The Sox bullpen didn\u2019t perform any better on Sunday, blowing leads in the ninth and 10th innings<\/a> of a 5-4 loss to get swept in Detroit and finish 1-5 on the road trip.<\/p>\n Venable and Counsell are no different from every other manager in baseball who is heavily reliant on multiple relievers to do the job on any given day. The average number of pitchers a team uses per game is 4.23, and has been above 4.11 since 2015.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not going backward any time soon, as starters\u2019 pitch counts decrease and the average velocity of relievers increases.<\/p>\n Fair or not, a manager typically gets criticized for his bullpen moves when things go wrong and seldom gets credit when everything goes right.<\/p>\n Counsell was reputed to be a bullpen whisperer in Milwaukee when he had reliable closers in Josh Hader and Devin Williams, but now gets questioned about why he left (fill-in-the-blank-pitcher) in too long. Venable hasn\u2019t endured nearly as much criticism because the Sox were awful last year and weren\u2019t expected to do anything this season.<\/p>\n But now that the Sox are contending, and starting a big series Monday against the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field, his in-game strategy will no doubt get more scrutiny.<\/p>\n Both Chicago managers can only work with what they have, and neither the Cubs nor the Sox bullpen has shown much consistency over the first three months of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Cubs relievers on Sunday ranked 12th in the majors with a 3.82 ERA, but have trended downward since the start of June, compiling a 4.94 ERA this month with five blown saves in six opportunities. The loss of closer Daniel Palencia<\/a> has seemingly had a residual effect on the rest of the bullpen, as evidenced by Saturday\u2019s implosion by Trent Thornton, Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb, who combined to give up eight runs in 1 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n Cubs relievers are last in the majors with 23 holds, while Sox relievers began Sunday second-to-last with 24 holds.<\/p>\n Cubs President Jed Hoyer performed a major reconstruction job on the \u2019pen this offseason, notably letting Brad Keller, his most effective reliever in 2025, sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cubs made Keller an offer, but the Phillies made a better one at two years and $22 million, which made it an easy decision.<\/p>\n The Cubs counted on Palencia to dominate as a closer, which he has mostly done. But an oblique injury in April and a \u201cmild flexor strain\u201d that put him on the IL again last week have limited him to 19 appearances. Thielbar has regressed, while free agent Phil Maton<\/a>, Hoyer\u2019s main bullpen addition on a two-year, $14 million deal, has flopped like last year\u2019s big bullpen addition, Ryan Pressly.<\/p>\n Injury-prone Hunter Harvey got injured early, and Webb has struggled of late and was a complete mess in Saturday\u2019s loss. In between dropping f-bombs Saturday, Webb candidly said: \u201cBack to the drawing board, figure some stuff out.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cubs\u2019 biggest bullpen loss may have been moving Ben Brown to the rotation due to injuries. Brown has thrived, but no one has picked up the slack to replace him. The Cubs can still recover, but to go anywhere this October, Counsell will have to get more out of his \u2019pen.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery season throws stuff at you and you just got to roll with it and you got to be ready for it and you got to adjust to it,\u201d Counsell said after Saturday\u2019s loss. \u201cThat will continue to happen. That\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be. We\u2019re going to try to get in that same spot tomorrow, whether it\u2019s a 5-0 lead in the sixth or a 5-3 lead in the eighth \u2014 every time we try to get to that spot again, you know what I mean? Just didn\u2019t get it done today.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cubs didn\u2019t get into that spot Sunday, thanks to a postponement of the finale against the Blue Jays<\/a>, which will be made up at 1:20 p.m. on Aug. 6. They head to New York for a four-game series against the Mets, before an important showdown in Milwaukee next weekend.<\/p>\n Sox relievers ranked 18th on Sunday with a 4.26 ERA, though it should be noted that Venable has used an opener 15 times, which means part-time \u201cbulk\u201d pitchers \u2014\u00a0 including starters Erick Fedde, Anthony Kay, Sean Burke and since-demoted David Sandlin \u2014 have some outings included in the bullpen\u2019s stats. The bullpen has mostly performed well at home (13-8 with a 3.48 ERA) and been terrible on the road (5-9, 5.21 ERA).<\/p>\n Like Hoyer, White Sox GM Chris Getz also overhauled his \u2019pen after 2025, signing Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez to a two-year, $20 million deal<\/a>, acquiring Jordan Hicks from the Boston Red Sox, along with Sandlin, and signing veteran lefty Sean Newcomb.<\/p>\n The Dom\u00ednguez and Hicks moves were done with money the White Sox saved by dealing Luis Robert Jr. and his $20 million salary to the New York Mets. Hicks, who struggled with the Red Sox last year, was inconsistent before going down with a right lat strain. He returned from the IL on Sunday, with Tyler Davis optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.<\/p>\n Dom\u00ednguez has 12 saves but has been spotty with control issues while allowing five home runs in 26 games. In Sunday\u2019s game, he retired the first two hitters in the ninth inning before blowing the save on three straight singles.<\/p>\n Grant Taylor, Bryan Hudson, Dom\u00ednguez and Newcomb have all been effective for Venable, but the Sox manager has had a difficult time finding the right spots for Taylor, a potential closer and possibly a future starter. Newcomb threw three perfect innings Saturday in Detroit and could be stretched out to start if needed. But the Sox are hoping Noah Schultz, rehabbing his right knee injury at Charlotte, can return soon to fill the fifth spot, since Newcomb\u2019s value in the \u2019pen is growing.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Venable has been using an opener more often of late, except for Davis Martin\u2019s starts, with mixed results. Burke dominated against the New York Yankees<\/a> on Thursday as a bulk starter, but Fedde came in on Friday in Detroit,<\/a> trailing 2-1 after opener Brandon Eisert served up a two-run home run.<\/p>\n \u201cThe players\u2019 reactions, as we\u2019ve done it more, they\u2019ve been more open to it, and that\u2019s really where it starts,\u201d Venable said Saturday. \u201cYou\u2019re sensitive to the fact these guys are very routine-oriented, and certainly for a starting pitcher, an opener can disrupt that. So you have different reactions to it, and in the case where we\u2019ve done it with Fedde and Burke, they\u2019ve responded very well to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Fedde has been used after an opener seven times in 15 appearances. Asked after Friday\u2019s outing if he was getting more comfortable being a bulk pitcher or would rather have a normal start, Fedde was diplomatic.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I try not to think too much about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of is what it is. Yeah, I\u2019m just going to keep giving it my best each opportunity I get the ball. That\u2019s kind of all I have to say about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Enough said.<\/p>\n Fedde has pitched well in his last four outings, but is on a one-year, $1.5 million deal and may not be in any position to protest.<\/p>\n Venable is unlikely to change his view on openers, feeling it\u2019s the best way to optimize performance from his starters, none of whom is on his way to the Hall of Fame. If the Sox continue to contend, that strategy bears watching.<\/p>\n Managing in a baseball-crazy town like Chicago isn\u2019t for the faint-hearted, as Counsell can attest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Counsell and Will Venable trusted their bullpens on Saturday with similar results. Counsell watched his Chicago Cubs…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":883605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[68503,960,1271,1274,18034,1816,127120,20412,16076,5386,1818,212496,21891,1822,358781,358782,13250],"class_list":["post-883604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-caleb-thielbar","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chris-getz","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs-bullpen","tag-erick-fedde","tag-grant-taylor","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-jacob-webb","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-serantony-dominguez","tag-white-sox-bullpen","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116790549067077087","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-CUBS-BLUE-JAYS-062026-50_263923333.jpg\")
Cubs manager Craig Counsell, left, reaches the mound to take out pitcher Jacob Webb in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on June 20, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-CUBS-BLUE-JAYS-062026-36_263920117.jpg\")
Cubs pitcher Caleb Thielbar throws in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on June 20, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ctc-White-Sox-Tigers-Baseball_263891353.jpg\")
Chicago White Sox pitcher Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez throws against the Detroit Tigers during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 19, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya)<\/p>\n