Relief pitchers, unless they are closers, are a fairly unexciting lot. They do their jobs, and you only notice them when they screw up. Terry Adams was easily the Cubs third best reliever in 1998 (although he ranks fourth on my list), but it's tough to find that much excitement in that, especially with how awful that bullpen performed that year.
Before we get to 1998, a little bit about Terry's past. He was a fourth round pick in 1991, and he had four unimpressive years in the minors before figuring it out in 1995 and dominating Double-A, continuing that in a short stint in Triple-A before making his Major League debut later that year. He continued the momentum in 1996 where he pitched over 100 innings out of the bullpen with a 2.94 ERA. This was good enough for him to be the closer in 1997. It did not work out as planned as his ERA rose to 4.62 that year.
In 1998, the Cubs brought in an established closer in Rod Beck but expected Adams to be the primary setup guy. The hope was that the lack of pressure would help elevate his numbers back to those 1996 levels. Early on, that plan seemed to be working. He cruised in his new role, with a 2.03 ERA on June 20th, he was one of the best setup men in the game.
A week later, it was over a run higher at 3.06. Just like nearly every one of the Cubs relievers that we have covered, the implosion was only beginning. His ERA went up and up and up to the highest it had been since the second game of the season at 4.33 on September 18. The Cubs had seen enough, and he would not play another game that season.
He stuck around one more year for the Cubs before they sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Eric Young and Ismael Valdes. Adams became a starter and performed about as well as he did in relief but in far more innings. He then finished out his career in relief for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Adams is a tough guy to rate. He gave the Cubs two and a half months of excellent relief work, but he was so bad down the stretch that the Cubs were pitching Matt Karchner instead. Relief pitchers just aren't all that exciting although two did make it in the Top 10. Terry Adams is definitely rated too low, but that's the price of being effective instead of exciting.
In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
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