The Cubs seem convinced they need to shore up their bullpen options. Yesterday they agreed to a one-year deal with Koji Uehara, the former Red Sox closer. Uehara is years away from his banner year as closer on the last Red Sox World Series team, though he has been pretty good since then. Uehara, though, had a bit of an off year in 2016. His fastball velocity has declined a lot and he will be 42 years old when the season begins. One would have thought the Cubs would be looking for a lefty to add to the mix with the evident departure of Travis Wood and the move of Montgomery to the rotation, not to mention the departure of Chapman back to New York as a free agent.
I kind of thought the team's biggest priority would have been getting a younger starting pitcher, especially with the departure of Hammel and potential swing men like Wood and Cahill. The top three starters, Lester, Arrieta, and Hendricks are top notch and I think Montgomery will work out pretty well. The big question mark has to be Lackey. Lackey had a decent year in 2016, winning 11 games and pitching to a 3.35 ERA. However, he averaged only a little over five innings per start. In the post-season, he was not very good. In fact, he was pretty shaky at best in his three starts, getting hit pretty hard and averaging a full inning less per start than in the regular season. Lackey is 38 years old, so if any one of the Cubs starters is going to crack, it is probably him.
I'm still not a big fan of the Davis deal for reasons detailed in a previous post. Basically, he now has a history of arm issues, he's 31, and he is a rental. At his best, however, he is a dominant bullpen presence. Maybe I am being sentimental, but I always rather liked Soler's promise and I was sorry to see him moved. Maybe I was overly impressed by his performance in the 2015 post-season because that really was a show and you really hoped he could put it all together again.
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