Cubs Signing Phil Maton Just The Beginning Of Rebuilding Bullpen

According to multiple reports over the weekend, the Cubs are signing relief pitcher Phil Maton to a two-year deal. The exact terms are not yet known, and the team has not yet confirmed the signing, but Maton is expected to be the first of a few new faces in the Cubs’ bullpen as they look to get back to the postseason in 2026.

Last season, the Cubs’ bullpen was a significant part of their success. They won 92 games and came one win short of advancing to the National League Championship Series. The bullpen’s 3.78 ERA as a group helped propel the Cubs to their first postseason berth since 2020 and first playoff wins since 2017.

But the relievers who got them that far are not all going to stick around; key members Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, and Drew Pomeranz all became free agents, so Maton is likely just the first bullpen arm the Cubs will sign this winter.

If so, he is a quality addition. Maton had a 2.79 ERA in 63 games pitched for the Cardinals and Rangers last season, and if he continues to strike out batters at the rate he did in 2025, the Cubs’ bullpen will take an important step in the right direction next year. Last season, Cubs relievers ranked 21st in baseball in strikeouts per nine innings, whereas Maton fanned 81 batters in 61 1/3 innings in 2025.

But with the aforementioned losses of Keller, Thielbar, and Pomeranz, the Cubs are going to need to remain active in the reliever market this offseason. Their financial outlook is somewhat murky, but they should still have the resources to bring in more bullpen arms. The decision with Shota Imanaga’s contract was already a complicated one, but now that he has agreed to the $22 million qualifying offer for 2026, that clarifies things to some degree. There’s still the question of whether they will actively pursue Kyle Tucker, but as things currently stand, the Cubs have almost $80 million in space below the first tier of the 2026 luxury tax threshold, according to Spotrac.

They have other needs, like a reliable right fielder assuming Tucker does not stay in Chicago, but some amount of that money will have to be spent on relievers, given that Daniel Palencia is the only late-inning arm who is carrying over from last season into 2026.

“I think it’s an opportunity in a lot of ways,” team president Jed Hoyer told reporters at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas earlier this month. “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.”

Getting relief pitchers via trade would ease the strain on the payroll and leave money for adding in other areas, like another starting pitcher, but the Cubs have not typically been big spenders in free agency, so it’s possible Maton is the only reliever they invest in significantly and focus otherwise on smaller deals for bullpen arms and trades that do not cut deep into their farm system depth.

The latter is necessary for the Cubs because they may need some of the guys from within the organization to start filling upcoming holes on the major league roster. After 2026, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner are both set to hit free agency and there are mutual options with Matt Boyd and Carson Kelly. Those are all things to be addressed a year from now – assuming the Cubs don’t work out contract extensions, with Hoerner being the most likely candidate, before next winter – but to some extent they will impact how Hoyer spends money this offseason.

In the meantime, Hoyer has reportedly signed Maton to a two-year deal (with a club option for 2028), and taken the first step toward rebuilding his bullpen. Much of the Cubs’ success in 2025 was thanks to the efforts of guys like Keller, Pomeranz, and Thielbar, so those are significant losses for the team.

If the Cubs are going to make a return trip to the postseason in 2026, signing Maton will have to be the first of several offseson moves to shore up the bullpen.