Cubs Emergence of Star Closer Has Dramatically Altered Trade Deadline Strategy

The Chicago Cubs are among the best teams in baseball and are expected to be extremely aggressive at the upcoming trade deadline when it comes to trying to make upgrades.

This is far from a perfect team, however, they are a few of the right moves away from going from an impressive first half to a legitimate World Series contender.

Every report has indicated the Cubs are going to be relentless when it comes to going for it this year, and that means not being afraid to make a significant deal to make upgrades at their perceived positions of weakness.

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In the early portion of the season, it looked like the bullpen and acquiring more high-leverage relievers. More specifically, the role of closer was a complete mess after trade acquisition from the Houston Astros Ryan Pressly struggled.

As the year has gone on though, the bullpen has against all odds become borderline elite, second in all of baseball with a collective ERA of 3.21. Perhaps the biggest development though has been the emergence of a new closer in the last month.

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25-year-old flamethrower Daniel Palencia entered the season as a guy with potential but had not put it all together yet. With the ability to throw in the triple digits and generate strikeouts at a high level, the hope was that he would be an important part of the bullpen.

Instead, he has become the team's de facto closer and looked absolutely dominant in that role, picking up his 10th save of the season on Wednesday night and his second in a row.

On the year, Palencia now has an ERA of 1.74 and 0.968 WHIP with 35 strikeouts in 31 innings compared to just 11 walks.

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He has not been given the role of closer officially, at least not by title, but it is starting to become clear that he is the best option to shut games down in the ninth inning or beyond.

With Palencia having emerged as a bona fide star, Chicago's biggest deadline need shifts to the starting rotation and getting some more depth in that area to give them quality starts.

Another bat would be fantastic as well, and this also becomes more attainable with the bullpen looking much more shored up with defined roles than it was at the start of the year.

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It wouldn't hurt to have some more relief options, but having Palencia in the fold puts the Cubs in a position where they can focus their assets on other needs and give themselves a better chance, ultimately, to win both now and in the future.

If Palencia can keep this up, he is going to be locking down wins in October at Wrigley Field.

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