The Chicago Cubs have, this offseason, added as many as four long-time, mostly-well-travelled veterans to their bullpen group: Ryan Pressly, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Brasier, and Colin Rea. Each was brought in to address a relatively specific need (Pressly and Brasier to help at the back end, Thielbar as the primary lefty, and Rea to be a swing man), but I appreciated a comment from Craig Counsell on another kind of value older, veteran relievers can have, specific to that particular job.
“They sit together — at Wrigley, in a room — for 2½ hours,” Counsell said, per the Sun-Times. “And so that’s a real opportunity to connect, to be close, to learn the game from each other, to just learn about each other, period. And that group should be close, right? ….
“[Relievers] all are helping each other do their jobs. They’re helping each other be better at their jobs …. So, they count on each other, and I think so having mentors down there that have been through that is part of it.”
We know about the impact of veteran relievers, generally, in helping provide some stability to a portion of the roster that is almost inherently unstable. How to go about your day, how to train and rest, how to shake off a bad outing, and so on. But what I hadn’t really thought about is just how different the day is for the bullpen group as a whole, compared to the rest of the roster. Almost every day during the season, you are guaranteed to spend upwards of three hours with this group of guys. The opportunity there to learn from each other, to talk about lots of different experiences in the game, and to have your development guided in a way the coaches can’t quite replicate, is probably pretty unique.
That isn’t to say this kind of player-mentor relationship doesn’t develop in other areas of the roster, but there is certainly something different about the bullpen group simply by virtue of where they are stationed during games. Lotta time to have fun, I’m sure, but also to put in additional work.
When you think about the Cubs’ significant volume of young relievers who could be coming up and down this year (and some hopefully establishing themselves), having a robust group of veteran relievers could theoretically pay some extra dividends longer-term.
Something additional to think about, perhaps, as the Cubs close out their offseason with any other final moves.
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