Chicago Cubs, Colin Rea Agree to One-Year Extension

[Matthew Lenz]

Days after declining Shota Imanaga's option, opening a spot in the Chicago Cubs rotation, they have extended a different starter for one year with a team option in 2027.

Steve Adams of MLBTR is reporting that the Chicago Cubs and Colin Rea have agreed to a one-year contract extension. Rea had a $6 million club option (with a $750K buyout) for 2026; however, this deal gives him a $500K raise next year, with a $6.5 million club option in 2027. A buyout, if that option is declined, was not reported.

Rea, who spent the first month of the season as a swingman, was thrust into the rotation due to injuries. He handled the transition relatively well across 27 starts, posting a 4.29 FIP and 12.6% K-BB rate. The 35-year-old's under-the-hood metrics weren't great, but his deep arsenal helped mitigate his lack of "stuff". In particular, his off-speed offerings held opposing hitters to a sub-.260 batting and sub-.400 slugging percentage. Simply put, he did a serviceable job in the back end of the Cubs' rotation, eating innings.

The loss of Imanaga hopefully forces the Cubs' hand in pursuing a higher-end starting option in free agency, especially after it was reported they wouldn't be pursuing top-end relievers.

How do you feel about Rea as a back-end rotation/swing man arm for the 2026 season? Let us know in the comments!

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[Jason Ross]

Essentially, for all intents and purposes, this just picks up the 2026 option and adds a 2027 one. Totally fine; cheap and effective. 

[Rcal10]

8 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Essentially, for all intents and purposes, this just picks up the 2026 option and adds a 2027 one. Totally fine; cheap and effective. 

Agreed. But does this now signal adding only 1 starting pitcher this off season? Or if the Cubs can restructure a Shōta deal, maybe no starting pitchers added. Go with the same crew and hope Steele is back early? Sure hope the Shota scenerio isn’t the case. I would like at least one TOR starter this off season. He isn’t it, IMO. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

#allin

[Bertz]

I would suspect this does two things:

- Frees up Jed to move one of the Assad/Brown/Wicks trio, maybe two pf them.  I think if you are eyeing a big trade this winter one of the Iowa bats plus one of those three arms feels like it'd form the bulk of the return

- That 2027 option is pretty nifty.  We're losing multiple veterans to free agency, and you hope that the kids step up to fill a healthy bit of that void, but this provides some insurance if they don't

[Jason Ross]

35 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Agreed. But does this now signal adding only 1 starting pitcher this off season? Or if the Cubs can restructure a Shōta deal, maybe no starting pitchers added. Go with the same crew and hope Steele is back early? Sure hope the Shota scenerio isn’t the case. I would like at least one TOR starter this off season. He isn’t it, IMO. 

I do not think this signals anything like that. The Cubs can use him as a long man. He's great backup for the rotation. 

It likely means more for Javier Assad than if the Cubs are signing 1 or 2 SP's.

[mul21]

38 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Agreed. But does this now signal adding only 1 starting pitcher this off season? Or if the Cubs can restructure a Shota deal, maybe no starting pitchers added. Go with the same crew and hope Steele is back early? Sure hope the Shota scenario isn’t the case. I would like at least one TOR starter this off season. He isn’t it, IMO. 

I think this has zero effect on the rotation plans.  He's a depth piece that will pitch out of the pen and can slide into the rotation as needed if there are injuries or ineffectiveness.

[Tryptamine]

Dumps Shota and Kittredge but picks up Rea's option. Yup, get ready to be incredibly underwhelmed. 

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Dumps Shota and Kittredge but picks up Rea's option. Yup, get ready to be incredibly underwhelmed. 

A bit too early for this. So far they made two rather obvious choices and one iffy one. But not picking up Kittredge really isn’t all that unusual for how they build pens. 

[Tryptamine]

11 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

A bit too early for this. So far they made two rather obvious choices and one iffy one. But not picking up Kittredge really isn’t all that unusual for how they build pens. 

And as a result they keep having to trade prospects to fill the needs in the pen at the deadline.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I didn't like the Rea signing last year, but I have come around to the position that this move is fine.  He is an affordable depth piece, and buying an extra year of flexibility  isn't a bad move.  If he has a solid year in 2026, he will be a cheap option again in 2027.  If he starts to decline, then cut bait and move on to someone else after 2026.  Not an exciting move, but it is fine.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

I do not think this signals anything like that. The Cubs can use him as a long man. He's great backup for the rotation. 

It likely means more for Javier Assad than if the Cubs are signing 1 or 2 SP's.

I agree it also signals a real possibility that one of the depth back of the rotation young guys (Assad, as you suggested) gets moved. But I think with 3 definite starters and Steele coming back early(ish) in the season, if they believe Steele will be fine, I don’t think they will go with 2 MOR/TOR starters added now that they have Rea. If they went with 2, Rea would be a 7th starter.  I think Rea will be used as a 5th starter until Steele gets back and then be a spot starter, long relief man after that, with one pitcher added. And this doesn’t even include Wiggins later in the season. 

[Bertz]

Each of the last three years the Cubs have had to use 8 starting pitchers.  In '24 if they'd had a 9th they would have used him and moved Hendricks out of the rotation sooner.  Last year Brandon Birdsell was viewed as depth coming into the year but had his AAA season mostly wiped out by injury.

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

And as a result they keep having to trade prospects to fill the needs in the pen at the deadline.

But we aren’t really talking solely about the Kittredge decision. I would have liked to have kept him and understand your logic. I am just saying the moves they made so far are not exactly that indicative of an upcoming off season. It is a bit too early to suggest these moves sets up for an underwhelming off season. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

I would suspect this does two things:

- Frees up Jed to move one of the Assad/Brown/Wicks trio, maybe two pf them.  I think if you are eyeing a big trade this winter one of the Iowa bats plus one of those three arms feels like it'd form the bulk of the return

- That 2027 option is pretty nifty.  We're losing multiple veterans to free agency, and you hope that the kids step up to fill a healthy bit of that void, but this provides some insurance if they don't

I agree with this. I think one of the depth young pitchers will be moved along with a young bat to get either a bat or a rotation piece. Whichever they don’t get, I think they will get that piece via free agency. I am probably reading too much into bringing Rea back signaling only 1 starting pitcher added. But that is probably because I think with or without Rea that is all they will do anyway. So bringing Rea back is a real good depth move. Add one TOR starters and go with TOR starter, Steele, Horton, Boyd, Taillon with Rea and whatever young pitchers don’t get traded as depth. Plus Wiggins comes up late in the year. I just don’t see them adding 2 solid starting pitchers. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

Dumps Shota and Kittredge but picks up Rea's option. Yup, get ready to be incredibly underwhelmed. 

Bro what do you mean? Clearly the dodger method doesnt work, oh wait…

[Post Count Padder]

This is fine. It's not exciting but Rea handled his role well this year. Gives us more options and certainty. And it's not so much that we can't part with him if it doesn't work out again.

[mul21]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

I agree it also signals a real possibility that one of the depth back of the rotation young guys (Assad, as you suggested) gets moved. But I think with 3 definite starters and Steele coming back early(ish) in the season, if they believe Steele will be fine, I don’t think they will go with 2 MOR/TOR starters added now that they have Rea. If they went with 2, Rea would be a 7th starter.  I think Rea will be used as a 5th starter until Steele gets back and then be a spot starter, long relief man after that, with one pitcher added. And this doesn’t even include Wiggins later in the season. 

I think this is what the plan is.  He serves as a swingman/injury insurance until Steele is back and once that happens, you can make some other decisions dependent on health.  As Bertz points out, getting through the season with less than 8 guys starting games is pretty unlikely and having Rea in the fold as a reliable fall back option is a nice insurance policy even with 2 more guys added to the rotation.

[cubfansince77]

On 11/6/2025 at 9:33 AM, Jason Ross said:

Essentially, for all intents and purposes, this just picks up the 2026 option and adds a 2027 one. Totally fine; cheap and effective. 

Exactly JR....I've been beating the drum for months to re-sign this guy. Yeah, he's older but he's durable and he KNOWS how to pitch. Great BOR kinda guy that affords Counsel great flexibility as a swing man if need be too. Very happy about it.