IMO it’s pretty hard to blame this one on Counsell. The Cubs have literally zero high leverage arms available. That’s not on him. Fact remains the Cubs have broken several promising arms this season (Cabrera, Palencia, Zeferjahn) and from where I sit there are virtually zero pitching development wins across the entire organization.
To that end - is it time to ask whether the organization should be questioning the degree to which it entrusts Zombro? It seems like he entered the organization and the pitching development went from mediocre to entirely bombed out and depleted.
Ultimately given the structure of the game in 2026 it seems futile to be thinking about the Cubs making a deep run until the pitching development infrastructure shows the ability to at a minimum match its caliber under Jim Hendry.
