The Chicago Cubs are heading into the 2026 season with a familiar challenge: figuring out their bullpen. Relief pitching is always a bit of a wild card-volatile, unpredictable, and often the difference between a playoff push and a late-summer fade.
For the Cubs, that volatility is front and center again this spring. But this time, there's a twist: the front office didn’t just go bargain-hunting on minor league deals.
Jed Hoyer made a rare move, signing five established big-league relievers to shore things up.
Still, despite the reinforcements, the Cubs enter spring training with a key question: who closes games now that Brad Keller is gone?
Keller, who signed with the Phillies in free agency, wasn’t the closer for most of the 2025 regular season-he logged just three saves-but when the lights were brightest in October, Craig Counsell turned to him to shut the door. With Keller out of the picture, Counsell didn’t leave fans waiting long. On day one of camp, he made it official: Daniel Palencia is getting the first crack at the closer’s role.
And honestly, that’s a move that makes a lot of sense.
Palencia is the kind of pitcher who perfectly illustrates just how unpredictable a bullpen can be year to year. He debuted in 2023, barely saw the mound in 2024 due to injuries and command issues, and then came out of nowhere in 2025 to lead the team with 22 saves.
He wasn’t even on the Opening Day roster last year-he didn’t get called up until mid-April. By season’s end, he was one of the most important arms in the Cubs' bullpen.
Across 54 appearances, Palencia posted a 2.91 ERA over 52.2 innings. The strikeouts were there-he punched out 28.4% of the batters he faced-but the real story was the improved control.
After walking nearly 14% of hitters in his first 43 big-league innings, Palencia trimmed that number to 7.4% in 2025. That kind of progress is exactly what you want to see from a young power arm.
Now, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Palencia hit a rough patch late in the season, and it looked like the long grind of a full MLB year might’ve caught up to him.
Through August 1, he was dominant-sporting a 1.36 ERA and allowing just two home runs in nearly 40 innings. But from August 3 to September 7, things unraveled a bit.
He gave up 11 earned runs in 11.1 innings over 14 outings, including three home runs. That stretch accounted for 65% of the earned runs he allowed all season.
Eventually, a shoulder strain landed him on the 15-day IL in September.
The good news? Palencia bounced back.
He returned to finish the regular season with a pair of scoreless outings and looked sharp heading into the playoffs. Counsell didn’t hesitate to use him in high-leverage spots, even if it wasn’t always in the ninth inning.
In his first taste of postseason action, Palencia made six appearances, often tasked with getting more than three outs. Aside from one hiccup-a home run allowed in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Brewers-he delivered.
He became the bridge between the starters and the back end of the bullpen, showing the kind of composure that bodes well for a full-time closer role.
Here’s a fun little stat to chew on: the last time the Cubs had the same pitcher lead the team in saves in back-to-back seasons? That was 2016. It’s been a revolving door ever since.
If Palencia can stay healthy and keep the walks in check, he might just bring some long-overdue stability to the back end of the Cubs’ bullpen. That’s a big “if” in the world of relievers-but based on what we saw last year, the Cubs are betting he’s ready to run with the job.