The Cubs and the Dillon Maples conundrum

The , like many teams, could use another good arm in the bullpen. With Opening Day less than two weeks away, closer Craig Kimbrel has shown signs of the same mechanical issues he had to work through at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 https://www.ccfanstore.com/Craig_Kimbrel_Jersey-37. Last season the Cubs managed to plug that hole first with Rowan Wick and later with Jeremy Jeffress, but Wick is still sidelined by the oblique injury that sent him to the IL on September 16 and Jeffress is a player without a team a little more than a week after the Nationals mysteriously parted ways with the reliever for “personnel reasons.”That leaves the Cubs with a less than certain closer and a depth chart in the bullpen that looks like this according to FanGraphs projections: No offense to Brandon Workman or Andrew Chafin, but having them in key setup roles and primed to take over should Kimbrel falter isn’t exactly my idea of an optimal situation. Which leads me to the subject of this post and someone I’ve long hoped would figure out that last tick of command to be the Cubs late-inning setup solution: Dillon Maples Kris Bryant Jersey.