The Cubs made right-handed reliever Phil Maton’s signing official on Tuesday, announcing they’d agreed to terms on a two-year deal with a club option for 2028.
The contract guarantees Maton $14.5 million, sources confirmed.
Considering the number of bullpen spots the Cubs have to fill, it made sense for them to strike early on the reliever market. By signing Maton to a multi-year deal, they broke from their usual bullpen-building approach of cobbling together one-year and minor-league signings, along with small trades.
The Cubs will still fill out a majority of their bullpen using that familiar formula. But Maton’s durability over a nine-year career and improvement last season made the 32-year-old an intriguing candidate for a longer commitment.
En route to posting the best ERA of his career last season (2.79), with the Cardinals and Rangers, Maton improved his strikeout rate to 32.5%.
That mark, the best of his career other than the shortened 2020 season, put him in the top five percent of pitchers in that category, according to Statcast. At the same time, Maton continued to thrive on soft contact.
Maton’s success relies on spin and deception, which don’t tend to regress the same way that velocity does as pitchers age.
Maton’s signing, and left-handed starter Shota Imanaga’s acceptance of the qualifying offer, kicked off a Cubs offseason that will continue to focus on pitching.
The Cubs are rebuilding their bullpen almost from the ground up.
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Friday was the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.
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Tucker rejected the Cubs’ qualifying offer this week, as expected.
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