Evaluating Cubs’ bullpen needs less than 3 weeks before pitchers and catchers report

Jeff Roberson/AP

Daniel Palencia is among the young Cubs relievers whose development this year could help raise the team’s potential Cubs rookie reliever Daniel Palencia handed a baseball and pen to Ian Happ in the Brewers’ visiting clubhouse before the last game of the 2023 season.

Palencia started this tradition at the beginning of his professional career. He collected baseballs signed by his teammates each year as he climbed through the farm system. But this one marked a special season, his first in the major leagues.

“A lot of moments: my debut, throwing the ninth [inning] in St. Louis, my first game at Wrigley Field,” he said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “It’s amazing. First…