Cubs sign Phil Maton

[Dfan25]

Rumor going around the Cubs have sign Phil Maton ( Per Michael Cerami ) 

[Post Count Padder]

Finally a move. He's been a fine middle reliever for a few years but was pretty great in 2025 (and the second half of 2024). 

[Jason Ross]

Velo jump guy last year. Turned into a monster for it. 

Guarantee he's s at least a 2 year deal. He was too good to be a one year. 

[Post Count Padder]

 

[Post Count Padder]

 

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

 

I'll guess 2/$16m with the possibility of an extra $1m on a buy out with the club option. 

He comes in $1m under Kittredgeon AAV but gets an extra year and there's the buyout....and he's Kittredge-esque. They have different mixes but they fill similar roles and in a somewhat similar style of "movement, movement and movement". He's younger and if you believe the velo jump sticks arguably better. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

144 relievers had 50 IP last year, Maton was tied for 19th in K-BB%(23.4%). Not sure how optimistic I am that will continue when he'd sat just under 20 for several years, but hopefully they think the recipe is there.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Maton was 10th in whiff rate last year, min 200 PA faced

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Yeah he has a crazy savant page.

Almost 80% Curveball/Cutter, no 4-seam.

Edited November 22, 2025 by Tangled Up in Plaid

[Bertz]

Maton's been *really* good the last year and a half, ironically since leaving the Rays.  And he's done it across three orgs too so looks pretty persistent.  I also remember there being a lot of smoke around the Cubs and him two winters ago for whatever that's worth.  To me the two questions are:

1. This is the guy we decide to finally go multi-year on?  A 32 year old who barely cracks 90 MPH?

2. How many Maton-caliber arms do we get this winter?  I'm hoping the answer is at least two, ideally three.   Jed quicklu knocking this out before Thanksgiving has me hopeful for the latter being the plan, which is nice.

[Tryptamine]

The Cubs really do hate velocity. Maton is a fine 7th inning guy but we're now at the point that I just don’t think it's financially possible to address SP, a bat upgrade and a premium even if 1 of the 3 is done via trade. 

[Stratos]

17 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

The Cubs really do hate velocity.

I don't think so.  I just think they care a lot more about getting outs than they do specifically about velocity.   There's a lot of ways pitchers can get outs and velocity is just one facet, which isn't always necessary.  Velocity makes everything else play up.

[Stratos]

Maton is a good reliever.  Interested to see the AAV.  He probably comes in lower on AAV than Kittredge so that's a plus, and he's a few years younger.

Edited November 22, 2025 by Stratos

[17 Seconds]

37 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

The Cubs really do hate velocity. Maton is a fine 7th inning guy but we're now at the point that I just don’t think it's financially possible to address SP, a bat upgrade and a premium even if 1 of the 3 is done via trade. 

"fine 7th inning guy" is underselling how good he's been

[Geographyhater8888]

Any word on Keller? 

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Any word on Keller? 

There is no word on Keller outside of that some teams may look to stretch him back out as a SP. In that case I doubt the Cubs can equal an offer.

[Bertz]

6 hours ago, Stratos said:

I don't think so.  I just think they care a lot more about getting outs than they do specifically about velocity.   There's a lot of ways pitchers can get outs and velocity is just one facet, which isn't always necessary.  Velocity makes everything else play up.

I would also say you want extremes in the bullpen.  Velocity is the most obvious one to chase but not the only one.  We already had an extreme velo guy in our late inning mix, now he's paired with an extreme spin guy.  I wouldn't be shocked to see a weird arm angle or two (one of the Rogers brothers?) or someone with big time extension as well.

[Geographyhater8888]

2 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

There is no word on Keller outside of that some teams may look to stretch him back out as a SP. In that case I doubt the Cubs can equal an offer.

Am I out of line for thinking it’s a big loss? Their musical chairs approach to bullpen construction worked to perfection last season, will that same approach yield similar results in 26 or something closer to the 23-24 iteration where they were a liability for long stretches of both years, probably somewhere the middle. Pomeranz and Thielbar blew away everyone’s expectations.

Edited November 22, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Geographyhater8888 said:

Am I out of line for thinking it’s a big loss? Their musical chairs approach to bullpen construction worked to perfection last season unlike 23-24 where it was a liability for long stretches of both seasons. What will it look like next year without the anchor of their bullpen and will they find a suitable replacement.

Here are two statcast pages, one is 2025 Brad Keller and the other is 2025 Phil Maton. Now, I think if you know anything about how hard each throws, it wouldn't take hiring a private eye to figure out who's is who's. But the thing I want to point out is how good each is. 

I think Brad Keller would be big loss. But if you believe Phil Maton is the guy he's mostly turned into for the last 18 months, he's a big addition. They can't add Maton and go "welp, all done!" but he's someone who mitigates a loss of either Keller or Kittredge. 

[Bull]

So you added a lot of swing and miss, lost a lot of ground balls and added a bunch of walks. With the elite infield defense of the Cubs I feel like this is about even. 

Prediction: Keller doesn't do as well in front of another defense, and we all hate Maton for walking everyone. 

[Jason Ross]

5 minutes ago, Bull said:

So you added a lot of swing and miss, lost a lot of ground balls and added a bunch of walks. With the elite infield defense of the Cubs I feel like this is about even. 

Prediction: Keller doesn't do as well in front of another defense, and we all hate Maton for walking everyone. 

To be fair to Maton, he walked 1.3% more hitters than Keller last year which resulted in...one extra walk. Maton walked 23 hitters and Keller walked 22 (Keller did throw 8 more innings). We didn't really add a bunch of walks.

[Geographyhater8888]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

Here are two statcast pages, one is 2025 Brad Keller and the other is 2025 Phil Maton. Now, I think if you know anything about how hard each throws, it wouldn't take hiring a private eye to figure out who's is who's. But the thing I want to point out is how good each is. 

I think Brad Keller would be big loss. But if you believe Phil Maton is the guy he's mostly turned into for the last 18 months, he's a big addition. They can't add Maton and go "welp, all done!" but he's someone who mitigates a loss of either Keller or Kittredge. 

Good news then. They’ll need a couple lefties too. Regardless, any regression from the bullpen you’d think will be offset by an improved and a healthy rotation where Ben Brown and Flexen aren’t pitching 2/5 games for month long stretches. 
 

I don’t always know what to believe, that’s what great about this website. I’ve learned a lot from you. 

Edited November 22, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Derwood]

Velocity isn't the be-all end-all. See: Ben Brown

[Neuby]

Paying him less than Kittridge is a plus. Maton is probably a Cubs fan having grown up in KY.

[Post Count Padder]

22 minutes ago, Neuby said:

Paying him less than Kittridge is a plus. Maton is probably a Cubs fan having grown up in KY.

Born in Kentucky. Went to high school in Chatham, IL. And chose to sign with the Cardinals last offseason.