Pop quiz, hotshot: Which team’s bullpen has the highest BB/9 mark in baseball? If you said the Cubs, you’re wrong, though their 4.39 is only one hundredth of a point below Atlanta. On the other side of that coin, the Cubs’ cumulative 8.99 K/9 ranks only 13th in the majors. Not exactly in keeping with the front office’s goals heading into this season.
“[W]e have to find a way to address [the high bullpen walk rate] going forward, and we will,” Theo Epstein said back in October of last year, even before the season had officially ended.