Travis/ via Flickr.com

Mike Montgomery’s job as a middle reliever on the Chicago Cubs is a thankless task, as he spends his time bailing out his teammates while rarely earning recognition for his work.

This season, he has quietly posted a 2.21 ERA in 18 relief appearances. But the dominance of Wade Davis and Carl Edwards and the resurgent Pedro Strop have captured most of the headlines for a wildly successful Chicago Cubs bullpen (3.11 ERA; 5th in the MLB).

Last season, it was the same story. Montgomery pitched the last out of the World Series, but Kris Bryant’s slipping play on a slowly hit grounder towards third is what people usually remember about the final moments of that game.

Amidst all the excitement last season, few remember a low profile, mid-July trade that sent prospects Paul Blackburn and Dan Vogelbach to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Jordan Pries and a lefty reliever with a wicked nasty curveball.

On a team full of stars, Montgomery gets lost in the shuffle. However, don’t let his lack of media exposure or fan attention undermine his importance to the well-being of this team.

In the Cubs 3–1 win against the Miami Marlins on Monday night, Montgomery pitched 3.1 innings of three hit, no-run baseball, preserving the Cubs fragile lead after starter Eddie Butler’s early exit from the game.

This game was a microcosm of an unhappy trend that has persisted throughout the season.

The Cubs starters are 23rd in MLB with 306.0 completed innings this season. Jon Lester only has seven quality starts in 12 appearances, Kyle Hendricks has six quality starts in 11 tries, and Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are even worse with five quality starts in 11 attempts apiece. Last season, Lester led the MLB in quality starts with 30, while both Hendricks and Lackey were in the top 20 in MLB with 21 and 20 respectively.

Perhaps most telling, the Cubs are 21st in MLB in innings pitched per game by starters with 5.46. The Cubs are also 22nd in MLB with 22 quality starts after tying for the MLB lead in this category just a season ago. The Cubs are over 1/3 of the way done with the season, and the approximately 66 quality starts they would post if they continued at their current rate is significantly fewer than the 100 quality starts they recorded a season ago.

When the Cubs need to eat up innings in the middle of games (and they’ve had to a lot this season), Montgomery is usually the one counted on to get the job done. This season, he has pitched 36.2 innings which leads all Cubs relievers by 13 innings. He is down for any role, and his versatility is perhaps his most valuable asset.

I let them know in spring training I wanted to do any role they wanted me to do.

-Mike Montgomery per Chicago Tribune writer Mark Gonzales

A former starter with a five-pitch arsenal at his disposal, Montgomery has pitched three or more innings in relief on four occasions this season. In 11 appearances, he has pitched at least two innings. He isn’t your prototypical one-and-done reliever (although he can do that too), and that is exactly why he has so much value on this Cubs team.

Competent long-inning relievers are a commodity for a team that hasn’t had starters go deep into games often this season. Maddon doesn’t have to stretch his starters across additional innings when they start grinding or get into trouble because of Montgomery’s ability to eat up innings in the middle of games. On the other side of the coin, Maddon doesn’t have to overextend the back end of his bullpen across multiple innings either with Montgomery in the fold.

In Montgomery, the Cubs have a unique, do-it-all reliever.

Lots of things have changed in baseball over the years, but perhaps none more than the hyper-specialization of the relief pitcher. And that’s what makes the fact that Montgomery already has two saves of at least 10 outs so notable. You see, no one has had two such games in a season since Alfredo Aceves in 2011. No one has had more than two since Derek Lowe in 1999. In fact, Montgomery became just the ninth pitcher to notch at least two 10-out saves since 2000. -Per ESPN writer Bradford Doolittle

Montgomery is the Cubs recovery drink. Last night against the Marlins, he reset the Cubs bullpen for today by pitching 3.1 scoreless innings. With the dominant Wade Davis on paternity leave until further notice, preserving as many bullpen arms as possible for today was crucial. From a more big-picture standpoint, Montgomery’s ability to give the Cubs multiple quality innings provides needed rest and recovery for a pitching staff that may still be feeling the lingering effects of their workload last season. This especially pertains to a starting rotation that finished second in MLB with 989.0 innings of work in the regular season before working an additional 93.1 innings during the postseason.

In two of Eddie Butler’s six starts this season, Cubs Manager Joe Maddon has pulled him early in favor of Montgomery, creating a platoon setup at the fifth starter spot. It’s a painfully small sample size, but the Cubs have won both of the starts that they’ve used Butler and Montgomery in tandem.

In essence, Montgomery allows Maddon to give Butler starts because the Cubs manager doesn’t have to worry about overextending his bullpen if Butler exits the game prematurely. If called upon later in the season, Montgomery may ditch the tandem act, and integrate into that fifth-starter spot permanently.

Montgomery has 23 starts under his belt during his three-year MLB career, and has accumulated a 4.23 ERA and a 5–7 record. Not overtly inspiring at face value, but last season his numbers as a starter were much improved (3.28 ERA in seven starts). Plus, he has thrived in high-leverage starter like roles out of the bullpen, pitching well across multiple innings and showing the ability to effectively establish five pitches including his devastating curve.

Maybe Montgomery impresses in spot starting roles later this season, and earns the job permanently. If he is solid in this role (which isn’t that far-fetched of a notion), he could save the Cubs from having to trade away valuable positon talent for pitching at the trade deadline.

Montgomery may not have another “On The Diamond” interview on Comcast SportsNet Chicago this season. He probably won’t star in a Bryzzo Souvenir Company commercial or capture the imagination of Chicago with his dazzling numbers and incredible good looks. However, this shouldn’t diminish the importance of his role with this team. His ability to continue to provide quality innings in the middle of games will help the team win while affording much-needed rest to a still recovering pitching unit.

Paul Steeno spent 11 years pretending he was good at running. After hanging up the track spikes and officially becoming an elite hobby jogger, he decided to do something that he was actually good at: like writing about the Cubs. He is also a perpetually frustrated Chicago Bulls fan. This one time he got super lucky and ran 3:52 in the 1500 meter run.