Chicago Cubs Receive Underwhelming Assessment for Ryan Pressly Acquisition

With just under a month until Spring Training gets underway, the Chicago Cubs' bullpen was one area of the roster that still needed some additions.

It was a weakness throughout the 2024 campaign, as the group ranked 25th in WPA. Things improved as the season went on as the bullpen was overhauled, but it still needed some help this offseason.

To this point, the only additions made were acquiring Eli Morgan from the Cleveland Guardians and Cody Poteet from the New York Yankees in trades.

The Cubs had been linked to some of the top free-agent relievers, such as Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez, but nothing came to fruition.

Scott and Hoffman both agreed to deals with other teams, landing with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, while Estevez remains available in free agency.

However, over the weekend, they did make another trade, this time adding a veteran with late-game experience, as they acquired Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros.

In what is essentially a money dump, Chicago is sending a low-level prospect back to the Astros, pending a physical, as this was a deal made to bring on the righty and his contract essentially.

However, there are some concerns about how effective Pressly can be at 36 years old. There are no doubts he will upgrade this unit, but his OPS allowed has been heading in the wrong direction along with his velocity.

“After holding opponents to an OPS in the .500 range in 2019, 2021 and 2022, that has gone up to .623 in 2023 and .718 in 2024, his highest since 2016. He has always been heavy slider/curveball usage, but as his fastball velocity dropped to 93.8 mph in 2024, it got hit hard: .313 average and .500 slugging allowed and the breaking stuff was hit a little harder as well,” wrote David Schoenfield of ESPN.

Despite having to trade away virtually nothing in the deal and only taking on salary, the MLB expert still didn’t love this deal for the Cubs.

He gave them a “C+” grade, which does seem a little harsh.

Even if Pressly performs around the same level that he did in 2024 he will present a sizable upgrade over what Craig Counsell was using late in games.

Across 59 appearances and 56.2 innings, the veteran recorded a 3.49 ERA with a 3.10 FIP, 1,341 WHIP and 58 strikeouts. He was more than serviceable and is another reliable player for the team to rely on out of the bullpen.

A very solid core group has been put together in Chicago with Pressly joining Porter Hodge, Morgan, Nate Pearson and Julian Merriweather.

The constant turnover at the end of the bullpen is far from ideal, as this will be six years in a row with a new closer. But Hodge is being groomed for that role long-term and Pressly’s postseason performance is something that had to be incredibly appealing to a franchise looking to get back to playing October baseball this year.