I think it's safe to say we have a lot of people overreacting at the bullpen struggles, as a whole, but I think it is worth noting that the pen could use an upgrade. Let's take a look at each individual reliever and see what can be done to improve this group. I am going to attempt to rank these relieves in order of effectiveness. HECTOR RONDON - Rondon has given up one run over his last 18 outings. He had an inexplicably short leash from Maddon as the closer and really only looked shaky for a few outings around early June. He's the obvious choice to regain the closer role. PEDRO STROP - Strop has been plagued by just a few bad outings but all three directly resulted in losses (St. Louis twice and then Atlanta). Otherwise, his WHIP is 1.000 and he's been reliable. Using him in one run games just seems to be a little bit of a gamble, but in this case, who is a better option? JUSTIN GRIMM - A bad outing in Cleveland and a bad outing in Cincy has seemingly scared Maddon away from using him in high leverage spots. In my mind, he has earned the shot to be the 8th inning guy, if not the closer. JASON MOTTE - It was inevitable that his predictability was going to catch up to him. He throws hard but it has to be perfectly located for him to be effective if he's facing anyone but fringe major league hitters. Hardly a recipe for an effective closer. Doesn't mean he can't still be useful. JAMES RUSSELL - Much like his earlier go-round with the Cubs, he started out very effective but seems to be losing it lately and has given up runs in 3 of his last 4 appearances. Still, he's a decent lefty option, and certainly better than Rosscup and Coke before him. TRAVIS WOOD - Gotta give the guy credit, he's been a revelation in the pen. Every now and then he has a stinker, but you can't ask for much more out of a guy that has been asked to go multiple innings of early/middle relief on a constant basis and been extremely effective. He's perfect for the role he's in. NEIL RAMIREZ - I keep forgetting the guy ever came off the DL as he's been sparingly used. His velocity isn't there and that is a big problem for him. Not really sure what to do with the guy but it would sure help if he could get back to the Ramirez of last year. RAFAEL SORIANO - I don't know about you guys, but do you remember Soriano as a much more imposing figure on the mound? I know he's old but when he showed up, he didn't even look like the guy I remembered in Washington and New York. His stuff doesn't seem to be all that impressive but the Cubs invested too much money and time into him that he's probably going to hang around. It's pretty clear that he can't be used in high leverage spots, at least right now. YOERVIS MEDINA - Not sure why he's still taking up a roster spot. Got shelled in two games that the Cubs were already way behind and can't throw strikes either. He's the next guy out. So, what do we do? I think we'd all (other than downsrwhatever) would like to see the Cubs get Kimbrel, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. I think for now, you roll with Strop/Grimm/Rondon in your 7/8/9th and piece it together from there. Does Maddon see it that way? Remains to be seen.
Castro. Gonna waste guy at 2nd, no outs again. Unreal.