Report: Cubs beef up bullpen with Neris signing

Looking back at the Cubs' late collapse last season, the bullpen was frequently on fire.

Key relievers like closer Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. either broke down or ran out of gas during the stretch run, something that president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer blamed on himself.

“It was frustrating, and I need to do a better job myself building the bullpen,” Hoyer said. “Certainly, the bullpen is an area of priority for us. It's a hard area when you see bullpen guys who have had multi-year contracts that have struggled and teams that have built the bullpens with sharp-targeted transactions. There are a lot of ways to skin the bullpen cat, but we do need to focus on it.”

Hoyer did just that Saturday, reportedly signing right-hander Hector Neris to a one-year, $9 million contract.

That's a steep price for a 34-year-old relief pitcher, but Neris is coming off the best season of his career and he's been a reliable arm for the Astros and Phillies over the last 10 years.

In 71 games with Houston in 2023, Neris was 6-3 with a 1.71 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 68.1 innings. In 541.1 career innings, the 6-foot-2, 230-pounder has a 3.24 ERA, 89 saves and 676 strikeouts.

On Jan. 12 Hoyer acquired veteran reliever Yency Almonte in a trade with the Dodgers.

Almonte was 3-2 with a 5.06 ERA in 49 games for the Dodgers last season.