A Tragic Development Surfacing in Cubs Bullpen

Soooo, the Chicago Cubs don’t have an established closer anymore. Even if this shoulder issue for Daniel Palencia is resolved quickly there’s just no way that Craig Counsell is going to have 100% trust in the hard-throwing pitcher heading into October. Sunday’s blown save against the Washington Nationals was the latest in a long streak of shaky appearances by Palencia and his relief outing culminated in the 25-year-old pitcher leaving with an injury.

Palencia has been excellent for most of the 2025 season, posting a 1.36 ERA through Aug. 1, when he recorded his 15th save of the year. Two days later Palencia blew a save, but Justin Turner hit a walk-off homer to take the heat off the Cubs’ closer. Yet, that seemed like the start of Palencia’s downhill trend as the opposition began to crush him in August.

From April 23 through Aug. 1, Palencia only gave up a total of four earned runs in 35 innings of work and that stretch included the righty only allowing one home run across 35 appearances. From Aug. 3 through Sept. 7, Palencia has given up 11 earned runs in 11.1 innings, surrendering three home runs in 14 games. During those 14 outings Palencia blew two save opportunities and suffered four losses.

And now the Cubs’ closer is dealing with a shoulder injury.

Following the 6-3 loss to the Nationals that also effectively ended any hopes of the Cubs catching the Milwaukee Brewers in the division Craig Counsell shared overall positive news? You certainly don’t want Palencia to have a serious injury and for now it appears as though he’s escaped that disaster.

However, there’s obviously something up with Palencia and whether it’s minor or major, there’s an issue hindering him on the mound.

So, now the question for the immediate future is who will be the closer? Well, the clear answer may be Brad Keller.

The 30-year-old converted reliever has been awesome this year and you can argue that he’s been as important or more important out of the bullpen than Palencia so far in 2025. Keller has 23 holds and a save, while logging a team-high 60 relief appearances to go along with the most innings out of the bullpen at 62.1 IP.

Keller has a 2.17 ERA overall and has been unbelievable since the All-Star break. Keller has not allowed an earned run in 20.1 consecutive innings, while posting a strikeout to walk ratio of 25/6 with a ground ball rate of 51.3%. Keller’s allowed 15 earned runs all year and nine of them came in two games. He’s been as good as anyone else in MLB this year.

Back to Palencia. His decline and incoming absence will put more pressure on Keller, Caleb Thielbar and others in the bullpen. But who knows, maybe it also opens the door for Porter Hodge to retain his role as a high-leverage reliever. Hodge has dealt with injuries this season, but after working things out at Triple-A in August, Hodge has looked great in his return to the Cubs bullpen.

We’ll see if the Cubs shut down Palencia for longer than a few days, but regardless of his status Counsell has to find a way to push the right buttons in the bullpen now that he doesn’t have an established closer.