Another Cubs Bullpen Failure Who Should Be Demoted

This one is really sad and it just speaks to the disaster that has been the Chicago Cubs bullpen throughout the 2023 season. Right-handed reliever Jeremiah Estrada was looked as a potential answer to the closer question heading into 2023, but holy shit has he been terrible.

Estrada has been up a couple times this year and at first it was frustrating to see his limited usage. Especially for relievers, ERA really does not tell the whole story one way or the other. In his first seven relief outings with the Cubs, Estrada did not give up a run in eight innings with 12 strikeouts and five walks. But even in that stretch of good results, Estrada was giving up a lot of hard-hit balls that were luckily finding gloves in the field.

Estrada’s last four appearances have been brutal, as his command has gotten worse and the hard-hit balls have increased and as expected, have started to do damage against the right-handed pitcher.

Jeremiah Estrada May 27-June 6
4 Appearances
18 Batters Faced
5 Outs Recorded (1.2 IP)
1 K, 5 BB, 8 H, 3 HR, 6 ER

Holy shit. In two of those four relief appearances, Estrada hasn’t been able to record an out. The latest was on Tuesday night, when the Cubs started their three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels. He came in to pitch the seventh inning with the Cubs trailing 6-4 and Estrada gave up a home run to the first batter he faced. After that, the right-handed pitcher walked the next three hitters before he was removed.

So, what’s changed? It wasn’t a big sample size, but Estrada looked the part of a potential high-leverage reliever down the road when he was first called up to the majors last summer. He was pumping a high 90s fastball and the slider looked good. Well, for one, the velocity is down across the board this year for Estrada.

Jeremiah Estrada Average Velocity (Via Baseball Savant)
2022 – Fastball: 96.7mph | Slider: 83.6mph
2023 – Fastball: 95.7mph | Slider: 82.8mph

And well, maybe more importantly, Estrada has thrown way too many non-competitive pitches with his slider so far in 2023. He needs that pitch to be near the edge because if it’s nowhere close, then you get what’s happened, walks and hitters sitting on his fastball and crushing it.

Definitely a major step back for Estrada, who should be demoted back down to Triple-A Iowa, or maybe send him to Arizona to work closely with more coaches in the team’s complex in Mesa.

What makes things worse is that Estrada is just another in a series of youngish, well more like unexperienced MLB relievers that have regressed for the Cubs in 2023.

Keegan Thompson had question marks about his velocity in spring training, but like Estrada, had good results to begin the season before his sub-par pitching caught up to him. Thompson was sent down to Triple-A after his blowup against the Houston Astros in mid-May and still hasn’t figured out his issues.

Meanwhile, lefty Brandon Hughes dealt with a knee sprain in March and April, so I guess he has that excuse, but he’s also been terrible this year, too.

The Cubs are getting pretty close to the time where they will most likely sell at the trade deadline, so we might see a handful of pitching prospects getting called up in the next month or so. A few of those guys might get a look a lot earlier and again, Estrada should probably head back to the minors soon.