The Cubs traded for Ryan Pressly last week and I want to talk about it.
First though I have been laying low on social media while I build the wordpress blog and launch Sterk Family Farms with my wife Nicole. It’s been a long couple weeks but I think worthwhile in the long run and something I should have a lot of fun with for the foreseeable future. So thank you for the grace and patience while I fire this fucking thing up. I really think it’s going to help the Cubs win 90+ games or at the very least, distract us from another year of below average baseball.
In either event, Ryan Pressly is officially the Cubs closer and that’s good news. Here’s why:
- Craig Counsell needs a veteran closer to use in weird situations and he did not have that last year. The Cubs, as a result, suffered through one of the worst bullpen stretches in recent memory to the extent that we needed a 4+ run lead in late innings to feel remotely comfortable. We blew so many leads last year that people wanted Jed Hoyer’s head before the All Star break. One of the richest and most valuable clubs in the world and they didn’t set aside a budget for a decent bullpen while giving Craig Counsell the largest contract in MLB manager history. It was such a confusing season that there was no way the Cubs could go to spring training without an objective upgrade at the back end of the bullpen. So no disrespect to Porter Hodge and the other no names building their careers, we just need a guy who’s been there before and that’s Ryan Pressly.
- He’s not a traditional power closer. A couple years ago he sat around 96mph and now he’s down to about 94. That’s hard for Men’s League but not much in The Show. He throws it about 33% of the time with the rest going to a slider/cutter historically but the caveat that his changeup cracked 10%+ last year for the first time ever. That’s a sign of a guy needing another pitch to offset the fact that his fastball velocity has dropped about 2%.
In that spirit, I don’t love a 4-pitch closer because that’s a lot of choices. You have to feel and find all 4 of them in short order when you’re a closer. It’s not like having 1 nasty out pitch that’s always there. He has to instead stack and layer his pitches to be more effective. And heaven forbid you’re warming up and can’t feel a slider. That’s a risk when you throw so many different pitches as a back end bullpen guy. - Ultimately though he has all the tread and experience you want in that bullpen. There’s a lot of talented arms but nobody I trust under a lot of pressure before Pressly. This means we can use guys in different 6th-8th inning roles without feeling like you’re auditioning to be the closer. That reduces the pressure just a little bit for everybody else, which we call ROLE CLARITY. That gives younger guys runway at the start of the year to build confidence in their ability to execute against MLB hitters. So really that just sets everybody up much better to emerge into roles as the year goes on. It’s been forever since we had a homegrown bullpen arm to be proud of and I think Pressly’s presence really moves that forward this year.
- Finally I like 1-year closers. I don’t like multi year guys unless you’re homegrown and even that’s dangerous because you have a longer leash when they start to fall apart. So Pressly is perfect from that standpoint. His incentive is to have a great season and continue his career. The Cubs don’t have to pay that much or search too hard to find a competent closer. They can use him as much as they want without worrying about the long-term and he’s proven to be a nails shutdown guy when it matters most. Notwithstanding an Aroldis Chapman 2016 style move, this is just about as good as I could hope for going into Spring Training.
Those are the reasons I really like Ryan Pressly.
There’s obviously a lot of time for this to all fall apart and me to hate his guts. But as it stands, I like the way he fits into the roster for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with his K/9 rate or anything like that. It’s more about giving everyone else in the bullpen an opportunity to develop and grow into a role and I think that’s most important when you consider the depth chart. There’s a very good chance multiple guys take massive steps forward, particularly RHP’s with fastball/slider. If that’s the case then Ryan Pressly is will be quite literally invaluable.