Cubs sign lefty reliever Hoby Milner

[Bertz]

 

[Tryptamine]

No issues with this, he's solid. The Cubs still need another impact arm in the pen.

[Bertz]

Milner is the new Thielbar.  He's always effective against lefties but only periodically effective against righties.  Does it with funk instead of spin though.

The best part of this is that he's clearly not the capstone reliever.  When/if the team signs Stanek there's gonna be a little bit of nervousness that he's looked at as *the* guy but that's clearly not going to happen here.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Guess its going to be another one of those bullpens again this year

[JunkyardWalrus]

10 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Guess its going to be another one of those bullpens again this year

The Pasta Pen? Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, eventually. 

[Rcal10]

Milner really isn’t a bad pick up. He pitched in 70 games last year and can be effective. However, at 34 he is going to bring the average age of the Cubs up a bit. I know someone who will have an issue with that. 

Edited December 11, 2025 by Rcal10

[Outshined_One]

31 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

The Pasta Pen? Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, eventually. 

At least I feel better about the homegrown guys in the pen than I did this time last season.

[CubinNY]

You could have listed three fake names beside his and would not have been able to tell you who the real person was. 

[Bertz]

FWIW the team is now $45M under the luxury tax.  So simple math says at least one of these things *has* to be true:

1. Payroll is a little higher than we've been assuming

2. The team is out on FA starters, knows they're going the trade route

3. The team is going to go very cheap (whether that's bad or young) on the position player side 

4. The team is going to go very cheap (whether that's bad or young) on the bullpen

And even on 3/4 it's still tight on the other side of the coin. We're not talking for example like Alex Bregman and a couple more cheap Hoby Milners as the remaining relievers.  We're talking something more like Harrison Bader and then a few relievers on split contracts making like $1.2M a piece.

[Cuzi]

4 minutes ago, Bertz said:

FWIW the team is now $45M under the luxury tax.  So simple math says at least one of these things *has* to be true:

1. Payroll is a little higher than we've been assuming

2. The team is out on FA starters, knows they're going the trade route

3. The team is going to go very cheap (whether that's bad or young) on the position player side 

4. The team is going to go very cheap (whether that's bad or young) on the bullpen

And even on 3/4 it's still tight on the other side of the coin. We're not talking for example like Alex Bregman and a couple more cheap Hoby Milners as the remaining relievers.  We're talking something more like Harrison Bader and then a few relievers on split contracts making like $1.2M a piece.

I would say 3 and 4 are true.

I still see them in on Imai/King. Everything else is going to be cheap as hell to stay under the LT and we are going to go into 2026 with another pathetic attempt to win a small market division, put butts in the seats, and earn a little bonus money for playing at least 3 games in October before being shipped out.

[Rcal10]

21 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

I would say 3 and 4 are true.

I still see them in on Imai/King. Everything else is going to be cheap as hell to stay under the LT and we are going to go into 2026 with another pathetic attempt to win a small market division, put butts in the seats, and earn a little bonus money for playing at least 3 games in October before being shipped out.

To be clear, that “pathetic attempt” last year netted them 92 wins. I know they should spend much more than they do. But within the guidelines ownership has set, the FO does a pretty good job. 

[Cuzi]

19 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

To be clear, that “pathetic attempt” last year netted them 92 wins. I know they should spend much more than they do. But within the guidelines ownership has set, the FO does a pretty good job. 

92 wins and bounced from the playoffs by a team with 80M in payroll less.

And sure, you can make the argument that something like that can happen in any given year. Even the Dodgers were 1 out away from losing to the Blue Jays. They almost lost to the Padres in the first round in 2024. But we are not talking about a 1 off when it comes to the Cubs. This is an annual tradition of having to ask if the Cubs have spent $90M+ extra than their competition wisely enough to beat them? It's pathetic. Teams ask themselves how they beat the Dodgers. The Cubs ask themselves how they beat the Brewers.

Hoyer is building for the regular season and a hope and prayer in the playoffs. His philosophy seems to be a very expensive Cinderella story.

Edited December 11, 2025 by Cuzi

[Post Count Padder]

Big fan. Wanted him last time he was on the market. Not a ton of money either.

Side note, when he was a Phillies prospect in Spring Training, Milner also signed my hat after Scott Kingery did. Carlos Santana also signed that hat. As did then-coach/future GM Sam Fuld. All these guys have or will play in the Cubs organization. Am I Nostradamus but for things that don't really matter?

[jersey cubs fan]

Hoby Cow!

[BKHoo]

1 hour ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

The Pasta Pen? Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, eventually. 

That is sort of a strength of our manager though, right? 

[squally1313]

18 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

That is sort of a strength of our manager though, right? 

Eh. It turns out that when you had prime Devin Williams and Josh Hader sticking to the wall, your wall looked a lot better. 

Craig Counsell's Cubs wall? Over the last two years, 19th in fWAR, 11th in ERA, 24th in WPA. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Milner really isn’t a bad pick up. He pitched in 70 games last year and can be effective. However, at 34 he is going to bring the average age of the Cubs up a bit. I know someone who will have an issue with that. 

Me?

As long as it's counterbalanced, I could care less, because he is a solid addition to the team, although there are a plethora of alternatives. But that leaves room for more solid, younger pitchers as well and maybe some free agents (Pomeranz).

Edited December 11, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Eh. It turns out that when you had prime Devin Williams and Josh Hader sticking to the wall, your wall looked a lot better. 

Craig Counsell's Cubs wall? Over the last two years, 19th in fWAR, 11th in ERA, 24th in WPA. 

Am I the only one who believes in some sort of Counsell-Brewers alliance-conspiracy thingy, no matter how ridiculous that sounds?

Edited December 11, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Eh. It turns out that when you had prime Devin Williams and Josh Hader sticking to the wall, your wall looked a lot better. 

Craig Counsell's Cubs wall? Over the last two years, 19th in fWAR, 11th in ERA, 24th in WPA. 

Yeah the right balance is IMO 4ish guys who you can say "hell yeah" about from day one and then 4 "let Tommy cook" spots.  It appears we're going 3 and 5, which is disappointing considering hoe few holes there were on thia roster coming into the winter.

[Illiterate Scholar]

I would've preferred Leiter at 3M as a LHH out-getter but sure, this guy is useful.

[squally1313]

6 minutes ago, The Cubs Dude said:

Am I the only one who believes in some sort of Counsell-Brewers alliance-conspiracy thingy, no matter how ridiculous that sounds?

Yes

[squally1313]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah the right balance is IMO 4ish guys who you can say "hell yeah" about from day one and then 4 "let Tommy cook" spots.  It appears we're going 3 and 5, which is disappointing considering hoe few holes there were on thia roster coming into the winter.

Maton, Palencia, and....better-pitcher-than-Milner-to-be-named?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I would've preferred Leiter at 3M as a LHH out-getter but sure, this guy is useful.

Same here, dude. Leiter would have been the better choice, but Milner's not that bad.

Edited December 11, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Yes

It's the reason why I refused to watch the last Cubs games this year--couldn't stand Counsell in the wrong jersey. It's like a Benedict Arnold, but for the Brewers.

[Bertz]

26 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Maton, Palencia, and....better-pitcher-than-Milner-to-be-named?

Yeah I suspect, even if it's someone on the lighter side like a Luke Weaver, we're going to end up with a FA signing who can reasonably be considered a closer.  Trueblood's the only one who's indicated they're considering about the truly Spartan "You'll take Ryne Stanek and like it" approach so I don't think that's happening.