CHICAGO – The Cubs have multiple vacancies at the back end of their bullpen that need to be filled this offseason. The majority of the cast that helped the North Siders reach the playoffs are no longer in the fold, making this an important reconstruction project for Chicago’s front office.
On Friday night, the Cubs began that process by reaching an agreement with veteran right-hander Phil Maton on a two-year deal that includes a club option for ‘28, per a source. The contract, which is pending physical, was not confirmed by the team.
Maton offers the Cubs a key piece to the relief puzzle being assembled by president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.
“I think it’s an opportunity in a lot of ways,” said Hoyer, discussing the bullpen rebuild last week at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas. “In some ways, it is a challenge. We need a number of guys. We hit on a lot of guys last year, so I think we’ll probably look at the same thing. We’ll look at small trades. We’ll look at small deals. We’ll look in Major League free agency.”
Of the Cubs’ main late-inning options at the end of the season, only hard-throwing righty Daniel Palencia remains in hand.
Right-hander Brad Keller hit free agency, along with lefties Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz, while righty Andrew Kittredge was traded back to the Orioles after being acquired at the Deadline in July. Pitchers Ryan Brasier, Aaron Civale, Eli Morgan, Taylor Rogers and Michael Soroka also became free agents this offseason.
In the 32-year-old Maton, the Cubs are landing a pitcher who found another level in a ‘25 campaign split between the Cardinals and Rangers. Maton has a 3.98 ERA in 478 career outings between seven teams over parts of nine seasons, but logged a 2.79 ERA in 63 games in his latest showing.
Per Statcast, Maton was in the 99th percentile in hard-hit rate (30.7%) and average exit velocity (84.8 mph) last season, while also rating in the 98th percentile in Barrel rate (3.6%) and whiff rate (36.2%), and the 95th percentile in strikeout rate (32.5%) and expected batting average (.195).
Maton led with his curveball (38.2% use) and cutter (36%), which have served as his main two weapons dating back to 2023. The righty also mixes in a sweeper and sinker, while dropping the four-seamer he featured earlier in his career. His curveball, in particular, was especially effective last season, as evidenced by its 41.6% whiff rate.
Maton’s cutter velocity climbed to 90.6 mph in ‘25, which was up from 88.7 mph in the previous year. That helped him rack up 81 strikeouts against 23 walks in 61 1/3 innings last season, while holding righty batters to a .174 average and .536 OPS. Maton was also strong against lefties (.226 average and .653 OPS), compared to his career showing (.246 BA/.752 OPS).
Maton represents an experienced addition for the Cubs, who still have a lot of work to do when it comes to filling out that area on the pitching staff.
“We do need to add a number of arms back there,” Hoyer said. “But the good news is we have kind of somewhat of a blank canvas back there.”
