CHICAGO -- Perhaps no one was as excited about the Craig Kimbrel signing as Pedro Strop, who will lose his closer role and potentially more money down the road had he accumulated enough saves.
Strop said he didn't care about that; he just wants to win.
"They can add any pieces that they can add to help us win games," he said. "That's what makes us happy, not only me, but all the boys. We're really happy we're going to have a guy that makes our bullpen way deeper. We'll have a closer type working in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. How could anybody get mad at that? This sure is really good."
The Cubs bullpen has been up and down all year, or more accurately down and up and down again. They have a poor saves conversion rate of 50% (11-for-22) and Brad Brach was booed off the mound after a horrendous outing in Tuesday night's fog game at Wrigley Field.
After Tuesday, the Cubs bullpen ranked 10th in the majors with a 4.17 ERA, behind even the White Sox, who have quietly climbed to seventh at 3.98. Fans have been crying for help since the opening trip, but the Cubs waited until they no longer had to give up draft pick compensation to pull the trigger. Of course, every other team looking to sign Kimbrel did the same.
Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts at least gave President Theo Epstein the go-ahead to spend after saying in spring training he had no more money.
"We all ... heard where we were at as far as [available] money," Jon Lester said. "For Tom and Theo to get this deal done it's a huge shot in the arm for us. It's only going to help us, like having a gift on Christmas morning and having to wait a week to open it ... before he's here."
But the other relievers still have to get the ball to Kimbrel, which means they have to do a better job. The Cubs believe moving Steve Cishek and Strop into their familiar roles will stabilize the middle relief, and they can only hope Carl Edwards Jr. can continue to throw as well as he has lately to regain the confidence of Manager Joe Maddon.
"We're not bad, but we haven't done the job we're supposed to," Strop said. "And Theo is always aggressive. When he thinks we need something, he'll get it for us. Kimbrel, it's amazing."
Epstein's big move put his other smaller move in the rearview mirror, though the Carlos Gonzalez signing can also be a big factor in the Cubs' effort to win the Central Division. Epstein said he wanted a veteran bat in the lineup and thinks Gonzalez has plenty left in the tank at 33.
"And with a player of his caliber, you're intrigued if a change of scenery can spur a revival," Epstein said. "He's well known for getting red hot for two, three, four months at a time, and it can come out of nowhere with him. ... We figured it certainly was worth a shot. We think he can certainly help out at least as a complementary piece, and if he feels like getting red hot and going on one of his epic tears, we'd certainly be open to that as well."
Gonzalez has started all three games against right-handers, and appears to be more than a complementary piece so far.
"That's going to be a sneaky, under-the-radar move for us," Lester said. "He immediately comes in and makes a huge play [on Monday] and gets a big hit for us [on Tuesday]."
Lester said the two moves set up the Cubs "obviously for this year, but for a couple more years."
The Cubs don't know how dominant Kimbrel can be after such a long layoff, and it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for him to get into a game.
But after not spending money on free agents over the winter, the Cubs finally showed their fan base their vaunted "wheelbarrow full of cash" was only in storage.
Sports on 06/07/2019