Craig Counsell has already made it clear he plans to keep using Jacob Webb as the Cubs’ go-to reliever.
“There’s nobody I’d rather have out there,” the skipper said after the righty stretched his streak of scoreless appearances to 22 games Monday.
But there is a late-inning bullpen puzzle to put together as the season’s most important games get closer and playoff baseball casts a glaring spotlight on high-leverage moments.
Daniel Palencia is due back in the coming days. Counsell didn’t get any more specific than saying that Palencia will be activated from the injured list “soon,” but the righty fireballer’s minor league rehab assignment is done at the end of a two-month stay on the IL with elbow inflammation.
The manager previously said the Cubs will be “flexible” deploying Palencia, who has only logged 16⅔ innings this season, and trying to grow that number is Priority No. 1.
Plus, Webb’s been that good, coming into Tuesday with a 2.29 ERA that ranked in the top 20 in baseball among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched this year.
Elsewhere in the ‘pen, righty Ryan Zeferjahn had another tough night Monday, surrendering a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning of the Cubs’ win over the White Sox.
Jed Hoyer’s front office made Zeferjahn its late-inning bullpen addition at the trade deadline, sending young slugger Moises Ballesteros to the Angels to net a reliable high-leverage arm. But Zeferjahn has given up five runs in six appearances since the trade, with an 8.44 ERA in 5⅓ innings as a Cub.
“We’ve seen what we thought we’d see,” Counsell said Tuesday. “It’s a little confusing on some of the pitches that have gotten hit so far. We’ll keep trying to dig into that. I like what he’s offering.
“The pitch [Monday] night wasn’t a bad pitch.”
Then there’s lefty David Peterson, suddenly part of the team’s relief corps after being bumped from the rotation by righty Edward Cabrera on Sunday. Cabrera has since returned to the injured list, but Peterson was used in relief Monday, facing four batters and getting four outs.
Whether Peterson, who has been effective as a starter, makes a quick return to the rotation remains to be seen.
“David has handled this situation really well,” Counsell said. “You understand that we’re trying to do something that’s really hard to do, and it’s going to require some kind of special effort from each one of us.”
Pick your poison
Should White Sox manager Will Venable have intentionally walked Pete Crow-Armstrong on Monday night?
It’s an easy decision to second guess after the Cubs’ center fielder hit a walk-off homer. But it’s easy to empathize with Venable, because the alternative wasn’t too appealing: facing right fielder Seiya Suzuki, who also homered earlier in the game.
Crow-Armstrong is an MVP candidate, so it might be easy to miss what Suzuki has done. He’s been among the sport’s most productive players, too, coming into Tuesday with a 135 wRC-plus that ranked 17th among qualified hitters.
“That’s why they’re hitting next to each other because you try to make managers’ decisions really hard. That’s kind of the point,” Counsell said. “I really believe Seiya, quietly, has been super consistent this year and has had a really good season. Pete’s just been that much better.
“It’s hard to say, but he’s been so good that it feels like there’s a gap. But Seiya’s been awesome this year. He’s having a great season.”
Shaw facts
Utility man Matt Shaw, who’s been out since late June with a hand sprain, will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday.
