The Cubs have signed their first free agent of the winter and it’s right-handed reliever Phil Maton to a two-year deal with a club option for a third year. Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami had it first and The Athletic’s
Will Sammon was first with the length of the deal. We still don’t have the dollar amounts on the deal.
Maton, 32, is a nine-year journeyman major league veteran, who has played for the Padres, Guardians, Astros, Rays, Mets, Cardinals and Rangers. Maton started the 2025 season with the Cardinals and was traded to the Rangers at the trade deadline for two minor leaguers, Skylar Hayes and Mason Molina. He was very good for the Cardinals last year, posting a 2.35 ERA with a 1-3 record and two saves. For the Rangers, Maton was 3-2 with three saves and a 3.52 ERA. Combined, Maton was 4-5 with five saves and a 2.79 ERA.
But what has to appeal to the Cubs the most is Maton’s command of the strike zone and his ability to keep the ball in the park. Relying mostly on a cut fastball and a curve, Maton struck out 81 batters in 61.1 innings last season while walking just 23, and two of those were intentional. Maton also allowed just three home runs last year.
Looking under the hood, Maton looks even better with a very impressive Baseball Savant page for 2025.
Maton doesn’t really throw a four-seam fastball enough to even register in these pages. But the cutter and curve were both elite pitches last year with spin rates so high that Baseball Reference lists his nickname a “Spin Rate.”
Maton wasn’t quite as good before last season, but his curve seems to have taken a huge step forward in 2025. He started missing bats at much higher rate. In 2024, batters who swung at his pitches made contact 75.2 percent of the time. In 2025, that number dropped to 66.5 percent. He also just threw more strikes last year, with his percentage of pitches in the zone jumping from 48.6 percent to 54.2 percent.
Here’s an example of that curve ball. [Video]
Maton was also death on right-handed batters, holding them to a .536 OPS last year. Lefty’s weren’t great against Maton either, posting just a .611 OPS.
So the Cubs are clearly betting that Maton’s improvements last year were real, although even if they weren’t he was still a solid reliever from 2022 to 2024 with a 3.50 ERA.
So let’s all welcome Phil Maton to the Cubs family and hope he pitches in crucial, high-leverage situations in September and October.
