordan Wicks to Triple-A Iowa and recalled right-hander Gavin Hollowell. Wicks pitched two innings in the Cubs’ 3-2, 11-inning loss Sunday to the Diamondbacks, and Hollowell was a rested reliever who could provide multiple innings, if needed.
‘‘Some of it is a function of using a little bit of roster churn to have able pitchers here as much as we can,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘That essentially protects the other pitchers, so that we’re giving them outings in appropriate places and spacing out their outings as much as we can. Hopefully that helps with performance and health.’’
The acquisition of Pomeranz, however, was a quintessential ‘‘opportunistic’’ move, to borrow one of Hoyer’s go-to terms.
‘‘Obviously, contractually, it was the time to go after him,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘And he’s been throwing the ball well in Triple-A, threw well in spring training. And we haven’t had a second lefty up here too often, so getting a second lefty for Craig made a lot of sense.’’
Pomeranz had an upward-mobility clause in his contract with the Mariners that forced them to offer him to the other 29 teams and work out a trade if one of those teams was willing to put him on its major-league roster.
The Cubs initially assigned Pomeranz to Iowa after acquiring him for cash, but they’re expected to bring him up within the mandated three-day time frame.
It was a move that fell in line with a couple of midseason bullpen acquisitions that paid off for the Cubs last season.
When the Mariners designated right-hander Tyson Miller for assignment in mid-May, the Cubs worked out a trade for him. Miller posted a 2.15 ERA for the Cubs and quickly claimed a high-leverage role.
When right-hander Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands and infamously was misheard when he addressed reporters after a game, the Cubs took advantage of the Mets releasing him. After signing a minor-league deal with the Cubs, Lopez also earned Counsell’s trust in late innings and had a 2.03 ERA with the major-league squad.
‘‘Those kinds of deals can make a big difference,’’ Hoyer said of his takeaway from last season. ‘‘And it’s not ever getting to a place of comfort with it. You’ve just got to continue to add where you can add and try to find ways to optimize the guys you have.’’
Big-name trades are hard to come by at this time of year, which Hoyer again referred when the Cubs lost left-hander Justin Steele for the rest of the season to an elbow injury last week. But impact relievers can emerge from many places.
The Cubs’ bullpen has had its shining moments, most notably a shutdown performance for five innings against in a 2-1, 10-inning victory last week against the Padres. Overall, however, it has been inconsistent during the Cubs’ strong start through a brutal March and April schedule.
The Cubs entered play Tuesday with a National League Central-leading 14-10 record and the best run differential in the majors.
‘‘It is a very daunting schedule,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘I’m proud of the way our guys have responded to it so far. . . . We had a good April last year, too, and then we erased that really quickly. I do think last year was probably a good lesson that, yeah, we’ve played well against really hard teams, but we’ve got to keep doing it.’’