The Chicago Cubs have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with veteran right-hander Phil Maton to reinforce their bullpen. The deal includes a club option for 2028 and is pending a physical. Maton posted a 2.79 ERA across 63 appearances in 2025.
The Chicago Cubs began addressing their bullpen needs on Friday by reaching an agreement with free agent reliever Phil Maton, according to multiple reports. The 32-year-old right-hander, who split the 2025 season between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, provides a reliable late-inning option for a unit that helped the Cubs reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Maton recorded a 4-5 mark with five saves, a 2.79 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 81 strikeouts and 23 walks over 61 1/3 innings in 63 games last year. He was traded from the Cardinals to the Rangers on July 31. Despite averaging under 90 mph on his pitches, Maton excelled with his cutter (90.6 mph average velocity), curveball (41.6% whiff rate) and other offerings, ranking in the 99th percentile for hard-hit rate allowed (30.7%) and average exit velocity (84.8 mph), per Statcast. He held right-handed batters to a .174 average and .536 OPS, while lefties hit .226 with a .653 OPS—improvements over his career marks.
Over nine MLB seasons with seven teams, including San Diego, Cleveland, Houston, Tampa Bay, the New York Mets, St. Louis and Texas, Maton owns a 23-20 record and 3.98 ERA in 478 relief appearances.
The Cubs enter the offseason with significant vacancies in their relief corps after key contributors like Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz hit free agency, and Andrew Kittredge was traded back to the Baltimore Orioles. Other free agents include Ryan Brasier, Aaron Civale, Eli Morgan, Taylor Rogers and Michael Soroka. Only Daniel Palencia remains from the primary late-inning group, with Porter Hodge also in the mix.
"We need a number of guys," Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said last week at the General Managers Meetings. "We'll look at small trades. We'll look at small deals. We'll look in Major League free agency." Hoyer described the bullpen as a "blank canvas" needing experienced arms like Maton.