Within Adversity, Comes Opportunity

The Cubs pitching staff has opened the 2019 season in absolute shambles.  On five separate occasions, the offense has has exploded to post at least ten runs on the scoreboard and the team is, astoundingly, just 2-3 in those games.  This goes without saying, but a team should not be under .500 in such potent offensive conditions.  The bullpen has imploded late on several occasions and Cubs starters simply aren't lasting long enough - thus, exposing what has been an obvious weakness.

The club's overall record is a disappointing 3-7, largely caused by a pen that has the second worst ERA and given up the most walks in all of baseball.  I wish I could say that such a disaster was a surprise, but Cubs faithful worried about this very situation all winter.  With closer Brandon Morrow out until May due to off-season surgery, things were already stretched a bit thin.  Then, a spate of injuries befell many, if not most, of the Cubs' relief options in Spring Training, leading to a patchwork pen that has dug the team into an early hole. 

With that all of that in mind, the Cubs shuffled their deck a couple of days ago, demoting the struggling Carl Edwards, Jr. to AAA to work on his delivery and moving Mike Montgomery (who had been battling illness late in camp) to the Injured List.  Of course, this opened up two spots on the active roster for fresh relief arms... who could hopefully stop some of the bleeding.  One of the men called up was former top Dodger/Red Sox prospect, Allen Webster, who earned a brief September call-up last season and dazzled in Mesa.  Webster is already represented in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder; however, the guy who flew from Des Moines to Chicago along with him is not. 

Within adversity comes opportunity... in this case, an opportunity for a Cubs debut:

Kyle Ryan has been in the Chicago system since January of 2018 and has plied his trade for the Iowa Cubs.  Theo and Co. were impressed enough with his performance in the Pacific Coast League last season, bouncing between the bullpen and starting rotation (2.86 ERA in 66 IP with 61K's), to ink Ryan to a Major League deal and dedicate a 40-man roster spot to the lefty this past winter.  Now, he'll be tossed into the fire to take Montgomery's role as a dual LOOGY/long reliever.  Hopefully, he's up to the challenge.

Now, as you can tell by the 2015 Donruss Diamond Kings card above, Kyle Ryan was not drafted by the Cubs.  In fact, when he first appeared in Cubbie Blue on Saturday, he wasn't even making his Major League debut.  The newest Cub had actually seen significant time in the Show with the Detroit Tigers from 2014-17 appearing in 88 games across that span.  It was bouts of wildness that cost him his job with the the Motown club (11.1 BB/9 in 2017).  If those issues bubble back up in the Windy City, they could quickly end the revival of his Big League career.  The current pen has enough issues, as it is.

As for the card itself, luckily for me, my local card shop just so happened to have Ryan's unlicensed rookie stuffed in a bin full of miscellaneous Tiger singles.  Although the current iteration of Diamond Kings is, unfortunately, sans Major League logos, I do quite enjoy the elegant, painting-like design of the product - each card even has the texture of art canvas.  If only Panini could only avoid airbrushing...  Oh well, I'm still pleased to add this pasteboard to my precious CATRC binder.  Bonus points for the story of Ryan's first career on the backside, which just so happened to come against his now Crosstown rivals.

Embed from Getty Images

Meanwhile, back on the mound, the 27-year old has made it into two games on the young season, so far, and he immediately fit right in by giving up a free pass and two earned runs in 2/3 of an inning in his debut.  That said, he bounced right back in an encouraging way the next day. twirling 1.1 frames of scoreless and walk-less baseball.  More of that please - if Kyle keeps pitching that way, it's going to be hard to send him back to the Hawkeye State!

Best of all, as of this writing, the hemorrhaging seems to have come to a merciful end, as the Cubs relief corps has posted 12 scoreless innings in a row.  This may seem like a modest achievement, but with the way things were going early on, Cubs pitchers had to feel a little like Charlie Brown out there on the bump:

via GIPHY

Of course, at the same time, Jon Lester tweaked his hamstring in the Cubs' home opener and is expected to go on the Injured List himself, which could have ramifications in both the rotation and the pen.  Therefore, we may not be done with the bullpen shuffling this April.  Furthermore, if the starters can't get their act together and the bullpen can't stay in this groove, this could be a long season in Wrigleyville.

Hopefully this doesn't degrade into a situation like the old days at Wrigley Field, with a merry-go-round of faceless relievers cycling on and off the mound and giving up runs like candy at a parade.  Remember Kameron Loe as a Cub?  How about Manny Corpas?  Or Hisanori Takahashi?  Probably not and there's a pretty good reason for that.  Luckily, the Cubs offense looks to be stronger than ever, unlike those clubs from the dark days of the Cubs rebuild; so, I'm not overly concerned... yet.

At any rate, that's enough doom and gloom for one post.  Welcome to Chicago and to my CATRC binder, Kyle Ryan.  Here's hoping that the buck stops with you and Allen Webster!