Could Cubs Aquire High-Powered Relief Pitcher at MLB Trade Deadline?

The Chicago Cubs have been trying to survive in May with some injuries piling up for the team.

Overall, it has been a great start to the season for the Cubs. Chicago is currently in first place in the National League Central, but have some surprising competition on their heels.

Coming into the year, the Cubs had some massive expectations after what was a great winter. The franchise was able to make some significant upgrades to the team, and some have been home runs.

Of the major moves, the addition of Kyle Tucker has helped create one of the best lineups in baseball. Having an NL MVP contender in the middle of the order has made the entire batting order better.

However, while the addition of Tucker from the Houston Astros was a good move, the other trade that they pulled off with the Astros hasn’t worked out as well.

Do the Cubs Need to Rethink Their New Closer?

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the struggles of Ryan Pressly and Chicago needing to target relief pitching help at the trade deadline.

“The Cubs are 24th in the majors with a 4.68 ERA from their relief corps, and offseason pickup Ryan Pressly (16 G, 6.91 ERA) has not been the late-innings answer that they expected him to be.”

Even though the addition of Pressly appeared to be a good one and fill a need for Chicago, it hasn’t worked out so far.

With an ERA just under 7.00, the veteran right-hander has not been the answer that the Cubs were looking for in the closer role.

Since the bullpen was an issue for the team last campaign, their newest addition's struggles have caused some concern for the team.

Luckily, their offense has been prolific this season, helping to cover up some of the issues on the roster. However, the team is now going to be without Justin Steele for the rest of the year, and Shota Imanaga is also going to be out for quite a while.

With the starting rotation in a bit of trouble without their two best pitchers, they are going to have to rely on the bullpen some more in the coming months.

This puts some pressure on a unit that is in the bottom half of the league in ERA.

While acquiring relief help makes a lot of sense for the Cubs, they could also use another front-end starter with their talented southpaw out for the year.

Even though things are going well, there are a couple of areas where making some upgrades could be beneficial.