***Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
Lol every time a ground ball gets hit to him I cringe when he starts to throw but he pretty much always makes the play
I don’t know if the game plays out any differently, but I would’ve (and said this in a group chat right when it happened) given Wesneski the ball til he got in trouble then gone to someone else. Putting him in that scenario was fine but taking him out that early when multiple guys in your pen are down and he’s your only long guy was a dumb decision
He literally won a game three days ago by getting out of bases loaded, no outs.
And he literally nearly lost this game for them in exchange. He's not reliable enough for the high leverage spots. For half the season, he's been hot garbage. 6th and 7th inning work, OK, otherwise hard pass.
The Cubs don't have a ton of quality arms in the pen. When you look at who was used it seems pretty clear who was "available" yesterday. Leiter was marked to close or work tight late innings if the game necessitated. Wesneski was brought in first, followed by Cuas. The fact Fullmer was followed by Palencia tells me all I need to know about that.
Fullmer had a 3 run lead that he blew. It happens. But that's the exact situation you want a guy like Fullmer coming into: a three run lead and a fresh inning.
I'm sure all of us would prefer at least 2-3 of our pitchers weren't pitching (or on the team right now). But BP is problematic and Ross has to balance winning games, putting players in a position to succeed, and not wearing guys down.
Luckily it all "worked out" in the end.
Pen is running on fumes. I think the only way to fix it is bring up another starter that can combine with Smyly to throw all nine between the two. Brown still rehabbing so I think it would probably be Wick.They can definitely option Wisdom.
