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Column: If the Chicago White Sox and Cubs hope to make it to October, their bullpens need to step up
Craig Counsell and Will Venable trusted their bullpens on Saturday with similar results.
Counsell watched his Chicago Cubs bullpen blow a late 5-0 lead in an 8-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, while Venable watched the White Sox ’pen lose 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers on a bullpen day scripted because of the lack of a fifth starter.
The Sox bullpen didn’t perform any better on Sunday, blowing leads in the ninth and 10th innings of a 5-4 loss to get swept in Detroit and finish 1-5 on the road trip.
Venable and Counsell are no different from every other manager in baseball who is heavily reliant on multiple relievers to do the job on any given day. The average number of pitchers a team uses per game is 4.23, and has been above 4.11 since 2015.
It’s not going backward any time soon, as starters’ pitch counts decrease and the average velocity of relievers increases.
Fair or not, a manager typically gets criticized for his bullpen moves when things go wrong and seldom gets credit when everything goes right.
Counsell was reputed to be a bullpen whisperer in Milwaukee when he had reliable closers in Josh Hader and Devin Williams, but now gets questioned about why he left (fill-in-the-blank-pitcher) in too long. Venable hasn’t endured nearly as much criticism because the Sox were awful last year and weren’t expected to do anything this season.
But now that the Sox are contending, and starting a big series Monday against the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field, his in-game strategy will no doubt get more scrutiny.
Both Chicago managers can only work with what they have, and neither the Cubs nor the Sox bullpen has shown much consistency over the first three months of the 2026 season.
Cubs relievers on Sunday ranked 12th in the majors with a 3.82 ERA, but have trended downward since the start of June, compiling a 4.94 ERA this month with five blown saves in six opportunities. The loss of closer Daniel Palencia has seemingly had a residual effect on the rest of the bullpen, as evidenced by Saturday’s implosion by Trent Thornton, Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb, who combined to give up eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Cubs relievers are last in the majors with 23 holds, while Sox relievers began Sunday second-to-last with 24 holds.
Cubs President Jed Hoyer performed a major reconstruction job on the ’pen this offseason, notably letting Brad Keller, his most effective reliever in 2025, sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cubs made Keller an offer, but the Phillies made a better one at two years and $22 million, which made it an easy decision.
The Cubs counted on Palencia to dominate as a closer, which he has mostly done. But an oblique injury in April and a “mild flexor strain” that put him on the IL again last week have limited him to 19 appearances. Thielbar has regressed, while free agent Phil Maton, Hoyer’s main bullpen addition on a two-year, $14 million deal, has flopped like last year’s big bullpen addition, Ryan Pressly.
Injury-prone Hunter Harvey got injured early, and Webb has struggled of late and was a complete mess in Saturday’s loss. In between dropping f-bombs Saturday, Webb candidly said: “Back to the drawing board, figure some stuff out.”
The Cubs’ biggest bullpen loss may have been moving Ben Brown to the rotation due to injuries. Brown has thrived, but no one has picked up the slack to replace him. The Cubs can still recover, but to go anywhere this October, Counsell will have to get more out of his ’pen.
“Every season throws stuff at you and you just got to roll with it and you got to be ready for it and you got to adjust to it,” Counsell said after Saturday’s loss. “That will continue to happen. That’s how it’s going to be. We’re going to try to get in that same spot tomorrow, whether it’s a 5-0 lead in the sixth or a 5-3 lead in the eighth — every time we try to get to that spot again, you know what I mean? Just didn’t get it done today.”
The Cubs didn’t get into that spot Sunday, thanks to a postponement of the finale against the Blue Jays, which will be made up at 1:20 p.m. on Aug. 6. They head to New York for a four-game series against the Mets, before an important showdown in Milwaukee next weekend.
Sox relievers ranked 18th on Sunday with a 4.26 ERA, though it should be noted that Venable has used an opener 15 times, which means part-time “bulk” pitchers — including starters Erick Fedde, Anthony Kay, Sean Burke and since-demoted David Sandlin — have some outings included in the bullpen’s stats. The bullpen has mostly performed well at home (13-8 with a 3.48 ERA) and been terrible on the road (5-9, 5.21 ERA).
Like Hoyer, White Sox GM Chris Getz also overhauled his ’pen after 2025, signing Seranthony Domínguez to a two-year, $20 million deal, acquiring Jordan Hicks from the Boston Red Sox, along with Sandlin, and signing veteran lefty Sean Newcomb.
The Domínguez and Hicks moves were done with money the White Sox saved by dealing Luis Robert Jr. and his $20 million salary to the New York Mets. Hicks, who struggled with the Red Sox last year, was inconsistent before going down with a right lat strain. He returned from the IL on Sunday, with Tyler Davis optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Domínguez has 12 saves but has been spotty with control issues while allowing five home runs in 26 games. In Sunday’s game, he retired the first two hitters in the ninth inning before blowing the save on three straight singles.
Grant Taylor, Bryan Hudson, Domínguez and Newcomb have all been effective for Venable, but the Sox manager has had a difficult time finding the right spots for Taylor, a potential closer and possibly a future starter. Newcomb threw three perfect innings Saturday in Detroit and could be stretched out to start if needed. But the Sox are hoping Noah Schultz, rehabbing his right knee injury at Charlotte, can return soon to fill the fifth spot, since Newcomb’s value in the ’pen is growing.
Meanwhile, Venable has been using an opener more often of late, except for Davis Martin’s starts, with mixed results. Burke dominated against the New York Yankees on Thursday as a bulk starter, but Fedde came in on Friday in Detroit, trailing 2-1 after opener Brandon Eisert served up a two-run home run.
“The players’ reactions, as we’ve done it more, they’ve been more open to it, and that’s really where it starts,” Venable said Saturday. “You’re sensitive to the fact these guys are very routine-oriented, and certainly for a starting pitcher, an opener can disrupt that. So you have different reactions to it, and in the case where we’ve done it with Fedde and Burke, they’ve responded very well to it.”
Fedde has been used after an opener seven times in 15 appearances. Asked after Friday’s outing if he was getting more comfortable being a bulk pitcher or would rather have a normal start, Fedde was diplomatic.
“Honestly, I try not to think too much about it,” he said. “It kind of is what it is. Yeah, I’m just going to keep giving it my best each opportunity I get the ball. That’s kind of all I have to say about it.”
Enough said.
Fedde has pitched well in his last four outings, but is on a one-year, $1.5 million deal and may not be in any position to protest.
Venable is unlikely to change his view on openers, feeling it’s the best way to optimize performance from his starters, none of whom is on his way to the Hall of Fame. If the Sox continue to contend, that strategy bears watching.
Managing in a baseball-crazy town like Chicago isn’t for the faint-hearted, as Counsell can attest.
