The Chicago Cubs, who have been among the least active clubs in baseball this winter, have had a somewhat disappointing offseason thus far, especially in terms of offence.
Even though it’s still a major worry, the team has added another strong arm to its already strong bullpen in an effort to further enhance run prevention.
The Cubs signed right-handed reliever Hector Neris to a one-year, $9 million contract last week, and the deal officially went into effect on Thursday. The team needed more depth on the back end. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, it also comes with a $9 million club option for 2025 that becomes a player option if he fulfils the health and games played/finished standards.
For the Cubs, this latest addition is fairly significant, even though it is just temporary. Although it might not have a significant impact on their anticipated win total, Neris, who turns 35 in June of next year, should assist closer Adbert Alzolay in crucial situations when it comes to the upcoming season.
The former Houston Astros closer is coming off a fantastic 2023 campaign in which he outperformed his 3.33 xERA and threw to a career-best 1.71 ERA in 71 appearances, along with two saves over 68.1 innings, for a total of 0.8 fWAR. In addition, he had the lowest batting average in his ten MLB seasons against opponents, hitting just.172.
Michael Fulmer (27.6 percent, third-highest on the team) became a free agency earlier this winter, meaning that Chicago, whose bullpen tied for third in the league in strikeout rate (26 percent) the previous season, lost one of its best swing-and-miss weapons. But judging on Neris’s vivid red Baseball Savant page, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to replace those strikes out.
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