The Chicago Cubs‘ bullpen is in tatters.
Jacob Webb has grabbed a lot of the headlines lately. He’s been getting shelled in the ninth inning and will have a tough time continuing in any sort of closer role for much longer.
But the root of the problem goes beyond Webb. He wouldn’t even be closing if Daniel Palencia looked like his normal self.
Palencia, though, looks like an entirely different pitcher since his return from injury.
Daniel Palencia Struggles
Palencia pitched on June 15, then missed more than two months due to injury before returning on August 21.
Since his return, Palencia has pitched in seven games, and they haven’t been pretty. He’s been scored on in five of them.
Overall, post-injury Palencia has thrown in 6.1 innings and allowed eight hits and eight runs (seven earned). He’s walked two hitters, allowed two homers, hit a batter, committed a balk and struck out six guys.
It’s nothing like the pitcher he had blossomed into last season in Chicago.
The Cubs have actually lost all seven games Palencia has pitched in since his return — a few since he came in while they were trailing, but a few in which he certainly contributed to the demise.
The tough reality for Chicago is that it knew at the trade deadline that starting pitcher reinforcements were needed, and the Cubs pulled off multiple deals to address that (Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes). The bullpen was supposed to be boosted by Palencia’s return, though, and that hasn’t happened.
What’s Wrong With Daniel Palencia?
The problem is that Palencia isn’t fooling anyone.
One simple way to judge how effective a pitcher’s stuff is is to look at whiffs. If a hitter both chooses to swing but also doesn’t make contact, that’s ideal.
Palencia has only gotten one whiff on his last 60 pitches, including three of his last four outings without a single swing-and-miss:
Daniel Palencia got 1 whiff on 19 pitches last night. Last time out, 0 whiffs on 16 pitches. Before that? 0 on 13 pitches. Before that? 0 on 12 pitches. You’re reading that correctly. Palencia has gotten just 1 single swing & miss over his last 60 pitches.
LOUD CONCERN SOUNDS.
— Brett Taylor (@Brett_A_Taylor) September 10, 2026
There are a bunch of Cubs fans on social media attributing all this to Palencia pitching for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.
Mind you, Palencia got the tournament-winning save for Venezuela, which likely is the most special moment he’s ever had on a pitching mound. He really shouldn’t get criticized for that.
But beyond that, it’s also impossible to know whether high-intensity pitching that Palencia was doing in March is impacting him in September, especially because he had an injury absence mixed in there — which again is impossible to know whether the WBC had anything to do with it.
It’s just a tough spot for the Cubs to be in. They don’t know who to turn to late in games, and it’s getting pretty late in the season to not have those questions answered.
Cubs Have a Daniel Palencia Problem