Ahead of Opening Day, Cubs will be relying early on Brad Keller and Colin Rea

PHOENIX — The domestic part of the season for the Chicago Cubs starts Thursday night. They’ll begin the slate already in an 0-2 hole after dropping a pair in Japan to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In a season that will likely decide team president Jed Hoyer’s future with the club, getting off to a slow start will bring only more anxiety and unease to a group that was working hard to improve a roster that has won 83 games in back-to-back seasons.

Still, despite not being able to accomplish every offseason goal it had, this is an upgraded team. Looking at the division, there’s young talent in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t have the big sell-off some expected, and the Milwaukee Brewers are proving to be one of the most well-run and consistent organizations in baseball.

Still, in a down year for the NL Central, the Cubs enter the season as the perceived favorites.

Here are some observations on the final roster as the Cubs get set to begin a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Ben Brown’s being named the fifth starter was the news of the day Tuesday, but manager Craig Counsell also announced that reliever Brad Keller made the team.

The veteran righty had a strong spring, posting a 3.86 ERA in 11⅔ innings and, more importantly, striking out 28.9% of batters, walking just 4.4% and boasting a fastball that was regularly touching 97 mph, along with a strong slider.

“The stuff, period, has just stood out as high-end stuff,” Counsell said. “He’s created a little more swing-and-miss, which is something we thought was in there. That groundball was his foundation as a starter. Creating a little more swing-and-miss with the groundball is a good way to limit damage and not give up runs.”

At least in the spring, Keller has been able to pair both skills, ramping up the whiff while still keeping the ball on the ground at a 50% rate. Every offseason, teams search for diamonds in the rough to fill out the bullpen. Collin Snider, Justin Slaten and Jeremiah Estrada weren’t on many radars last spring, and they were all brilliant out of the bullpen for their respective teams in 2024.

The Cubs recruited Keller with that type of upside in mind. In the spring, he has opened eyes and made the organization feel like it might be on to something. Now officially on the roster, he has a chance to stand out in the regular season as well.

“He’s gonna pitch in a different role than he’s had his success in, in the big leagues,” Counsell said. “That’s maybe been a part of the stuff ticking up. We’re excited about the opportunity Brad’s gonna get.”

Keller will likely get some multi-inning outings. That could be critical, especially to start the year, as some of the bullpen arms are dealing with a disjointed ramp-up after their regular spring training build-up was thrown for a loop because of the Tokyo Series.

Instead of being in the 90- to 95-pitch range, starters are probably more at 80-85, and the relievers just haven’t gotten their regular work in before the regular season.

“It’s just different for these guys,” Counsell said. “Most of them got two appearances in Japan, and they’ve got two appearances since they’ve been back. We didn’t throw back-to-backs because of Japan. A couple of them touched the rubber on the backside of games.”

Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and the rest of the staff anticipated a deload of sorts for the relievers coming back from Japan. By pitching the vast majority of them Saturday and Monday, the Cubs gave them at least one more “pitch, off day, pitch” routine before the standard two days off before (domestic) Opening Day.

The key will be finding length in the bullpen to save everyone’s arms, as the season begins with seven games in seven days.

“I think every year at the beginning of the season you gotta manage workloads and be smart about workloads,” Counsell said. “That’s where the Colin Reas really become important here to help manage those first seven to 10 days of games.”

Rea largely pitched as a starter last season (148⅓ innings compared to 19⅓ as a reliever), but he’s going to be expected to fill multiple roles for the Cubs this season. If he can eat multiple innings in multiple games the first week-plus of the season and do so effectively, he could be an incredibly valuable, if unheralded, part of the staff.

“I think Colin Rea is going to make a lot of starts,” Counsell said. “This is the role to start with. The length in the bullpen is something we’re really going to need, especially the first two times through the rotation.”

Unless something unforeseen happens, Nico Hoerner will be ready to start against the Diamondbacks.

“The feedback was (we) made the right decision by staying here,” Counsell said of Hoerner’s not making the trip to Japan. “He needed that time — that was important. We’re in a good place. That’s the best way to say it.”

Hoerner immediately upgrades the defense at second base and changes the way Counsell will look at the lineup as well. Counsell had Matt Shaw batting fifth in Japan against the Dodgers, but in Tuesday’s final tuneup for the season, Dansby Swanson was hitting fifth, Hoerner sixth and Shaw eighth, after Pete Crow-Armstrong.

It remains to be seen if that’s the lineup Counsell will go with Thursday, but he told reporters Monday that Hoerner’s return made him think differently about how he’d put it all together.

With Hoerner’s return, it seemed as though Gage Workman’s or Vidal Bruján’s time would be limited. But as is often the case, the game has a way of making decisions for you.

“Bruján is struggling a little bit from the collision with the wall on Saturday,” Counsell said. “So we’re still evaluating that one.”

Bruján’s heading to the injured list would allow the Cubs to kick the decision on who to keep on the 40-man down the road a bit. They’ll still need to open a spot for Keller, but perhaps that will fall to one of the pitchers who were optioned earlier in the spring.

Either way, it seems the Cubs have their 26 men to start the season. There will be changes throughout the year, and they’ll all have to contribute in some way. But in a season in which it seems like jobs are on the line, getting the most out of the group feels like a must for Hoyer, Counsell and the organization.

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