Cubs fans haven’t seen the last of Adbert Alzolay closing games, and that’s a promise coming straight from him.
“I was built for that role,” the right-hander told the Sun-Times on Sunday at Wrigley Field.
Alzolay, who already has four blown saves in seven chances this season, guarantees he’ll get his groove back.
“Oh, hell yeah,” he said. “I’m not going to suck for six months. I know I’m going to figure it out. It’s not even questionable. I’m not just going to be this guy for the next five months. I’ve got at least 55 more games to pitch, so I know I will figure it out.”
But — for now, anyway — he’s being demoted into a lesser role, as we saw right away in the series finale against the Marlins, a 6-3 Cubs loss in which Alzolay pitched a one-two-three eighth inning.
Asked before the game if Alzolay was his closer, manager Craig Counsell said, “I don’t think today he would be.” That’s why the first-year skipper makes the big bucks.
Hector Neris, who has 90 career saves — with a season high of 28 with the Phillies in 2019 — will be one option. Mark Leiter Jr. could be another. Counsell isn’t getting even that specific, calling it “kind of like a day-to-day thing.”
“The title of closer is not an actual job,” Counsell said. “It’s just to get three outs, generally, or to get four outs or to get the last outs of the game. In the long run, if we have to do that in a different way, we’ll do it in a different way. If we can get Adbert back to it, that would be great, too.”
Do you know who never says closer isn’t a job? A manager who knows he has one. With Josh Hader and then Devin Williams, Counsell had that luxury for many a year in Milwaukee.
With Alzolay, 29, priority No. 1 will be finding the right spots in games to help him find his mojo.
“We’ve got to get Adbert some confidence,” Counsell said.
If it’s true Alzolay lacks in that department, it’s not something he’s ready to admit publicly.
“My confidence is always there,” he said. “It’s just a little mechanics that’s going on, and my pitches aren’t sinking the way they should be right now.”
Alzolay did admit that the ninth-inning home run he served up to the Marlins’ Bryan De La Cruz on Saturday knocked him for a loop. If it looked to those watching on television that Alzolay struggled emotionally as he walked off the mound after that half-inning, it’s because he was.
“It really got to me,” he said.
When was the last time he was at a similarly perilous crossroads in his career?
“I don’t even remember,” he said. “Not even as a starter [would] I have, like, two back-to-back outings like that. It’s pretty much the first time, or the first time in a very long time. But it’s part of the game, you know? In the same way the hitters adjust to you, you’ve got to adjust to the game. That’s the point where we’re at.”
Four batters have taken Alzolay deep, or one fewer than homered off him in 58 appearances in 2023. He was 22-for-25 in save chances last season. That dude still exists, he’s certain.
“All the guys in the locker got my back, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “Even the coaches, everyone. We’re all trying to be on the same page and find a way to go back to my old self.”
Three-dot dash
A couple of other things in regard to the Cubs and their “closers”:
One, there’s enough tension around the topic that Neris wouldn’t even discuss it Sunday. “Nope, not that,” he said before a full question had even been formed.
Two, it has to be noted that Alzolay also blew his final two save chances — in consecutive appearances — last season. The second one was on Sept. 1, an inauspicious beginning to what turned out to be a disastrous month for the team. …
Someone asked Counsell about his reputation for always being several steps ahead of the action mentally.
A gift? A superpower? Sheer brilliance?
“Paranoia,” he said.
Look, we would’ve guessed that eventually. …
The White Sox have the worst offense on the planet, the second-highest team ERA in the American League, an almost unfathomably awful run differential of minus-71 and, fresh off being swept over the weekend in Philadelphia, the worst record after 21 games — 3-18 — in franchise history. Other than that, they’re really starting to come around.
Also, try to look on the bright side: There are only 141 games left. …
No. 3 overall pick Kamilla Cardoso of the Sky has her first meeting with the Chicago media on Tuesday. With all the excitement around women’s basketball these days, one wonders how big a profile the 6-7 Cardoso will have in this city. Also, did we mention the 6-7 part? …
Come to think of it, can Cardoso put a breaking ball in play? The Sox might be able to use her, too. …
Anybody else finding it difficult to miss the recently concluded Bulls season? Even the tiniest bit? At least we’re all in great company.
