MESA, Ariz. — Last year was a learning experience in many ways for a few of the Cubs relievers.

Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merryweather all had career-highs in appearances. They were relied upon heavily down the stretch in 2023 — so much so that Alzolay and Leiter suffered injuries that limited their usage over the final month.

“I feel like last year, we pretty much, we [rode] three guys for like, three months straight,” Alzolay said earlier this week. “I never have done that before in my life. I did it last year. It was kind of crazy.”

The Cubs did that in a bullpen that lacked a true veteran.

Michael Fulmer was a big-league veteran but had only served as a reliever for a pair of seasons before last year. Brad Boxberger would have filled that role, but he struggled to stay healthy and was away from the team for large portions of the season while recovering.

This offseason, the Cubs front office thought they could remedy both with one stone’s throw — a very strong throw, that is.

The team went out and signed reliever Hector Neris, both to ease some of that workload from that trio, and also to provide leadership and experience to a bullpen group that will have expectations on it if the team hopes to reach the postseason.

“Hector’s advantage is that he’s really done it all and he’s done it in big moments, the biggest moments,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s done it and I think that can help that process of like when it doesn’t go our way, he can put his arm around a guy and explain to him and very capable of doing that. The way he does it is a way that every reliever can learn from.”

He knows he can do that, too.

“I’m not the master, [I] just try to help [with] my experience, about what I think, about what I see and … [if] they need my help, I can help,” Neris said. “Early in my career, I had a lot of guys that helped, and this is what I love to do. These guys, I saw last year the talent they have and if I can help in the bullpen and in the game and the team, I’ll be available.”

His presence was felt immediately when he walked into the Cubs’ facilities at Sloan Park.

“It’s awesome. The whole bullpen is fired up. He walked in this room and everybody lit up, man,” Kyle Hendricks said. “But he’s one of those guys that it trickles down to the whole bullpen. He teaches everybody. Everybody picks up from him.

“It’s kinda like the rotation. It’s one guy after the next, you pick up the momentum.”

More bullpen musings

During his tenure in Milwaukee, Counsell was lauded for his ability to piece together bullpens and turn unknown names into viable relief options.

This offseason, the Cubs have added Neris and Yency Almonte to join Alzolay, Leiter and Merryweather, along with several young intriguing arms. So where do they all fit in terms of roles?

“I think what we have do is we just wanna get to 27 outs and however that happens,” Counsell said. “I think ideally it rolls into something that’s defined, no question about it, but it doesn’t have to and that’s kinda the whole point of what I’m saying is that one year it might, one year it might not.

“I think at this point, it’d almost be malpractice on my part to get into defining things. We have to be open [to] what we see. We have to be open for a player to surprise us. We know we have some players that have been successful in the back of the game and they’re certainly gonna be involved in it, how we get the order that we get those 27 outs is less important than getting those 27 outs.”

Injury update

The cliché as Spring Training kicks off always is a player “shows up in the best shape of their lives.” For the Cubs, the saying is pretty accurate.

“We’re good. We’ve got no issues right now,” Counsell said. “Just the nature of getting guys ready, we’re always gonna a little slower with some guys and a little faster with others, but nobody’s opening day is impacted at all right now.”