Chicago’s bullpen depth faces another blow as right-hander Daniel Palencia lands on the shelf. The flamethrower's declining velocity and elbow inflammation leave a massive void in high-leverage innings.
Injuries continue to haunt the Chicago Cubs.
If things couldn’t worse for the Cubs from an injury perspective, it just has. The North Siders have placed hard-throwing right-hander Daniel Palencia on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation.
Palencia appeared in a non-save situation in Monday’s win over the Colorado Rockies. He tossed one scoreless inning with one walk and three strikeouts in a dominant ninth-inning effort.
However, the Venezuelan reliever didn’t throw as hard as he usually does in that relief outing. He only threw one pitch over 100 mph, and three pitches even clocked in at under 97.5 mph. That’s simply unlike the right-hander.
For context, Palencia threw 10 pitches over 100 mph and none under 98 mph in his last outing prior to Monday back on June 10. So, something was obviously bothering him in his most recent relief appearance.
Manager Craig Counsell and a trainer even went out to check on Palencia after he walked Edouard Julien to lead off the top of the ninth inning. He eventually stayed in the game, but his velocity was clearly down throughout the night.
Palencia will now head to the injured list for the second time this season. His first IL stint came back in mid-April when he strained his oblique. He missed around three weeks with that injury before returning in early May.
Losing Palencia for an extended period is obviously a big loss for the Cubs. The 26-year-old has a 2.70 ERA and 19 strikeouts across 16 ⅔ innings pitched this season and is the team’s most impactful bullpen arm in the later innings.
Although Palencia hasn’t seen many save chances over the past month, his arm will be missed in that ninth-inning role moving forward. The flamethrower has a combined 2.86 ERA, 25 saves, and a 27.9% strikeout rate since the beginning of last season.
It’s unclear how much time Palencia will miss with this right elbow inflammation. Any time a pitcher who throws hard is dealing with some type of arm issue, that’s never a good sign. The Cubs will have to wait for the inflammation in his elbow to go down before he moves on to the next steps.
It is concerning that Palencia felt a “twinge” in his elbow in Monday night’s relief appearance, according to Bruce Levine. He decided to pitch through it and now lands on the 15-day IL.
In Palencia’s absence, the Cubs could roll with a closer by committee. Counsell will likely play the matchups game, and Jacob Webb could see a handful of save opportunities since he has been the team’s most consistent reliever lately.
The Cubs are hoping that Palencia doesn’t miss too much time.
