(670 The Score) During his time managing the Brewers, new Cubs manager Craig Counsell established a reputation as a strong leader of bullpens.
Counsell's Brewers bullpens were consistently among the best in baseball, and a key part of why Milwaukee enjoyed five playoff berths in the last six seasons. Now as he takes over the Cubs this season, Counsell knows the importance of what his relief staff can provide.
But Counsell isn't committing to a particular lineup for his bullpen – and in particular the back end of a game. Instead, he's trying to keep an open mind.
"I don't know what our bullpen is going to look like, and I am going to change my mind during the course of the season, and I think I should," Counsell said. "Bullpens are the thing we have to have a very open mind to it, and I think that's how you have to continue to look at it, not get too stuck, not form too hard of biases on things, not get stuck on what happened last night. It's an important part of having a successful bullpen.
"Hector (Neris) provides another really good option, and so it provides us more places to go. It gives us more time with some of our young pitchers that at some point we're going to need to make an impact on this bullpen. So, it's the feeling of safety almost with adding a guy like that.
"We just want to get to 27 outs, however that happens."
The Cubs signed Neris, 34, last month and added a key figure for the bullpen. He posted a 1.71 ERA last season with the Astros.
Last season, the Cubs were led in saves by Adbert Alzolay, who emerged into the closer role and logged 22 saves. Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. also return as key figures out of the bullpen.
The Cubs open the 2024 regular season Thursday, March 28, when they take on the defending World Series champion Rangers in Texas.
