Neris brings much-needed experience to Cubs bullpen

MESA, Ariz. -- Héctor Neris remembers looking to veteran relievers early in his career for guidance. Now that he has earned a reputation as a leader in his own right and developed into one of the more durable relief pitchers in baseball, Neris is ready to embrace being a veteran voice for the Cubs.

“I'm not the master,” Neris said. “I'll just try to help from my experience, about what I think, about what I see.”

That was a missing piece within Chicago’s relief corps last season. As a group of arms navigated career-high workloads in a pressure-packed quest to reach the playoffs, the group lacked that veteran with a long track record to lead the way. In September, the Cubs’ bullpen buckled, contributing to the club’s slide out of the postseason picture.

The North Siders are hoping the lessons learned last season will pay dividends for the returning cast of arms who shouldered a heavy load in 2023. The Cubs also brought in Neris not only for his skill as a late-inning reliever, but for the leadership he can offer after a decade of racking up appearances and handling big moments.

“That's why we targeted him,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “All the references we got on him were that he does provide real leadership and stability in the bullpen. The fact that he's done it year after year, pitching for seven months every year, is really critical.”

In the middle of last season, the trio of Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr., and Julian Merryweather emerged as the main late-inning arms. All three pitchers reached career highs in appearances, as did sidearmer Jose Cuas, who was acquired in a trade with Kansas City at the Trade Deadline. For Alzolay and Leiter, it was the first time they worked exclusively as relievers over a full campaign. Merryweather reached 72 innings after logging just 52 2/3 total across 2020-22.

There were ups and downs -- plus some injury setbacks within the bullpen -- that made things challenging down the stretch. The hope is that the group will collectively be better for the experience, and now they also have a tested, experienced veteran in Neris to be there for the ride.

“I never had done that before in my life and I did it last year. It was kind of crazy,” said Alzolay, who seized the closer’s job last summer. “Neris, he’s been throwing 70-plus appearances for the last three years. That’s something that’s really going to help us manage, like, ‘This is what you need to do to stay six months on the field.’”

Not only has the 34-year-old Neris logged at least 70 games in each of the past three seasons, the right-hander has topped 70 outings in five of the past seven full seasons (excluding the shortened 2020 campaign). The righty leads the Majors in appearances dating back to 2019 (307 games) and going back to 2016 (513 games).

Neris has paired that durability with solid performances as well. The righty logged a 1.71 ERA in 71 games for the Astros last season, and has 12 scoreless outings in 15 postseason games, winning a World Series with Houston in 2022. He also racked up 65 saves across '17-19 with the Phillies and ended his tenure in Philadelphia with the most career strikeouts by a reliever (520) in franchise history.

“Héctor's advantage is that he's really done it all,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Héctor, he's done it and I think that can help that process of like, when it doesn't go our way, he can put his arm around a guy and explain it to him. And he's very capable of doing that. And just the way he does it is a way that every reliever can learn from.”

Starter Kyle Hendricks, who is one of the veteran leaders in the room for the Cubs, has already noticed an impact behind the scenes.

“The whole bullpen's fired up,” Hendricks said. “He walked in this room and everybody lit up, man. Just his personality alone – he's a smiley, happy guy. But he's one of those guys that it trickles down to the whole bullpen. He teaches everybody. Everybody picks up from him.”

And Neris is ready to take on that challenge for the ballclub.

“It’s important to have a guy there,” Neris said. “You don’t have any guarantee you’ll have a great day every day in the bullpen or in the season. On a bad day, you need somebody who has the experience with this and can talk to you and can try to make you understand the importance of the next day.”