CHICAGO — From the 2024 offseason through the 2025 trade deadline, Jed Hoyer built a motley crew of a bullpen for Craig Counsell’s second season at the helm of the Chicago Cubs.

Watch Jed Hoyer’s full end-of-season press conference only on the Marquee Sports Network app.

There was the 38-year-old southpaw Caleb Thielbar, who signed a 1-year, $2.75 million deal with the team in January. Brad Keller was a non-roster invitee to spring training, less than a year after he was designated for assignment by both the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox in the same season. And on April 23, when the 2025 season was already in full swing, the Cubs traded for lefty Drew Pomeranz — a 2010 first-rounder who hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2021.

Fast forward to the playoffs, and that bullpen became the centerpiece of many of the conversations surrounding the 2025 Cubs’ success. Hoyer’s front office found them and the pitching staff developed them, but the Cubs’ president of baseball operations gave all the credit to Counsell for how those arms were deployed.

“Craig had a terrific year. In particular, his use of the bullpen was excellent,” Hoyer said in his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday. “He did a really good job not pushing those guys too hard. That’s a difficult thing to do.”

The Cubs bullpen’s 3.78 ERA in the regular season was good enough for 11th-best in MLB. Keller’s 2.10 ERA across 67 appearances and 68.2 innings made him a top-15 reliever in the league. Thielbar (2.64 ERA/58 innings pitched) and Pomeranz (2.17 ERA/49.2 innings pitched) put up similar numbers to form a three-headed monster of under-the-radar arms that Counsell could turn to when things went down to the wire.

The proof was on full display: last season, Chicago’s bullpen blew 26 saves (ninth-worst in MLB). This year, they reduced that number to 19 — third-best in MLB.

“We play a lot of close games,” Hoyer said. “Whenever I would look during the course of the year, we would have no one in the top 20 in appearances in baseball.  I think that takes real experience to know the length of the season. You’re trying to win every game, but you’re not trying to win every game at all costs.”

In 2024, Counsell’s bullpen logged 571.1 innings. The Cubs, who missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season, went 23-28 (.451) in one-run games that year.

That reliever overhaul in 2025 proved to work wonders for Counsell. Across their 92 wins — a nine-game improvement from 2024 and the team’s most wins since 2018 — the Cubs’ record in one-run games vastly improved to 25-19 (.568).

Andrew Kittredge, the Cubs’ trade deadline pickup from the Baltimore Orioles, became one of Counsell’s go-to high-leverage guys at the back stretch of the season. Kittredge recorded five saves for Chicago, three of them coming in crucial, one-run wins in the season’s final six weeks.

There was also the development of Daniel Palencia, who broke out as the Cubs’ top closer option when he recorded 22 saves and a 2.91 ERA across 54 appearances. When he endured late-season struggles and returned from an IL stint in late September, Counsell — still trusting Palencia’s arm — moved the 25-year-old to middle relief.

Palencia excelled there, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings across his final two appearances of the regular season. He was instrumental in the NL Wild Card Series, throwing three scoreless innings as the Cubs secured their first playoff series victory since 2017.

“You have to be willing to trust all eight guys down there. I thought he did just an A-plus job of that,” Hoyer said of Counsell. “The bullpen guys all expressed that, too, in the exit meetings. They knew he was taking care of them. He knew he was getting them the right matchups.”

It will be up to Hoyer’s front office to bring back each of Thielbar, Pomeranz and Keller for the 2026 as they enter unrestricted free agency this offseason. But while Hoyer did not discuss any player moves, he did express his content with Counsell’s staff as the page turns on another season.

“Our hope is that we retain our coaching staff. I thought they were terrific,” Hoyer said. “Knowing that they’re trying to find the little edges that may win a game — whether that’s a baserunning thing or a tip on a pitch — they never slowed down in doing that. I know Craig was thrilled with the coaching staff this year —  we all were, and I think it was a really good year in that regard.”