Source: Cubs in Contact with Reliever Ryne Stanek, Likely to Add Just One More Pen Arm

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After signing right-handed reliever Phil Maton to a two-year deal last month, the Chicago Cubs continue to talk to relievers who could round out their thin bullpen, sources say. One name on their radar, in whom they've had active interest in the past, as well: Ryne Stanek. A burly righty with the ability to top 100 miles per hour with his fastball, Stanek, 34, had an ugly 5.30 ERA in 2025, but his stuff is intact and the team believes they can fix what went wrong for him with the Mets.

Because of his rocky season, Stanek should come relatively cheaply. This would be a signing in the realm of last year's pickup of Caleb Thielbar, another aging reliever whose prior-year surface-level stats had been ugly. According to a source familiar with the team's thinking, they're likely to supplement their pen with a hurler at that tier. They could aim higher—they haven't closed the door on a reunion with Brad Keller, for example. However, because they view Ben Brown as a reliever and are hoping to fill lout a starting rotation robust enough to push Colin Rea into the pen, they're unlikely to make more than one more addition to the pen in the form of guaranteed, big-league deals.

Daniel Palencia, Maton, Brown and Porter Hodge are penciled into the 2026 bullpen right now. Depending on how the offseason unfolds, they could end up pushing any of Rea, Javier Assad or Jordan Wicks into relief, too. They also have fringy but intriguing (to various degrees) arms running low on minor-league options and time to prove themselves, in Luke Little, Jack Neely, Ethan Roberts, Gavin Hollowell, and 40-man roster newcomer Riley Martin. 

Ideally, perhaps, the team would add a lefty to complement their stash of sturdy right-handers. Little, Martin and Wicks are left-handed, but none are reliable big-leaguers. The team is interested in bringing Drew Pomeranz or Thielbar back, but only if they can be had at terms similar to the extremely inexpensive ones for which they acquired each in 2025, a source said. The team is likely to leave themselves some room to get contributions from minor-league signings and waiver claims, as they did when they ended up getting so much value from Keller and Pomeranz. 

A Stanek signing wouldn't excite most fans, but a cohort of Palencia, Maton and Stanek at the back end of the pen would be an interesting one—especially if, as the team certainly hopes, Brown can flourish in a bullpen role. Chicago has had interest in Stanek multiple times in the past, and this year, the price might be right.

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[Jason Ross]

I'd have a hard time with the Cubs going the Stanek route here. The Cubs just don't have a super-trust worthy bullpen right now, and Stanek hasn't been good for years. The one exception would be if the Cubs essentially put all of their money into two signings and made the offense and rotation so much better that you could forgive them going with Stanek as the only other important addition. 

[KCCub]

4 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I'd have a hard time with the Cubs going the Stanek route here. The Cubs just don't have a super-trust worthy bullpen right now, and Stanek hasn't been good for years. The one exception would be if the Cubs essentially put all of their money into two signings and made the offense and rotation so much better that you could forgive them going with Stanek as the only other important addition. 

I posted this in the winter meetings thread, but a Stanek signing would line with a King + Okamoto offseason numbers wise. 

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, KCCub said:

I posted this in the winter meetings thread, but a Stanek signing would line with a King + Okamoto offseason numbers wise. 

I'd be probably cool with that outcome - I'm a little more bearish than bullish on Okamoto (batted ball data just okay, requires super pull heavy output) but the Cubs hit on NPB players well and if they like him, well, I like him. I've come around on King as well. 

[Dfan25]

I really don’t care how hard he throws . Stanek sucks . 

[KCCub]

6 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I'd be probably cool with that outcome - I'm a little more bearish than bullish on Okamoto (batted ball data just okay, requires super pull heavy output) but the Cubs hit on NPB players well and if they like him, well, I like him. I've come around on King as well. 

Yea and you can interchange Suarez and possibly Imai for King and make it work. If the Cubs are only adding one more BP arm and swimming in the Stanek waters with that one arm, it seems like this may be the blueprint we are trending towards. 

[Dfan25]

So they are adding only 1 more reliever and it will be from the dumpster dive category . Great news  

[Jason Ross]

8 minutes ago, KCCub said:

Yea and you can interchange Suarez and possibly Imai for King and make it work. If the Cubs are only adding one more BP arm and swimming in the Stanek waters with that one arm, it seems like this may be the blueprint we are trending towards. 

Just some fun with numbers, you could conceivably get 2 SP's and Okmoto if you get wild. 

Imai ($24m) + King ($21m) + Okmoto ($16m) gets you to ~$61m. If you can find a home for Taillon where you save $14m of the $17m AAV) that gets you just under $50.

I don't think it's likely, but you can start to get me very excited with that outcome.

[Bertz]

Sahadev Sharma has name checked Stanek as well, so there definitely seems to be something here.  That said he can't be the only guy from here.  Stanek screams out as a good buy low candidate but this bullpen needs *at least* three relievers you feel good about closing a game on day 1 next season.

The team can miss me with the handwringing about roster room.  The bullpen right now is Palencia, Maton, and six open spots.  Let's hold two of those for guys who end up on the outside looking in for the SP mix (e.g Rea and Brown).  Let's hold one for whichever minor league vet shows out most in ST.  That's still three openings.

The team last year correctly identified the need for depth and had Daniel Palencia open the year as the first guy up at Iowa.  Hodge should be on exactly the same track. 

The shopping list should be two Staneks and a Keller unless/until they make trade(s) to significantly improve the crop of optionable arms at Iowa.

[Matthew Trueblood]

3 hours ago, Bertz said:

Sahadev Sharma has name checked Stanek as well, so there definitely seems to be something here.  That said he can't be the only guy from here.  Stanek screams out as a good buy low candidate but this bullpen needs *at least* three relievers you feel good about closing a game on day 1 next season.

The team can miss me with the handwringing about roster room.  The bullpen right now is Palencia, Maton, and six open spots.  Let's hold two of those for guys who end up on the outside looking in for the SP mix (e.g Rea and Brown).  Let's hold one for whichever minor league vet shows out most in ST.  That's still three openings.

The team last year correctly identified the need for depth and had Daniel Palencia open the year as the first guy up at Iowa.  Hodge should be on exactly the same track. 

The shopping list should be two Staneks and a Keller unless/until they make trade(s) to significantly improve the crop of optionable arms at Iowa.

Ay, but therein lies the rub: I really don't think it's Jed Hoyer's goal to feel good about closing a game on Day 1.

I know how pretty much everyone outside Wrigley's offices feels about that, but they just feel fine about spending March, April and May feeling out the bullpen. It's not their priority, at any point in any winter, to go into the season with a lockdown pen.

[KCCub]