Cubs Quick Hits: Jesse Chavez Has Been NL’s Most Valuable Reliever in Second Half

Raise your hand if you thought Jesse Chavez would be the National League’s most valuable reliever in the second half. Anyone? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I mean, yeah, we did think highly of the move when Theo traded for him, but no one knew he’d be this good.

Yet here we getting deep into September with Chavez atop the pitching leaderboards. He has translated 25.2 innings pitched to a stellar 1.05 ERA, 1.98 FIP, and 0.9 fWAR, the latter of which is best in the NL. We’re talking about more value than Josh Hader (0.6) and Adam Ottanivo (0.7), both of whom have been highlighted as the league’s most elite relievers.

Insane.