Cubs Revamping Their Bullpen With Morrow?

The Chicago Cubs are certainly making splashes this offseason and it looks like it's got some optimism with Cubs fans going. The question is: Will it last?

So far this offseason, the Cubs have made a big signing by getting pitcher Tyler Chatwood out of the Rockies and onto their bullpen. Today, they may have taken a big gamble by signing reliever Brandon Morrow, who last we saw was a World Series team in Los Angeles. So, based on this signing, it looks like Wade Davis is on his way out the door.

For the Cubs, they had many options in their bullpen that they could've used as a closer and they could've resigned Wade Davis as well, had he asked for less money. But the Cubs are trying to take a page out of the Dodgers last season and signing Morrow in hopes that he can handle the ninth-inning duties, like he had done a couple of times in LA when Kenley Jansen was unavailable.

Carl Edwards Jr. is not quite up to the level yet where you could rely on him as a closer. Justin Wilson, who came over in the Tigers trade that sent a prospect to Detroit, had been a complete bust so far. You can't count on both of them to be reliable for you when you're in a close-game jam and need to get out of the game. Brandon Morrow has shown you he can do that and it looks like the Cubs are making this gamble in hopes they can bring over some luck from last year's World Series, where Morrow was terrific.

Morrow paid off big time last season in LA. Before then, it was a bit of an unknown. He was initially signed to a minor league contract with the Dodgers last season and he worked his way up the season. He had come off a season where he missed a lot of playing time with a shoulder impingement surgery, and has struggled with the Blue Jays and Mariners before landing in LA. But you want to know the last time he handled closing duties full-time? Try the 2008 and 2009 campaigns with the Mariners. He earned 16 saves in those games.

I'm hoping it works out for Brandon Morrow somewhere, and I can understand him wanting to be a closer again with some team. It wasn't going to be with the Dodgers, who already had their closer in Kenley Jansen, who is a much better closer and is a superstar. Morrow was not going to be able to get that close to Jansen while in LA and his desire to be a closer again was not going to sit well. Going to Chicago carries two big risks: One is the expectations to win the World Series again. Right now, the Cubs are expecting success like the Red Sox so any player who comes in, either pitcher or regular player, is going to face those same high expectations. The number two risk is his age and injury factor. He turned 33 in July, which means he's getting to the point where any bad season could end his career and he's already had a major shoulder surgery so if he has to go through this again, he might not be that same player the Cubs were hoping for. Those two things alone are why this makes it risky for the Cubs and it better not go that way, because then the Cubs would be dead in the water when it comes to closing and they won't get back Wade Davis if he signs with another team.

Morrow is the best chance they have as a closer at this point. The next most reliable one is Pedro Strop, who is better off in the earlier innings rather than the ninth and has a sub-3.00 ERA, not good enough for a closer. Morrow's the guy. Morrow is going to be the one they throw out there, so let's hope that great 2017 season in LA translates to a great 2018 season for the Cubs.