Trent Thornton is almost the definition of “fungible reliever.”
After a few middling years in Toronto, Thornton wound up traded to the Mariners near the deadline in 2023. There, he produced a very good second half and another solid year in 2024 before suffering an Achilles injury in 2025, which had him miss the last two months of that season.
He left the Mariners as a free agent after the 2025 season and the Cubs signed him last offseason to a one-year, $1 million deal. He was still rehabbing from
the Achilles injury as the 2026 season began, so his first MLB appearance for the Cubs wasn’t until early May.
And that was when he began to put up solid outing after solid outing. Every now and then he’d have a clunker, but in 41 appearances through Aug. 26, Thornton posted a 2.32 ERA and 1.055 WHIP, with only four home runs allowed in 42.2 innings.
Then came a disastrous game Aug. 28 against the Reds, in which he gave up five runs and coughed up a lead. Two home runs were hit off him while he recorded only two outs.
Overall, Thornton’s numbers were a little bit better than he pitched in Seattle in 2024: 3.35 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, 0.7 bWAR. He didn’t strike out many — just a 15.8 percent K rate.
That might be the reason to pass on keeping Thornton. As we all know, the Cubs bullpen needs guys who can throw 98+, like so many other teams have, and Thornton, who turned 33 in September, isn’t likely to be that guy. He wouldn’t be expensive; with that $1 million deal for 2025, it probably wouldn’t cost that much more to keep him. But I think I’d pass.
That concludes this series on the 17 Cubs who are either free agents or who have various forms of options for 2027. Next week I’ll begin a series on free agents the team should be interested in.
