January 25, 2019

• Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs agree to terms with reliever Brad Brach on $4.35 million deal https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/cubs-agree-to-terms-with-reliever-brad-brach-reports/

• Daily Herald, Cubs bolster bullpen with righty Brad Brach https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190124/cubs-bolster-bullpen-with-righty-brad-brach

• The Athletic, Cubs continue to push the envelope in player development with both technology and the human touch https://theathletic.com/784924/2019/01/25/cubs-continue-to-push-the-envelope-in-player- development-with-both-technology-and-the-human-touch/

• The Athletic, How Brad Brach fits into the Cubs’ plans for 2019 https://theathletic.com/784791/2019/01/24/how-brad-brach-fits-into-the-cubs-plans-for-2019/

• The Athletic, ‘I think this is a definitional year in a lot of ways’: Q&A with Theo Epstein on the 2019 Cubs, the state of journalism and kicking FGs https://theathletic.com/784112/2019/01/24/i-think-this-is-a-definitional-year-in-a-lot-of-ways-qa- with-theo-epstein-on-the-2019-cubs-the-state-of-journalism-and-kicking-fgs/

• Cubs.com, Cubs change pitching development philosophy https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-plan-to-push-arms-in-pitching-development/c-303109434

• Cubs.com, Sources: Cubs agree with reliever Brach https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-agree-with-reliever-brad-brach/c-303101662

• ESPNChicago.com, Cubs, Brad Brach reach one-year deal http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25841899/chicago-cubs-brad-brach-reach-one-year-deal

• NBC Sports Chicago, How Brad Brach's addition changes the shape of the Cubs' bullpen https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/how-brad-brachs-addition-changes-shape-cubs-bullpen

• NBC Sports Chicago, Cubs finally make an addition to their bullpen, and it's a good one https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/cubs-finally-make-addition-their-bullpen-and-its-good- one-strop-brach-morrow

• Chicago Tribune, Column: Cubs didn't just add a solid reliever in Brad Brach — they did so at a modest price https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-brad-brach-bullpen-20190124- story.html

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Chicago Sun-Times

Cubs agree to terms with reliever Brad Brach on $4.35 million deal By Gordon Wittenmyer

A slow-moving winter for the Cubs gained some traction Thursday when they added right-hander Brad Brach to their bullpen, helping fill one of the club’s top targeted needs of the offseason.

Brach, 32, agreed to a one-year, $4.35 million deal pending a physical, sources confirmed.

The deal pays $3 million in 2019, with a mutual option for 2020 that includes a $1.35 million buyout clause. It could grow to a two-year value of $9.5 million if the Cubs exercise their side of the option.

The Cubs have waited out the free-agent pitching market and explored trades in an effort to add two proven relievers while managing a payroll budget close to its ceiling.

Brach is the first, and insiders suggested nothing was close on a possible second bullpen arm.

The 2016 All-Star had a 1.52 ERA in 27 appearances for the Braves after being traded from the Orioles in July. He becomes an important late-inning insurance during the first month of the season with Brandon Morrow (elbow) expected to miss time in April.

Brach, who turns 33 in April, has a 3.08 ERA in 424 career relief appearances for the Padres, Orioles and Braves, including stretches as the Orioles’ closer in 2017 and 2018, has held right-handers to a .209 average (.639 OPS) during his career.

He has averaged 67 appearances with a 2.83 ERA the last four seasons.

Brach is the highest-salaried (2019) player added this winter. Infielder Daniel Descalso signed a two- year, $5 million deal last month that pays $1.5 million in 2019.

Pitchers and catchers report for spring training Feb. 12.

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Daily Herald Cubs bolster bullpen with righty Brad Brach By Bruce Miles

The Cubs led the in bullpen ERA last season at 3.35, but there was plenty of unease about the pen heading into the off-season.

On Thursday, the Cubs addressed the relief situation by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with right- hander Brad Brach, according to sources. The free-agent contract is worth a reported $3 million with a mutual option for 2020.

The deal will be finalized once Brach passes a physical exam.

Brach, 32, pitched for the and the last season, compiling a record of 2-4 with a 3.59 ERA with 12 saves and a 1.60 WHIP in 69 games. The 6-foot-6, 215-pounder worked 62⅔ innings, giving up 72 hits while walking 28 and striking out 60.

The Orioles traded Brach to Atlanta July 30, and he went on to pitch twice in the division series against the Dodgers.

A 42nd-round pick of the in 2008, Brach came up in 2011 and pitched for the Padres through the 2013 season. He was traded to Baltimore in November 2013.

For his career, Brach is 31-23 with a 3.08 ERA, 33 saves and a 1.27 WHIP in 424 games, all in relief.

The Cubs' bullpen was beat up late last season, with closer Brandon Morrow missing the post All-Star- break portion of the season with an elbow injury that required a cleanup in the fall. He likely will not be ready to start the 2019 season on the active list. Morrow's replacement, , hurt his hamstring running out a batted ball in early September and missed the rest of the regular season.

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The Athletic Cubs continue to push the envelope in player development with both technology and the human touch By Sahadev Sharma

MESA, Ariz. — Off in the left-field corner of Field 3 on the backfields of the Cubs’ spring training complex is a simple setup. Three Edgertronic cameras are lined up behind three throwing off flat ground to three catchers. Behind each catcher is a Rapsodo unit. It is all part of the technology that’s helping push player development to another level.

While teams like the , , and get much of the public love in this area, those around baseball suggest the Cubs are also among the organizations pushing the envelope as they try to find every edge in any department.

The Edgertronics are high-speed cameras that work at a much higher frame rate, capturing images that otherwise might have been missed, especially in a ’s arm motion. The images aren’t anything out of the ordinary; coaches and players have been digging into video for decades. But now they’re clearer, and even baseball traditionalists can buy into clearer video that shows aspects of mechanics that had never been able to be picked up so visibly. The players are able to see more and understand themselves better. It’s an easy win for player development.

Where the images are taken to another level is when they’re combined with Trackman, Statcast or Rapsodo data. As defined on their website, Rapsodo “provides instant data on pitch velocity, spin rate, true spin rate, spin axis, and spin efficiency as well as strike zone analysis, horizontal and vertical break, 3D trajectory, and now release information.” Each bit of data on its own is useful to a degree, but marrying these technologies is what really helps teams learn more about their players.

This was possible with older cameras, but the detail with high-frame-rate cameras takes this to another level. It’s particularly useful in analyzing the pitching motion — especially the arm path — given it happens so fast. On an older camera, the arm can go from cocked to finished in one frame, omitting a lot of detail. With the newer technology, the entire arm path is clear, so no piece of information is missed.

Working with the pitchers during January instructs, and throughout the spring and into the summer, is minor-league pitching coordinator Brendan Sagara. Sagara was born and raised in Hawaii and as a 5- foot-7 pitcher, he jumped at the first Division I offer he received from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Following college, Sagara pitched a few years of independent league ball before a labrum injury ended

his career. That opened another door as a former manager helped him get into coaching in the independent league. He worked on the same staff as former Cubs assistant hitting and current hitting coach Andy Haines. One season, current Cubs hitting coach was the center fielder for Sagara’s team.

Eventually, Sagara got into scouting, working for the Mets and then the Braves, while still keeping his coaching gig. In 2012, he joined the organization, coaching short-season ball and eventually becoming the assistant minor-league pitching coordinator. After his previous two predecessors, and Jim Brower, left for major-league jobs, Sagara was named minor- league pitching coordinator for the Cubs prior to the 2018 season.

In a little more than a year with the organization, Sagara has impressed even some big leaguers with his knowledge and organization skills. He spent time with the major-league club toward the end of last season and multiple pitchers valued the little tidbits he would share. Sagara is known to have what one pitcher referred to as a pitch-grip index. Sagara takes images of pitchers’ grips from the high-speed cameras throughout the season. As the year progresses, the pitcher can go back and look and see how his hand was in relation to the ball — was he on top of the ball, under it, holding it differently in some way? — and compare that with how effective that pitch was at different points in the season. Seeing those images lined up over time helps the pitcher understand exactly what he’s doing when things are going right on the field compared to when they’re not.

Now expand that to the entire body and that’s the impact these high-speed cameras combined with other data can have on player development. It’s these little bits of knowledge that can help lead a pitcher to find more consistency as they work toward a long and fruitful big-league career.

“You’re connecting the dots between analytics, R&D department and really connecting it to the human being on the field that’s executing the action,” Sagara said. “I think that’s been the biggest thing for me. Being able to accelerate growth and development with the players by grasping the overall development picture and then finding ways to use technology to accelerate it. We’re connecting departments and making it a more collaborative effort. You have to be open-minded to all things. The buy-in from staff has been great. All the pitching coaches see the benefit of what we’re doing.”

The Cubs have taken heat over the years for their inability to develop home-grown pitching. In an offseason defined by a constrained budget, that the Cubs have nearly $100 million invested in six starting pitchers stands out. A homegrown starter or two ready to impact a playoff rotation would have made this winter a lot more palatable to those who were hoping for more activity from this front office.

But to the Cubs’ credit, they’ve acknowledged their failures and have been open about how they’re looking to address the issues. Senior vice president of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod spoke to the scouting aspect of it all at Cubs Convention, addressing how perhaps they were being too rigid in what they were looking for both mechanically and results-wise from amateur pitchers. And when they had them in their organization, he wondered if they weren’t being aggressive enough in promoting them through the system. They’re addressing those issues along with attempting to be as progressive as any team in baseball when it comes to the techniques and technology used in player development.

With the Cubs holding instructs in January, now is the time when Sagara can use the data they’ve gathered to try to implement any changes with their players. Whether it be adding a new pitch, a mechanical adjustment or altering pitch usage, the groundwork for these changes begins now.

“For me, it’s like, the smallest change — like what side of the rubber he stands on, what kind of fastball we go to, what breaking ball we’re transitioning to — I basically put together a case,” Sagara said. “Essentially, it’s a presentation for the player — every reason, how it ties to them, what they do best. Then it turns into a discussion. For example, we could say ‘We see this in your fastball and we think if you add a breaking ball with more depth it gives you more separation at the plate. This is what we see, these are your pitch traits.’ Then we go through historical video, ‘You’ve always done this well and this tells us you should be able to do this.’ And then we go to a major-league comp and we break that guy down and sometimes we even look at that player’s development process to see how he got to the finished process. And then I just say, ‘Tell me exactly what you feel.’”

Sometimes the player just isn’t emotionally or mentally prepared to make the change and they reject it. Sagara said when that happens, it’s fine. They know they can get to it at a later date. But for the most part, when it’s presented in that fashion, they’re “extremely ready for it,” he said.

Still, it’s not all data and numbers. While teams are shedding scouts throughout baseball in favor of bulking up research and development departments and relying on high-speed cameras in favor of in- person scouting, the Cubs have no intention of following suit.

“As a player-personnel guy, as a scout at heart, it breaks my heart,” McLeod said. “That’s not going to happen here. We feel that with all the information — the way teams are building infrastructure in front offices with a lot of the data analysis that’s going on — most clubs are going to have just a very marginal (chance) to have something that another club doesn’t have.

“Our scouts are really the currency. Those guys that get to know players, get to know people, have the right contacts and have the ability to evaluate character, drive. And have the ability to evaluate upside. That is hard for certain tracking systems or certain pitch data. For us, the scouts are just the backbone of the organization, no matter how much information you have.”

Sagara takes pride in his nearly 20 years as a coach and credits his extensive history of working directly with players for having a human touch. He also knows that despite all his time in baseball, he can’t be rigid to the changes that are coming to the game, especially in player development.

“So much of development is philosophical,” Sagara said. “Before it was real militant and form-fitted. One organization did it all the same way. But for me, you just lose so many guys if you cast a wide net. Individual development takes a lot more work and time. But way more dividends. The people in our department are sold out to making big-leaguers. I’m obsessed with it.”

Outside observers might look at the 59 innings pitchers who were drafted and developed by this front office have given this organization and see no progress. But behind the scenes the Cubs are excited. They see development and progress and continue to try to make tweaks in all areas to better streamline their processes.

While many organizations have come to the same conclusion as the Cubs — that instructs in September and October defy common sense — and done away with the practice entirely, the Cubs took a different path. They still see value in instructs, and thus far, their change to January (only the Giants have done the same, but their day-to-day seems to be a bit shorter and less intensive) has been met with praise from coordinators and players alike.

And while the human element will never be discounted with this front office, the more information they can gather, the better edge they believe they can build. Some like to say that with all this technology, there is no more guesswork. It might never be possible to determine exactly what creates the perfect

ballplayer, but front offices are spending less time with opinions and more time testing hypothesis. They can determine what’s right — build on that — and what’s wrong — try something new there — more than ever before. The processes used by the Cubs and other forward-thinking front offices are better than ever before, and the belief is that the opportunity for improvement never ends.

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The Athletic How Brad Brach fits into the Cubs’ plans for 2019 By Patrick Mooney

Taking advantage of the supply-and-demand forces in late January, the Cubs are addressing an obvious weakness and adding Brad Brach, a one-time All-Star, to their bullpen.

The Cubs got creative to stay within the budget given to Theo Epstein’s baseball operations department, structuring an agreement with Brach that will be worth $3 million in 2019 salary, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Thursday. Brach is guaranteed at least $4.35 million for that one year, sources said, with both the player and the club holding an option for 2020. The deal’s overall value could grow to $9.5 million if the Cubs exercise that second-year club option.

The Cubs needed another insurance policy as Brandon Morrow, last year’s first-half closer, recovers from arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow that will sideline him for at least the first month of this season. Manager Joe Maddon gets another late-game option to help preserve Pedro Strop and Steve Cishek for another pennant race.

While not exactly a household name – it’s pronounced “Brock” – Cubs officials have tracked Brach throughout his career. Within two years of being a 42nd-round draft pick out of Monmouth University (N.J.), Brach developed into San Diego’s 2010 minor-league pitcher of the year, back when Jed Hoyer worked as the Padres general manager.

Brach, who will turn 33 in April, really established himself as a right-hander out of Buck Showalter’s playoff bullpens with the Baltimore Orioles. As part of their trade-deadline coverage — as both buyers and sellers — the Cubs heavily scouted the Orioles over the years. In leaving Baltimore, Strop and each found a new level of success and consistency with the Cubs. While the Cubs never swung a trade for Zach Britton, Brach also handled the pressure and degree of difficulty in the East.

Between 2014 and 2017, Brach averaged more than 60 appearances per season, with his ERA hovering between 2.05 and 3.18 each year. In terms of consistency, Strop — the glue guy in the Cubs bullpen — is the No. 1 pitcher who appears under Brach’s “Similarity Scores” on Baseball-Reference.com.

The Cubs had Brach on their radar as a change-of-scenery reliever at last year’s trade deadline, when the Orioles shipped him to the Atlanta Braves in the middle of a 115-loss season. The Cubs are obviously betting on Brach’s finish for the Braves (1.52 ERA in 27 appearances) and looking beyond last year’s initial struggles with Baltimore (4.85 ERA in 42 appearances).

Even by the middle of the winter meetings — when relievers like Joe Kelly (three years, $25 million) and Jeurys Familia (three years, $30 million) reached agreements with the Los Angeles Dodgers and — a source confirmed the Cubs expressed interest in Brach but expected his next contract to be too expensive for their price ranges this offseason.

But like any bullpen, the free-agent market is unpredictable. Brach’s presence should buy some time for Carl Edwards Jr. to rebuild his confidence. emerged as an All-Star closer for the in 2017, but he didn’t enter Maddon’s circle of trust after last year’s trade-deadline deal with the . Lefty reliever Brian Duensing, who had been so reliable for the defending World Series champs in 2017, put up a 7.00 ERA in 18 innings for the Cubs last season.

Amid those question marks, Brach should be a durable reliever to back up what might become the best rotation in the National League (if Jon Lester, , Cole Hamels, José Quintana and Yu Darvish stay healthy). The Cubs can shift valuable lefty swingman Mike Montgomery into the bullpen and hope a new year and a new pitching coach help salvage the final two seasons of Tyler Chatwood’s $38 million contract.

The Cubs are also trying to recreate the Triple-A Iowa shuttle that helped them stay afloat during the first half of last season and rethinking their scouting/player-development guidelines with the idea of pushing more pitching prospects to Wrigley Field.

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The Athletic ‘I think this is a definitional year in a lot of ways’: Q&A with Theo Epstein on the 2019 Cubs, the state of journalism and kicking FGs By Jon Greenberg

With The Athletic Chicago’s three-year anniversary here, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein agreed to sit down with me at his office outside of Wrigley Field for a conversation. This harkens back to our first long conversation for this website back in the spring of 2016. This interview was edited and mildly truncated.

You read (The Athletic) a lot. What do you think?

It’s great. It’s like The National, but it’s kind of making it.

Did you read The National as a kid?

Yeah, I was in high school. It was like, “A whole newspaper about sports? You don’t have to skip to the end. It’s great.” Then it just went up in smoke very quickly.

I grew up with the best sports section ever. I was totally spoiled by the Boston Globe every morning. Their columnists were like Bob Ryan, Jackie MacMullan, (Peter) Gammons, Michael Madden, Leigh Montville.

When you see fewer people covering sports, as a consumer of news and you’re in the business…

Yeah, some of the trends in the industry are alarming. And uh, yeah, I mean we all know, I think, recognize substantively what’s a healthy way to cover a team; in-depth, substantive in-person with various outlets providing different viewpoints. When you see the trend going completely the opposite direction, not as an executive, but as a consumer, as a citizen, it’s certainly alarming. Not to blow smoke up your guys’ ass, but that’s one of the successes of The Athletic, you’ve embraced the medium of the internet, which can create distance or it’s easier to cover lots of things as one person or not cover them in-person and just aggregate information. But instead you guys are doing it in a really personal way with lots of human beings covering teams and so I think you guys are doing a great job of following the right

trends of delivering the news, but doing it in a way that is sort of pretty old-school and bringing out the best in journalism. So it’s great.

When you’re done doing this job, do you want to write for us?

(Laughs) No.

What’s your level of earnestness right now? If 10 is the day of Game 7 of the World Series, when I heard you were really confident before the game, and zero would be last year toward the end, where are you at now?

(Laughs) As far as my optimism toward the team? There’s always stuff. I do believe in this group. Talking specifically about the position player group, because so much of the angst has been sort of directed at those guys, and for good reason — because of the way we hit in the second half — but I’ve always really believed in this group and by the time they all hit their strides and their primes we’re going to be a dominant offense. And that’s the core of this team and that’s how we built this organization around these group of guys. So when I sit there and say I think we’re really going to learn from last year and the offense isn’t going to be permanently broken or damaged, I think we’re going to see a lot of guys emerge and continue to grow and put it all together, I fully believe that.

But I’m open about some concerns. Obviously on paper the ‘pen isn’t as fully formed as it normally is for us at this point of the time of year, so it’s not without our concerns. You always have to manage the message. In the winter, after the season, you can say some things that are pointed and true. As you move closer to the season, you have to just be smart about the way you present things. You don’t want to lie or hide the ball at all, but you also want to present the positive, because the messages get relayed out there to players and you’re moving into a more competitive mindset where you’re focused on togetherness and hard work. You’re going to be sort of hyper-focused on areas of weakness and try to fix them behind the scenes, but you want everyone to feel good about things.

I feel like in the old days players would read everything the GM says because there’s one paper in their locker every day. You think guys pay attention anymore?

I think guys do notice a little bit, but I hate communicating through the press. I just think it’s the sort of least authentic way to do things. I try to never do that. You just have to be aware that anything negative you say can be taken out of context or create some insecurities where you don’t need some with a player. I think I use that as a measure If I’m communicating enough and effectively enough with a player. I don’t want them to ever learn anything through the media. If I have anything to tell them, I want to tell them through the group or, even better, in an honest one-on-one exchange of opinions.

Is the latest trend of (a prolonged) free agency good or bad because everyone loves the hot stove stuff?

It’s probably not good for the industry, but I don’t think it’s a permanent dynamic either. I think it’s borne out of the most recent CBA, which, by definition, will change in a couple years and just some trends in the game that will be corrected or self-correct.

I was talking to Cole Hamels and I realized he never went free agent. He was like, “I’m really paying attention to it at 35.” I feel like maybe there won’t be those guys who never go free agent anymore.

Well, or it could go the other direction. Free agency hasn’t been the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for as many players, so maybe it makes the robust early extensions more attractive. Who knows? That dynamic will swing back and forth a couple times until it settles in with a new CBA.

As a consumer of news, who’s your favorite source: Rival GM, Person Close to the Situation or Longtime Scout? Who provides the best information?

I like when there’s a descriptor that sort of narrows the field a little bit like “National League GM.” Because then, by process of elimination, you can almost get there and it’s usually Jed.

When you guys see that stuff…

Oh, we give Jed shit all the time. He has way more frequent dialogue with the national writers than I do, so anytime something is out there from a National League GM or a more general source, we always go right to Jed and give him shit about it. (pauses) I’m teasing. Most of the time.

Longtime Scout always has some good thoughts about the game.

Absolutely. What about a “person who wants to remain anonymous?” Yeah, they wish to remain anonymous for fear of getting fired on the spot.

Does no one want their name attached to anything anymore because of the aggregation and how everything is out there (on Twitter) so quickly? No one wants their name on anything anymore.

Yeah, I guess that’s a result of how quickly info can spread and be consumed. As a general rule, if you’re talking to someone and you don’t want your name attached, you probably shouldn’t be speaking to them. It’s a good self-check. Either put your name on it or shut the fuck up.

Does that go for you guys too?

It goes for me, for sure. There are times when you’re in those situations, but as a rule you don’t want to find yourself in those situations. Nothing good ever comes from talking without having your name attached to something. It’s not honorable and not a situation you should be in.

Jed’s probably getting a ton of calls asking if he knows where (Manny) Machado is going.

Definitely. He’s just more personable, so he dives in on that stuff more.

People don’t bug you for that information?

I’ve mastered the art of being just aloof enough not to be bothered on that stuff.

When did you start doing that? Or is it just a natural tendency?

It took me my first semester of college and being in social circles there and then four, five years as an executive.

How’s the leg? (Epstein pulled his quad muscle kicking practice field goals for the Goose Island Cody Parkey field goal challenge. His athletic claim to fame, post-high school, is kicking a “wind-aided” 53-yard field goal in La Jolla, Calif. in the late 1990s.)

It’s not bad, but I still feel it a little bit when I sprint. But in spring training, I will be in full field-goal kicking mode.

Would you have really gone to that thing?

Yeah.

Would you have worn a disguise?

Not a disguise, but I was going to have a winter hat on and try to be a little under the radar. But it would’ve been a blast. I had a few friends who were going to go with me. We were going to stay and drink beer and watch a little of the playoff games.

I think the weather made it more fun to watch, from the people posting clips on Twitter.

Yeah, two or three guys would’ve easily made it, I think, because there were some guys who looked like they knew what they were doing, like they kicked in college or high school or played soccer. A slick turf mat on a wet parking lot, that wasn’t going to work.

What did you think of the reaction? No offense to Cody, but he missed 10 kicks before that game. I almost thought it was a little much. He’s an NFL kicker, they’re going to miss.

Yeah, you know better than anyone that narrative is a huge part of how fans consume sports and when a team has a breakthrough season like that and it ends, one way or another, you’re looking for a hero or a goat. And I think it’s borne of that phenomenon.

What’s it like for you watching that kind of moment? You’re into the game, but you also know what it’s like from your perspective.

Just observing. We’ve all been in those spots where you have, I guess you could say, a singular play or event that you know there’s going to be a disproportionate response to because of its meaning. You can fight it, but you do have to acknowledge the context and what it means to people and factor that in.

You’re not a Patriots fan anymore, right?

No, I went through a period where I was working in Boston and it was a little more competitive and I was locked in on the Red Sox, it was hard to be as much of a fan. But having met and spent some time with (Nick) Caserio, Josh McDaniels and a few of those guys over the years, I’m a big fan of what they do. It’s such an amazing operation. I’ve learned a lot by watching (Bill) Belichick and the front office over the years.

Didn’t you call Belichick?

Yeah, that was a long time ago.

Was it after the ’04 season?

Yeah, it was after ’04.

What did he say to you?

I just asked him, “How have you guys been so good at managing success and turning the page and bringing back a really motivated team the next year?” He said, “Oh that?” He goes, “Theo, you’re fucked.” That was pretty much the extent of it.

Does anyone call you for that stuff now?

I’m not a big networker, inter- or intra-sport, but we do. After we won — you always get more of that after you win — we had a number of teams from different sports, as they rolled through Chicago they wanted to come and have some time together, a day or two together. We did that and we’ve learned a lot from other teams over the years, but I don’t sort of do it as naturally as Jed, who has more relationships with GMs of other sports.

This offseason, I think about narratives and themes and the way things progress naturally, how a team progresses. What do you see it as now? In 2016, it was building a champion right?

Yeah.

And then it was keeping it going. What is it now?

For me, it’s that we have something to prove, right? I think this, again, if you look at the post-2016 Cubs, we haven’t fully realized our potential yet. We’ve sort of underachieved a bit since the World Series and we want to sort of get back and establish ourselves as one of the elite dominant teams in October and try to win multiple championships. We definitely don’t want the end of 2018 to be anything but a blip based on how we perform going forward and what becomes of the rest of this window and beyond.

That can either be sort of a definitional moment, the sort of a counter to the World Series — “Here’s what happened to the post-World Series Cubs” — or it can be a blip in the long run of dominance. And so, we get to, through our play, control how that narrative rolls out. And I think we know the difference between being really, really proud of how we play and how we go about our business, top to bottom, vs. not being quite as proud. Such as things at the very end of last year.

There’s nothing better than putting the work in the right way and being really, really proud of something. Sometimes you get the results that match and sometimes you don’t. That’s an infinitely better feeling than when there’s some compromises and you’re not quite as proud as everything going on around here. That’s kind of the feeling we had at the end of last year. And that’s miserable. I went over this at the convention, but it’s not just bullshit sort of buzzword speak. We had to be honest about what happened, we have to take accountability for it and we all have some adjustments to make. Now we have to go perform with a lot of urgency. That’s how I’m viewing our actual internal narrative with what’s going in this organization right now.

Do you feel a countdown, like a clock? We talk about the window, that’s the great metaphor we use. Do you feel that window with the way contracts are set up?

Absolutely. Again, I think this is a definitional year in a lot of ways. If we perform really well, and this core becomes sort of fully realized, then we’re really positioned for the next several years and can sort of think about intelligent ways to affect a transition while staying on top. If we underperform, then we’re looking at, our starting staff mainly, we’re looking at a year-plus of control left. Position players, the end of this year will be two years left. And it could go in a lot of different directions. And obviously, if we underperform this year, some change will be not just desired, but needed. So I think it’s a really important year for us to feel that urgency because it’s time to perform.

Where’s your yacht going to go after (your contract is up in) 2021?

Yacht? I have a dinghy.

Really?

I’m the proud owner of a dinghy back east just big enough to take my family out and turn it around.

How many rings do you need to get a yacht, or I guess, a big boat?

It’s always better to have a friend with a boat, that’s how I look at it. And I have a couple.

Peter Gammons said he thinks you’re going to buy the Red Sox.

Buy the Red Sox?

That’s what he told us.

I don’t think they’re for sale.

He thinks they’re going to be. That was Peter’s big prediction.

Wow.

Do you see yourself as an owner?

Not in this phase of my life and career. But maybe down the road, yeah. It’d be kind of interesting if you did it with the right people, to have that much say and sort of what you stand for as an organization would be a cool new chapter. But that’s way, way down the line.

You’ve talked about the Addison Russell situation a lot, but have you learned about how, as a company, you have to deal with domestic violence?

I’ve learned on a lot of different levels. On one level, I’ve probably talked to half-a-dozen domestic violence experts. I’ve learned a ton about the problem overall and how to take steps as an organization from talking to them. I’ve learned, this surprised me, that a lot of them look at actual domestic violence episodes as a symptom, not the root cause. That there are other root causes that are even harder to address. But that’s extremely important to address as a society.

And I learned that domestic violence isn’t always sort of a clear-cut thing. That there are patterns of behavior that you might not ordinarily think of as being obvious abuse that are and their totality is just as damaging as what you would think of as assault or classic domestic violence. Yeah, I’ve learned a lot about the challenges of a really nuanced issue in a big organization that’s public-facing and realizing that there’s no way to sort of please everybody. So your focus has to be on the victim and sort of an outcome that represents progress in as many elements of the situation as possible. That’s what we’ve tried to do.

You’re never going to feel you’re doing the right thing, no matter what. The path we’ve chosen, I have a number of people that I lean on that I think have really strong moral compasses to bounce stuff off of, who I really value their opinions in my personal life. So I talk to them about things like this. Half of them think we’re absolutely doing the right thing and are supportive and encouraging. And half of them think we’re doing the wrong thing. That’s just how it is for the people I trust and lean on, and obviously it’s going to be just as divisive anywhere. There’s no easy answer. But I think the only thing we can all agree on is it’s a meaningful and important positive to make some actual progress on prevention, so if we, as an organization, put the work in necessary to be the safest possible workplace, the healthiest possible

workplace, the workplace with the highest standards of detection and intervention and awareness, so domestic violence has the smallest chance of happening here, that’s a positive. If we can support DV groups that are doing that work on a broader scale in society, that’s a positive thing too. If we can support the victim and help her during a difficult time, that’s a positive too.

What did you do this offseason?

Went back to Boston, hung out with my brother, got the family together. We went to (Anthony) Rizzo’s wedding in Miami. That was fun.

Did you ever go to a player’s wedding before?

That was the first time I’ve ever went to an active player’s wedding and it was a really good time. I’m glad I went.

Was it awkward at all?

Not at all. Not in the least.

I guess you’re not trading Rizzo, so…

No. You know, Rizz and Emily are so personable and they’ve got such a great network of friends that were so happy for them, there was no awkwardness of any kind there. Just a really good time.

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Cubs.com Cubs change pitching development philosophy By Jordan Bastian

The manner in which the Cubs' front office went about overhauling the franchise is no secret. There was a distinct focus on position players in the upper tiers of the Draft, leaving trades and free agency as the primary avenues for finding impact pitching.

The consequence of that approach has been a lack of homegrown arms -- a subject that is hardly lost on the leaders of the club's player development department. There has been a change in development structure behind the scenes, however, and the Cubs believe that they finally do have an intriguing group of arms beginning to develop and emerge as future Major League talent.

"It's just on us. We can't just keep celebrating in the 2013 Draft," said Jason McLeod, the Cubs' senior vice president of player development and amateur scouting. "It's so obvious that it's not even an elephant in the room. It's something that drives us every day."

McLeod added that "this is the best" he has felt about the state of the Cubs' arms since coming over to the club prior to the 2012 season. Much of that confidence stems from a change in philosophy in how the team is handling its pitching prospects. The kid gloves are off, so to speak. When and where it makes sense, the Cubs plan on pushing their arms, rather than being overly protective via pitch counts and innings limitations.

In the early years of this front office's takeover, McLeod said the group was admittedly too conservative with some of the arms in the system. He cited Dylan Cease (now in the White Sox system), Paul

Blackburn (currently with the A's) and Cubs prospect Duane Underwood Jr. (taken in the second round of the 2012 Draft) as three pitchers who fall into that category.

Underwood started one game for the Cubs last season, making him one of four pitchers selected by the Cubs since 2012 to log any Major League innings with the team. In total, the Cubs have only received 0.2 WAR (Baseball Reference) from arms taken in the Draft under president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and Co.

"I think as we thought about pitching, we tried to fit everyone neatly into a box," McLeod said. "Do these mechanics lead to what we think is going to be long-term health, and has he thrown enough strikes that we think the prior performance is going to equal this type of performance going forward? So we put so many checks on guys, I feel, that we probably walked by some guys that didn't meet certain criteria at the time.

"That's what I meant by being probably a little too conservative. We wanted them to check so many boxes. Strike throwers who we thought were going to be healthy, that had this type of performance -- whether it be rate, whether it be walk rate -- and that probably hamstrung us a little bit."

McLeod said they were probably too structured in how they handled Years 3-4 of a pitcher's progression.

"We probably could've pushed guys in our early days," McLeod said. "I think, as we sit here five or six years later, I think that -- not to be egregious about anything -- but we're probably being a little more aggressive."

McLeod said a shift towards wanting to take the organization's foot off the brakes began with Derek Johnson, who left his role as the Cubs' Minor League pitching coordinator after the 2015 season. It continued with Jim Brower (now with the Mariners) and is again a focus of Brendan Sagara, who is entering his second season in the position.

The Cubs have a pitching lab in which they are using technology and data to study and implement some of these changes. They are discussing ways to help pitchers last a full season (an example would be building in skipped starts rather than having innings caps). The team is valuing having its young arms learn how to pitch when fatigued but also holding velocity. There is also an understanding that innings limits do not work across the board. An efficient pitcher will get to a threshold in a different manner than a less-efficient arm.

McLeod rattled off the names of (fifth round in 2014), Thomas Hatch (third round in '16), Tyson Miller (fourth round in '16), Duncan Robinson (ninth round in '16), Dakota Mekkes (10th round in '16) and (third round in '17) as draftees that have been impressing. (an international signing in '12) is the Cubs' No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline and will be on the MLB radar this season, too.

"We're banking on good health, but I think we're going to push these guys now," McLeod said. "[There's] an urgency in doing something to impact the organization, not being complacent, not being safe, not being conservative. It doesn't mean pushing someone who's not ready for it, but I also think there is going to be more of a, 'Let them show themselves that they're ready to help us.'"

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Cubs.com

Sources: Cubs agree with reliever Brach By Jordan Bastian

The Cubs have been extremely quiet relative to recent offseasons, but that does not mean the club did not have roster issues to address. One area Chicago wanted to shore up for the upcoming season was the bullpen, and the club took a step in that direction on Thursday.

Sources confirmed to MLB.com that the Cubs have reached an agreement with free-agent reliever Brad Brach on a one-year contract worth $3 million for the 2019 campaign, pending a physical. The deal also includes a mutual option for '20 that will increase the guaranteed value of the pact, though the details of that part of the deal were not immediately known.

The Cubs have not commented.

Brach provides some added right-handed depth for the Cubs, who expect to be without closer Brandon Morrow for at least a couple weeks to start the season. Morrow underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure on his right elbow on Nov. 6 to clean up some cartilage in the joint.

As things currently stand, Brach joins a Cubs bullpen that also projects to include Pedro Strop, Steve Cishek, Mike Montgomery, Carl Edwards Jr., Tyler Chatwood, Brian Duensing and Brandon Kintzler. Options behind that group include Randy Rosario, , , and , among others.

Last season, the Cubs' relief corps led the National League with a 3.35 ERA, .225 opponents' average and 0.78 home runs allowed per nine innings, but there were other statistical areas of concern. For example, the bullpen's walk rate (11 percent) was 14th in the NL, the strikeout rate (22.6 percent) ranked ninth and the group logged the fifth-most innings (588 1/3) in the Senior Circuit.

Brach, who will turn 33 in April, offers some more veteran late-inning depth for Chicago's cast of relief arms.

In 69 appearances last year, Brach compiled a 3.59 ERA with 60 against 28 walks in 62 2/3 innings between tours with the Orioles and Braves. After being traded to Atlanta at the end of July, he spun a 1.52 ERA in 23 2/3 innings over the season's final two months. Brach held right-handed batters to a .243 average (.692 OPS) last year, but he saw lefties hit .330 (.838 OPS) off him.

Brach has put together an eight-year career in the big leagues with San Diego, Baltimore and Atlanta after not being picked until the 42nd round of the 2008 Draft. He owns a 3.08 career ERA with 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings in 424 appearances (all in relief), and he was an American League All-Star for the Orioles in '16, when he posted a 2.05 ERA.

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ESPNChicago.com Cubs, Brad Brach reach one-year deal By ESPN Staff

The and free-agent reliever Brad Brach have agreed to a one-year, $4.35 million deal, a source told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Thursday.

In addition to a $3 million base salary for this season, the deal also includes a $1.35 million buyout option for 2020, a source said.

Brach, who will turn 33 in April, had a 3.59 ERA and 12 saves in 69 relief appearances last season for the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves. To bolster their bullpen for a run at the NL East title, the Braves acquired him on July 29. The right-hander had a 1.52 ERA and allowed runs in only six of 27 appearances while serving as a setup man for Braves closer A.J. Minter.

He fills a void in the Cubs' bullpen, which may be without closer Brandon Morrow to start the season after he underwent minor elbow surgery this winter.

Brach, only two years removed from making the AL All-Star team, worked as Baltimore's closer for long stretches over the past two years. His midseason departure from the Orioles followed the trades of slugging infielder to the Los Angeles Dodgers and of closer Zach Britton to the New York Yankees.

The veteran reliever broke into the big leagues with San Diego in 2011 and pitched parts of three seasons with the Padres before coming to Baltimore in a trade in November 2013.

Brach went 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 2014, was 10-4 in 2016 and posted a record of 27-15 with 32 saves and a 2.99 ERA with the Orioles.

He had 18 saves in 2017 while subbing for an injured Britton, and earned most of his saves last season while Britton started on the disabled list with a torn Achilles tendon.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.

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NBC Sports Chicago How Brad Brach's addition changes the shape of the Cubs' bullpen By Tony Andracki

It's incredible to see the wide-reaching impact one move can make.

All the people crying for the Cubs to "JuSt MaKe A mOvE aLrEaDy!" were granted their wish with the deal for Brad Brach on Thursday afternoon.

Not only was it an actual move to shake the ice off the frozen offseason (especially from the Cubs' perspective), but it also helped solidify the team's greatest current weakness.

Suddenly, the Cubs bullpen doesn't look to be in dire straits.

Here are the pros and cons of the Brach deal and how it changes the complexion of the entire bullpen with spring training right around the corner:

Pros $$$

A giant reason the Cubs have been so quiet this winter is the lack of funds available due to a payroll that already surpassed $210 million before the addition of even Daniel Descalso.

Brach wasn't the top reliever on the market, but MLB Trade Rumors ranked him as the No. 41 free agent this winter and projected he'd get a salary of $12 million over two years (with the Brewers, ironically).

The Cubs are committing at least $4.35 million to Brach with a buyout, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. The most the Cubs would pay Brach would be $9.5 million over two years if they pick up their 2020 option, but that number can also come down if they choose to decline the option and instead let Brach exercise his player option.

That's all very complicated, but the gist is the Cubs got one of the better relievers available for a relative bargain. For perspective, Brach will make less than both Brandon Kintzler and Brian Duensing in 2019, and Tyler Chatwood will earn four times as much this season as the new reliever.

The money for Year 2 would be $6.5 million if the Cubs pick up the option, but that's exactly what Steve Cishek's contract is and if Brach pitches like Cishek, that would be a perfectly reasonable deal.

Necessity

The Cubs absolutely needed another reliable option they could hang their hat on in this bullpen.

Theo Epstein admitted as much at Cubs Convention last Friday when he said the Cubs feel good about their position-player group and starting rotation but have reservations about the bullpen, which is understandable.

The Cubs' bullpen put up some great numbers overall in 2018, but they faded down the stretch last year for a second straight season and they watched Jesse Chavez and Justin Wilson leave in free agency and know they'll be without closer Brandon Morrow for at least the first couple weeks of 2019.

Prior to Brach, the only potential additions the Cubs made to the bullpen this winter were all on the fringe of the roster (Rowan Wick, Jerry Vasto, Rob Scahill, Conor Lillis-White, Ian Clarkin, Colin Rea).

Closing/high-leverage experience

It's always good to have a number of guys in the bullpen who have done the job of closer before, just in case multiple injuries strike (as we saw last September).

Brach has 33 saves over his career, with 30 of those coming in the last two years. The Cubs may never need to utilize him in the ninth inning, but it's a small comfort to know he can do the job if called upon.

At the very least, Brach has plenty of experience setting up and has gotten a lot of big outs in the seventh and eighth innings the last few years.

You can never have too many high-leverage relievers in a bullpen, and Brach's experience will certainly come in handy in April while Morrow is out.

Good vs. righties

Brach has historically done his best work against right-handed hitters, holding them to a .191/.256/.328 slash line (.584 OPS) the last three years. That number went up a bit in 2018 — .243/.297/.395 (.692 OPS) — but Brach still is tough on righties.

The Cubs have plenty of options now to get right-handed hitters out, which is good news considering Paul Goldschmidt just joined a division already packed with tough righties (Lorenzo Cain, Jesus Aguilar, Ryan Braun, Eugenio Suarez, Paul DeJong, Marcell Ozuna and — from the Cubs' perspective — Francisco Cervelli).

Cons Concern over 2018?

Last year, Brach posted his highest ERA (3.59) since 2012 and highest WHIP (1.596) since 2013. His strikeouts and velocity were down while walks, hits and hard contact were up and he blew four saves in 16 chances. He got off to a rough start with the Orioles, posting a 4.85 ERA and 1.769 WHIP in 42 games before being traded to the Braves.

He turned things around in Atlanta (1.52 ERA in 27 outings) and overall, the peripherals suggest it may have just been some bad luck. His fastball dipped only 1 mph in velocity and his BABIP jumped to .344, way above his career rate of .284. Soft contact stayed about the same and ground-ball percentage actually went up, so it suggests it was a combination of increased luck for hitters vs. Brach and a slight downturn in overall skillset.

Struggles vs. lefties

Brach may be good against righties, but he got torched by left-handed hitters in 2018 — to the tune of a .330/.423/.415 slash line (.838 OPS).

That year is a bit of an outlier, but overall, Brach has been much more inviting to lefties — since the start of 2016, they're hitting .275/.348/.379 (.727 OPS) off him.

Considering the Cubs already needed more bullpen depth from the left side, that's a bit worrisome. But Brach is so good against righties, that can help make up for the reverse splits.

Epstein's front office may not be done yet and they can always augment the bullpen midseason. Plus, Carl Edwards Jr. and Pedro Strop are both adept at getting lefties out and Morrow is tough to hit from any side of the plate when he's healthy.

High walk rate

Brach isn't exactly a control artist, sporting a career 4.0 BB/9 rate. He walked 28 batters in 62.2 innings last year — for perspective, Chavez walked only 17 guys in 95.1 innings between the Rangers and Cubs.

However, Brach's free passes aren't out of control. He walked hitters at roughly the same rate as Cishek (3.6 B/9) and was significantly better than Wilson and Edwards in that regard.

Plus, Brach can work around the walks by missing bats — he struck out 8.6 hitters per 9 innings last year and boasts a 9.5 K/9 rate for his career.

Overall bullpen Brach's addition to the Cubs goes beyond just what he can do.

With another proven addition at the back end, that takes a bunch of pressure off the rest of the bullpen — especially while Morrow is sidelined.

For a contending team in what is shaping up to be the best division in baseball, the Cubs figure to play more than their fair share of close games. Brach can join forces with Strop, Edwards and Cishek to help bridge the gap from the Cubs starter to flying the W and singing "Go Cubs Go" at Wrigley Field.

In a perfect world, the Cubs would add another reliable arm — preferably a lefty — but Brach is a good start. Maddon can mix and match with the rest of the bullpen (Mike Montgomery, Duensing, Kintzler, Chatwood) until Morrow gets back and gives the Cubs potentially five high-leverage relievers.

It's also entirely possible Kintzler and Duensing have bounce-back seasons. Both are veterans with track records of success and Duensing, in particular, is an interesting case.

Duensing turns 36 in February, but the southpaw was a revelation in his first year with the Cubs in 2017 (2.74 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) and got off to a fantastic start in 2018 after re-signing with the team last winter. The veteran didn't allow a run until May 13 and had a 1.93 ERA as late into the season as June 6 before things got off the rail. A shoulder injury played a factor, but by the start of August, Duensing was clearly outside the circle of trust.

There are plenty of valid questions surrounding this Cubs bullpen as a whole and with many individual pitchers, but there is also quite a bit of upside.

It's crazy that in the snap of a finger, the addition of one guy like Brach can help quell concerns about the unit. Especially considering the bullpen is the easiest position to address in season between finding diamonds in the rough (including, possibly, young arms graduating from the farm system — which has yet to happen for the Cubs in Epstein's regime) or trading for a guy midseason without giving up much in return.

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NBC Sports Chicago Cubs finally make an addition to their bullpen, and it's a good one By Tony Andracki

Hey, the Cubs finally made a move!

It's been 88 days since the World Series ended and the Cubs now have their first notable addition to the bullpen in the form of Brad Brach with $4.35 million guaranteed for one year with an option for 2020:

The Cubs sorely needed relief reinforcements and Theo Epstein said just last weekend at Cubs Convention they weren't done adding to the bullpen.

Brach is a nice piece, especially on a low-risk deal that will pay him $3 million for 2019 with a team option for 2020 that includes a buyout, according to Rosenthal. He's not a name that will move the needle much, but he's been a very solid late-inning reliever for a few years now.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander turns 33 in April and has racked up 33 saves and 66 holds over the last five seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves. In that same span, he posted a 2.89 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and struck out 9.4 batters per nine innings.

Brach filled in as the Orioles closer at various points the last couple years while Zach Britton was injured, but does have 10 blown saves since the start of 2017.

After a tough start to 2018 (4.85 ERA, 1.77 WHIP), Brach was dealt to the Braves and enjoyed a lot of success in Atlanta, posting a 1.52 ERA in 27 outings. He also made two postseason appearances in the NLDS against the Dodgers and has 5 playoff innings in his career.

Brach gives the Cubs another option for high-leverage situations, as he will likely join Carl Edwards Jr. and Steve Cishek as the top setup guys to closer Pedro Strop while Brandon Morrow gets healthy.

To start the year, the Cubs bullpen can look something like this:

Pedro Strop Carl Edwards Jr. Steve Cishek Brad Brach Mike Montgomery Brandon Kintzler Brian Duensing Tyler Chatwood

Morrow will start the year on the disabled list and miss probably the first few weeks of the season. Once he returns, that could give manager Joe Maddon five solid options from the right side out of the bullpen.

The Cubs also have some depth in the form of Randy Rosario, Alec Mills, Kyle Ryan, Dillon Maples and Rowan Wick should injuries or ineffectiveness strike.

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Chicago Tribune Column: Cubs didn't just add a solid reliever in Brad Brach — they did so at a modest price By Paul Sullivan

The Cubs accomplished two things Thursday with the reported signing of veteran reliever Brad Brach.

They added a respected right-handed arm to the bullpen to make up for the loss of Jesse Chavez, perhaps their most valuable reliever down the stretch, and they waited long enough to get someone who fit into their modest offseason spending plan.

Brach, who reportedly agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with a 2020 option, has a career 3.03 ERA and experience closing games, giving manager Joe Maddon another late-game option early in the season while closer Brandon Morrow rehabs.

Morrow underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in November and won’t begin throwing until the first week of February, which likely will sideline him for the start of the season.

Pedro Strop is the heir apparent to the closer role until Morrow returns after taking over in the second half when Morrow was put on the disabled list with a bone bruise, never to return. Strop suffered a hamstring injury while making a rare batting appearance during a makeup game in Washington in mid- September, forcing Maddon to mix and match the rest of the way.

Strop said at the Cubs Convention no one has said anything to him about closing to start the 2019 season.

“It’s too early for that,” he said. “I don’t know (about Morrow’s status). I heard something about it. Hopefully he’s ready when the season starts because when he’s ready, our bullpen is a lot better. I hope he’s ready in time, and I’m just looking forward to helping, like I always do.

“The best thing about our bullpen was I kind of showed I can close games, but we’ve also got (Steve) Cishek and (Brandon) Kintzler, who’ve done it before, and I’m sure they’ll be able to help. We’ll see what happens.”

The Cubs picked up Strop’s $6.25 million option after the season, while Kintzler picked up his one-year, $5 million option that was part of a deal he signed with the Nationals. Brach is the only addition.

Cubs President Theo Epstein said in early December that Morrow’s injury “underscores the need for depth and late-game options early in the year,” but the Cubs passed on pricier options, including Zach Britton, Andrew Miller, Joe Kelly, Jeurys Familia, Joakim Soria and Adam Ottavino. The best closer on the market, , remains unsigned but appears to be well out of the Cubs’ price range.

The Cubs believe they got a bargain in Brach, who joins Daniel Descalso as the only significant offseason pickups. The Cubs’ estimated payroll is around $213 million, the highest in club history and above the $206 million threshold for the luxury tax.

“I was honest when asked about adding a monumental contract to our books this offseason,” Epstein said at the convention. “I said it continues to be extremely unlikely given the totality of the circumstances. I’m not running from that, not trying to hide the ball.”

The Cubs’ eight-man bullpen for 2019 consists of six right-handers (Brach, Strop, Morrow, Kintzler, Cishek and Carl Edwards Jr.) and two left-handers (Mike Montgomery and Brian Duensing). Tyler Chatwood, the demoted starter with two years and $25.5 million left on his deal, also is in the mix and figures to at least start the season in the bullpen with Morrow out.

New pitching coach will have his hands full this spring with Chatwood, Yu Darvish and Edwards, who had a poor second half, among his reclamation projects.

“It’s not like he’s new,” Strop said. “He’s been with us and I’m happy for him to get this job. We’re looking to help him on any circumstance. He’s good, man. He has a lot of info. It’s crazy. We were together in spring training in 2014, and now he’s my pitching coach.”

The Cubs bullpen led the National League with a 3.35 ERA in 2018, trailing only the Astros (3.03) in the majors. But it also finished second in the NL in walks allowed (273) and posted a 3.98 ERA over the final month as the Cubs let the Brewers catch them in the NL Central race.

Spring training opens Feb. 12 with the first workout the following day. With most of the same group back from 2018, the Cubs are no longer willing to give their young players the benefit of the doubt.

“Now is the time for them to produce,” Epstein said. “Guys have had their adjustment periods in the big leagues and have a couple seasons under their belt. Most of the team is moving into their mid-20s, not their early 20s anymore. And it’s definitely time to produce and decisions are going to be made on playing time and on optioning guys and roles with the team going forward based on production, as it should be.”

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