The Cubs have to do something different in their bullpen. I'm just not sure what that is.
Hector Neris blew another save Monday, his fourth of the season since taking over for Adbert Alzolay (who blew five before going on the IL). It's been a pretty disastrous season for Neris, who has 20 walks to 24 strikeouts in his 26.2 innings of work, with his ERA already up to 4.73. He can't stay the closer for long like this, and typically, we'd be looking for someone to speculate on as the alternative for Fantasy … except I'm not sure there's anyone you should have any faith in here.
The Cubs bullpen blew an excellent start by Javier Assad, and it wasn't just Neris' fault. Hayden Wesneski walked four while allowing two runs in one inning of work, and then Mark Leiter Jr. allowed a run in the eighth to get the Giants within two runs before Neris took it from there. Leiter's ERA is up to 4.50, while Wesneski has a 5.51 mark in 16.1 innings since moving to the bullpen full-time in mid-May. Maybe journeymen like Drew Smyly (3.52 ERA, 4.37 FIP) or Tyson Miller (0.69, 3.00) could be options, but neither has the track record or stuff teams typically look for in the ninth inning.
Which is to say, while Neris seems like he shouldn't be long for the closer's role in Chicago, they might not have a replacement worth pivoting to. And, at least in the immediate aftermath of Monday's disaster, it doesn't sound like Craig Counsell is ready to make any move there. And I'm not sure Fantasy players need to be, either.
It's a bad situation, and one the Cubs kind of just have to hope gets better on its own – it doesn't really make sense to trade prospect capital to try to fix the bullpen for a last-place team, does it? So, if you have Neris on your team, you might just need to hold him and hope he figures it out. That might be the Cubs' best hope, too. As bleak as that sounds.
You won't find much help in the Cubs bullpen on the waiver wire, unfortunately, but we've got some other options that might be worth adding to our recap of the rest of Monday's action:
Tuesday's top waiver targets
Reese Olson, SP, Tigers (64%) – Olson entered his start against the Braves Monday stuck in the worst slump of his career, having allowed 17 runs in his previous three starts. So, of course, he went out and shut out an offense that suddenly sprang back to life this weekend. There wasn't a huge change in Olson's approach here – a few more curveballs, mostly at the expense of a few fastballs – so it really comes down to execution. He generated 11 swinging strikes with his changeup and slider, and he probably just needs to lean as heavily as he can on those two pitches, as they remain by far his best options. Olson's two high-whiff-rate pitches give him solid upside if he can get to two-strike counts consistently, and that's what we saw in this one. I'm skeptical he'll pitch this well most times out, but he gets the White Sox, Angels, and Twins in his next two starts, so he might just be able to carry this over a few more times.
Masyn Winn, SS, Cardinals (60%) – Winn had, unfortunately, slowed down since his promotion to the leadoff spot, hitting just .233/.250/.343 with an elevated strikeout rate out of the top spot in the lineup for the season. But I still believed in the skill set, and he rewarded that faith with a 2-for-6 performance with a clutch homer late in Monday's win over the Marlins. He's still striking out a bit too much of late – three times in this one – but I have faith in Winn's contact skills to turn that around in that regard. This is a high-average player with speed and more power than you think, a la what we hoped we'd be getting from someone like Nico Hoerner this season.
Ceddanne Rafaela, OF, Red Sox (59%) – The overall numbers still aren't terribly impressive, but Rafaela's on a nice little hot streak that shows what he's capable of lately. Over his past 26 games, Rafaela is hitting .326 with four homers, four steals, and 34 combined runs and RBI – made all the more impressive on the counting stats front because he's still hitting ninth for the Red Sox. There's still far too much swing-and-miss in his game to believe Rafaela is really going to be helpful in batting average, but the power and speed upside is real, and his triple eligibility means he should be able to find a spot in your lineup somewhere in a Roto league.
Braxton Garrett, SP, Marlins (51%) – It's been an up-and-down season for Garrett, without even accounting for the shoulder injury that delayed his debut until mid-May. He's had some absolutely brilliant showings, including a complete-game shutout of the Diamondbacks back in May, but he's also had some really stretches, like when he allowed 11 runs in 7.1 innings in his two starts prior to this one. However, he bounced back Monday against the Cardinals, limiting them to just one run over six innings of work, while leading with his slider and four-seamer, which have been two of his best swing-and-miss pitches this season. It's an exploitable matchup, for sure, but Garrett has been a valuable enough pitcher in the past that I don't want to just write it off – if he is getting back on track, he can certainly be a must-roster pitcher.
