(670 The Score) Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer on Tuesday would've rather been preparing for a playoff baseball game than conducting his annual season-ending press conference.
But he was sitting in front of reporters after the Cubs finished 83-79 for a second consecutive season and missed the playoffs. The Cubs finished 10 games behind the NL Central-winning Brewers and six games behind the final National League wild-card spot.
In reflecting on the Cubs’ disappointing season, Hoyer lamented that his team didn’t have bullpen stability early in the campaign. The Cubs converted just 38 of 64 save opportunities in 2024. Notably, the Cubs' addition of reliever Hector Neris backfired, as he posted a 3.89 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 46 appearances for the Cubs before they designated him for assignment on Aug. 20.
“Being self-critical, I feel like that’s something I didn’t do a good job of last offseason,” Hoyer said. “When I look at our bullpen, I’m really proud of the work our whole staff did during the season. Talking about Carter (Hawkins) and Jared (Banner) and everyone in pro scouting did a really good job, whether that was Tyson Miller, Jorge Lopez, Nate Pearson, player development bringing up guys like Porter Hodge and Luke Little. I thought that in-season, we did a really good job of that. But when Adbert (Alzolay) struggled early, when Neris struggled early, when Julian (Merryweather) got hurt, we didn’t have the depth at that point that we needed, and that’s something we’ll really look to improve going forward, because I feel like that’s something that hurt us early. We were able to improve it.
“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. So, that’s something we have to address.”
The Cubs bullpen ranked 12th in MLB with a 3.83 ERA for the season, but much of that success came later in the season. At the end of June, the Cubs bullpen had a 4.32 ERA, which at the time ranked 21st in the league.
The Cubs were led in saves by Neris (17). Hodge, who stepped into that role late in the season, was second in saves with nine.