Chicago Cubs continue bullpen remodeling by adding Smith
If there's one thing we know about modern-day baseball, it's this: The bullpen a team opens a season with is never the one it finishes with.
Not even close.
The Chicago Cubs took another step Monday toward proving that axiom by acquiring right-handed reliever Joe Smith from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for minor-league pitcher Jesus Castillo.
The move was the only one the Cubs made as the Aug. 1 nonwaiver trading deadline came and went.
The Cubs' bullpen has turned over quite a bit this season. If you think back to Opening Day, these pitchers were part of the relief corps: Neil Ramirez, Adam Warren, Clayton Richard, Justin Grimm and Trevor Cahill.
Ramirez, Warren and Richard no longer are with the Cubs. Grimm is in the minor leagues, and Cahill is rehabbing an injury.
In recent weeks, the Cubs have brought up Carl Edwards Jr. and have acquired Mike Montgomery, Joe Nathan, Aroldis Chapman and now Smith.
It was the same way last year, when the Cubs won 97 games. Relievers such as Phil Coke, Edwin Jackson, Jason Motte, James Russell and Tommy Hunter all passed through with varying degrees of success.
Bullpens are the most fickle part of any team, and contenders always are looking for the right combination.
"I think 'right combination' is a good way to put it," said Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer. "I think you definitely assess your bullpen over the first half of the season. If there are areas you want to improve, you do that.
"When we looked at this team, that was an area we thought we could makes some changes (to), adding a closer (Chapman), a left-hander (Montgomery) and then adding a guy like Smith, who can be a right-handed specialist.
"We felt like those are areas that would improve our team, improve the mix of our bullpen."
Injuries and poor performance are the main reasons bullpens undergo so much in-season turnover, and contenders must be ever vigilant to have the right mix.
"I don't want to say all contenders improve their bullpen, but if you look around the league, I bet the majority of teams in contention did something to address their bullpen," Hoyer said.
In Smith, the Cubs are getting a 32-year-old veteran who has spent time with the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians in addition to the Angels.
Smith is 1-4 with 6 saves, a 3.82 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP this year. A 10-year veteran, Smith is 40-27 for his career with 29 saves, a 2.94 ERA and a WHIP of 1.20.
He would be used as a right-handed setup man. For his career, Smith has held right-handed batters to a .214 average, while lefties have hit .246 against him.
The one thing Cubs manager Joe Maddon likes is that Smith brings "funk," in the form of a sidearm delivery.
"Funk in the bullpen is always a good thing," Maddon said. "No hitter likes to see funk come out of the bullpen. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about him. I don't know him, but a lot of Angel friends have been checking in. Everybody really speaks highly of him."
The Cubs didn't make anymore deadline deals.
They miss the left-handed power of Kyle Schwarber, whom they lost to a season-ending knee injury in April. They feel they can continue moving players around the diamond to maximize their offense. They also continue to seek young starting pitching they can control for several years.
"Certainly going forward this off-season we'll be looking for that," Hoyer said. "It's an ongoing search. It's one we've been doing for a while, and we'll continue to do.
"Finding those young starting pitchers is an easier thing to do when you're a seller. That's how we acquired a guy like Jake Arrieta. That's how we acquired Kyle Hendricks. I think when you're a seller, it's easier to acquire those kind of young arms.
"It's a focus of ours and something we're really going to try to do over the next 18-24 months."
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