Commentary: The Michael Fulmer closer experiment is over |
The Cubs are enjoying a hot start to the 2023 season that has turned some heads around baseball thus far. One of the glaring reasons that the Cubs have had success to start the season has been the obvious fact that significant additions were made over the winter to improve the ball club.
Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Tucker Barnhart, Eric Hosmer, Jameson Taillon, Brad Boxberger, and Michael Fulmer were all added to this roster that finished with 74 wins and third place in the NL Central. Some of them were signed to multi-year contracts, some only for one-year deals, and money ranged all the way up to 177 million dollars for Swanson. But as the Cubs learned in 2016 during their last era of competitive baseball — and took notes on in the years that followed that led to their second rebuild in the decade — illustrated by Jason Heyward, Brandon Morrow, and Tyler Chatwood, some moves just do not work out for the team. During this window, even though it’s early, it appears Michael Fulmer is one of those moves. The Cubs brought Fulmer into the team late during the offseason, and it appeared Fulmer would be used to shore out the back of the Cubs’ bullpen. Early in the season, Fulmer has been deemed the 9th inning guy (technically not the “closer” since Cubs Manager David Ross has elected to not name a closer). Fulmer spent the first four years of his career as a starter in Detroit with the Tigers — making 85 starts. Then during the 2021 season, Fulmer shifted from the Tigers rotation to the bullpen, including a few save opportunities, 14 of which he converted during a season where he sported his strongest career ERA of 2.97. In 2022, Fulmer was solely out of the bullpen for both the Tigers and the Twins. He appeared in 67 games and had three saves, and had a strong ERA of 3.39. So, acquiring Fulmer for the Cubs was a nice move to bolster a bullpen that needed some veteran depth and leadership. On opening day the Cubs went Marcus Stroman (for six innings) and Keegan Thompson, Brad Boxberger, and then Fulmer for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings — which seemed to be the formula for the Cubs, who enjoyed a shutout victory to start the season. Fulmer was scoreless through his first three appearances of the season, including a save in a 2-0 victory over Texas. He has allowed baserunners in six of his last seven outings, including two losses and two blown saves, and six earned runs allowed in his last 1.1 innings of action. His ERA on the season is now up over 8.00 — but it is clear that the role he has been pitching in is not a role he is typically good in. This season in the 8th inning, he is yet to give up a run. In the 9th inning, his ERA is 13.50. You may think that is a bad sample size, but in his career, his 8th-inning ERA is 2.51 (the lowest in his career), and his 9th-inning ERA is almost 5.00. In his career, he has blown 10 out of the 28 save opportunities he’s ever had. It’s safe to say the Fulmer in the Cubs’ closer role is an experiment that has gone on long enough. Michael Fulmer is an absolute mess mechanically and mentally. Needs a trip to the IL. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I better figure it out pretty damn quick,” Cubs reliever Michael Fulmer said after giving up a ninth-inning grand slam to James Outman in Thursday night’s 6-2 loss to the Dodgers at Wrigley Field. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to Michael Fulmer pic.twitter.com/EtQtbDFRvB when you see david ross bring in michael fulmer pic.twitter.com/pnjVi76nai
