The Chicago Cubs seemed to have hyper-focused on their bullpen needs this offseason.
In 2024, the team hobbled into the second half of the season, put into a hole by a bullpen that utterly collapsed. Ultimately, it was a hole from which the Cubs couldn’t emerge. Despite a bullpen turnaround that saw them rank among the best in the league over the last couple months, the team failed to make the postseason for a fourth straight year.
Chicago Cubs Bullpen Surplus Of 2025
Well, ahead of the 2025 season, some might say that the Cubs overcompensated for that 2024 fail by adding so many arms that there will be definite spillover.
Andy Martinez of Marquee Sports Network has projected the team’s starting-eight bullpen come opening day, and, when you look at the omissions, it highlights the Cubs embarrassment of ‘pen riches, as well as some of the tough choices management will have to make in that regard.
Martinez’s bullpen depth chart:
CL: Ryan Pressly
SU: Porter Hodge
SU: Ryan Brasier
RP: Caleb Thielbar
RP: Tyson Miller
RP: Julian Merryweather
RP: Keegan Thompson
LRP/6th Starter: Colin Rea
Now, if you notice, there are several omissions from that opening day roster.
Talent Left Behind
Notably, Eli Morgan, Nate Pearson, Luke Little, Ben Brown, and Jordan Wicks would all find themselves in the minors come opening day.
And, unfortunately, for these pitchers, their big league status in the immediate future may have more to do with roster business than their particular abilities.
Options, specifically, are the sticking point for why the Cubs may have to start the season with the bullpen lineup noted above.
Per Martinez:
“No positional battle will be more fascinating to follow than that of the Cubs’ relief corps. There are eight spots and seven players with no minor-league options: Pressly, Brasier, Thielbar, Miller, Merryweather, Thompson and Rea.
That means interesting arms like Nate Pearson (who was in Craig Counsell’s circle of trust last season), Eli Morgan (who had a 1.93 ERA in 32 games for Cleveland) and up-and-coming lefty Luke Little would start the year in Triple-A. Other names to watch in camp that will try and put their name in the pitching mix include righties Ben Brown (who had a 3.58 ERA in 55.1 innings in his rookie campaign) and Ethan Roberts (who returned from Tommy John surgery last year and had a 3.71 ERA in 21 games).”
Embarrassment Of Riches?
In the big picture, of course, it’s better to have too many bullpen options than not enough. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer beat himself up pretty badly last season for lack of depth in the Cubs bullpen.
“Being self-critical, I feel like that’s something I didn’t do a good job of last offseason…When Adbert (Alzolay) struggled early, when (Héctor) Neris struggled early, when Julian (Merryweather) got hurt, we didn’t have the depth at that point that we needed,” Hoyer told The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma back in October of last year. “That’s something that we’ll certainly look to improve going forward. That hurt us early.
“At a critical moment when those guys struggled and were hurt early, we didn’t have enough depth in that moment, and that hurt us. That’s something we have to address.”
Hoyer certainly addressed that issue this season. He addressed it so much that the Cubs may have to shed talent over the course of the year to accommodate the surplus. But nobody will be complaining if the overabundance helps result in postseason play.
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