The Cubs announced the signing of righty reliever Jacob Webb to a one-year deal that includes a club option for the 2027 season. The KHG Sports Management client will reportedly make $1.5MM in 2026. The option comes with a $2.5MM base salary, and there are $500K available in annual incentives. Chicago’s 40-man roster count climbs to 35.
Webb, now 32, is coming off three straight solid seasons. He doesn’t overpower hitters or have pinpoint control but he can miss bats and also miss barrels.
He has thrown at least 53 2/3 innings in each of the past three campaigns. His earned run average has been 3.69 or lower in each of those. He walked 10.3% of batters faced in that time, a rate a bit higher than average. His 34.1% ground ball rate was also worse than par. His 23.5% strikeout rate was better than average but just barely.
Despite those underwhelming peripherals, he has kept runs off the board. He has perhaps had some help from the baseball gods, as he has allowed just a .235 batting average on balls in play over those three years, about 55 points below par. His 77.6% strand rate also leans to the fortunate side. His 4.11 FIP and 4.10 SIERA are skeptical of his 3.22 ERA for that span.
It might not be entirely luck, however. Statcast has pegged Webb’s exit velocity allowed as being in the 70th percentile or better in each of the past three years, including in the 95th percentile in 2025. His hard hit rate was middle of the pack in 2023 but 82nd percentile or better in each of the past two seasons. His barrel rate was 85th percentile or better in 2023 and 2025, though with a dip to 46th in 2024.
Despite the solid run of results, Webb has been fairly nomadic, perhaps since his arsenal isn’t dominant. His fastball has averaged in the 93 to 95 mile per hour range while he also throws a changeup and a sweeper in the low 80s. Teams love velocity and strikeouts these days and have perhaps been a bit skeptical of Webb’s numbers.
He was stuck in the minors in 2022 and sent through waivers unclaimed that year. Going into 2023, he settled for a minor league deal with the Angels. He eventually got a roster spot in Anaheim but went to the Orioles on waivers.
He stuck with the Orioles for a little over a year, from August of 2023 through the end of 2024. He posted a 3.02 ERA for Baltimore in 2024 and could have been retained for 2025, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a modest $1.7MM salary, but the O’s surprisingly non-tendered him.
The Rangers scooped Webb up and gave him a $1.25MM guarantee plus incentives. That turned into a great investment for Texas, with Webb posting a flat ERA of 3.00 this year. But once again, Webb found himself non-tendered, despite a modest $2MM salary projection for 2026.
The Cubs love to build a bullpen on the cheap. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer got his current title in November of 2020 and went five offseasons without giving a reliever a multi-year deal. Their 2025 relief corps featured contributions from Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, Ryan Pressly, Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers, who were all acquired via trade or signed modest one-year deals, or sometimes even minor league deals.
That strategy has been effective for the Cubs as they have had some decent results from the bullpen without burdensome commitments. The downside is that so many short-term commitments means a big slate of guys reaching free agency at season’s end.
Going into 2026, there was work to do in rebuilding the relief corps. Hoyer finally broke his streak and gave a two-year deal to Phil Maton, though the $14.5MM guarantee was still quite affordable. The club has also added lefty Hoby Milner to a one-year deal with a $3.75MM guarantee. Perhaps coincidentally, each of Maton, Milner and Webb finished the 2025 season with the Rangers.
In addition to digging a runoff trench from Arlington to Wrigley, the Cubs also brought back Thielbar on a $4.5MM guarantee. Those four signees should slot in next to Daniel Palencia in the bullpen. The Cubs could give the final slots to in-house arms like Porter Hodge, Ethan Roberts, Luke Little and others but those guys still have options, so the Cubs could still find more external additions in what remains of the offseason.
Patrick Mooney of The Athletic first reported the Cubs and Webb had agreed to a one-year deal with a club option. The Athletic’s Will Sammon had the $1.5MM guarantee and $2.5MM option value with $500K in incentives. Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Tim Heitman, Imagn Images
Final piece of the puzzle?
Brandon doesn’t start with a J…
Nah, they got five open slots. My guess: Three more will be bullpen guys to sift through through June, a utility infielder, and, hopefully, one of the big free agent SPs.
Nice try, Lao Che!
Goodbye, Dr. Jones
Hahahaha
I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go
Deep cuts all 3. Points!
Kali Ma Shakti De!
Cubs on a mission to sign the entire 2025 Texas Rangers bullpen.
What a tangled Jacob they weave. If only they had picked up Luke Weaver as well.
@Dumpster Divin Theo
Would that be a dream Weaver?
Garth would say yay
had they, we’d have the making of a cross-town sequel “Eight Legs Out”
Deep Deep deep cut. Points!!
How many months until we find out his salary for 2026?
Actually not that long. Those words taste delicious.
Good pickups.
This is what the Cubs do to build the relief corps. Maybe the next Brad Keller or Jose Cuas.
lol Cuas is not a good example. Pomeranz is though
Cuas on the bad side. Keller on the good side. Sorry you couldn’t figure that out. Jed has hit and misses when building the pen
Dodgers must be getting nervous with all these epic, Cubbie blockbuster moves…….🤮🤮🤮🤮
Bathrobe.jpg
Not everything is about the Dodgers, kid.
Well they’re in a lot of people’s heads while “ruining baseball” to overall record league revenues and attendance.
Life is rough over here at the moment. According to Friedman, we have to wait a while for the Dodgers to get their outfield piece.
A week or so ago he said in an MLB channel interview they had a good shot at getting their guy, but it would require some patience. So we wait.
Keep checking in hoping to see an Imai signing….but noooooop
I guarantee he’ll sign somewhere within a week.
20 minutes and no Cubbie fans crying that Hoyer didn’t sign Diaz or Suarez? Sign of the Apocalypse or just Christmas cheer?
That’s what I came here for!
Cc Whiner woke up below. We’re good now.
Sounds like a predictable redturd whine.
Glad to see him go he gives up a lot of Homers.
Mets paid 22M for a homer machine yesterday. The price is right here. Lowered walk rate last year. Sometimes the homer increase is just a one year thing. We’ll see.
For his career,253 IP 28 HR
2025 66IP 10 HR
ERA+:2025 122
2024 129
2023 118 (2teams)
He’s a good relief pitcher.
He just doesn’t have elite velocity
I think a good signing for the cubs.
With apologies to clowns everywhere , this organization has turned into a real clown show
Yes, I think big picture may be Bregman. Than Hoernor to Seattle for a starter and a “real” reliever.
If Jed trades Nico the fans will eviscerate him.
Hoerner is not going to be traded. That just isn’t how Hoyer operates.
People keep trying to invent scenarios for the Cubs that make sense–but Hoyer never makes sense.
And yet somehow they were playing October baseball?
Is this like former Braves signing day? Newcomb now Webb.
2025 he had a career high in games and innings pitched, and a career best WHIP. I;ll take a flyer on him at that price.
Any relation to Logan?
I was thinking more like Spud Webb
This team is such a bad joke anymore.
Why is that Georgiajeff
When did 92 wins become a joke there.. jeffy?
Typical Braves fan. Zero strategy.
The Brad Keller replacement. It’s not a bad signing.
I’m trying to be positive, but honesty compels me to report, Hoyer might be assembling his worst bullpen yet. How can Counsell succeed when he has to run out one soft-tosser after another?
Maton might be decent, but that’s about it.
That’s possible. But looking at the relievers last season I believed that was trouble. But it turned out to be a strong pen. As we all know bull pens can be extremely volatile season to season and even inning to inning.
Just another example of Jed not taking the pen serious. They’ll start out horrible and then later they’ll bring up their own guys and expect miracles and scour other teams waste baskets to find guys. Don’t know why I expected any different. Hopefully Brown , Hodge and Maton can get the job done for Palencia and he doesn’t fall apart. Imai will make me forget about all of this.
There’s a train on thought that says relievers are like running backs in the NFL. There are a lot of them who can produce the same.
That train got the Cubs 10 games behind the Brewers and they never caught up.
I think this puts the Pirates over the Cubs in off season moves and probably spent more money.
Still hoping Cubs get Imai or Ranger, not Bregman or Mad Max.
I don’t want Bregman anywhere near the Cubs unless he’s a visiting player and comes out of the 1B dugout.
I don’t think Ranger is the best fit. Cubs have 4 LHP starters one of them Jordan Wicks is more of a swingman but have 7 or 8 potential starters and 5 if them being left handed. Not sure that’s the best thing they can do. Imai would be great though
If Hoyer does nothing else but these small signings and gets Imai, he can dumpster dive the rest of the offseason for all I care.
Who’s going to break it to a confused Cubs front office that they didn’t sign Logan Webb?
The Cubs heart signing relievers to one year contracts and then rebuilding the entire bullpen again next year.
I must admit that I love Jacob. Ever since he hit that guy in the face with the Braves, and it affected him so, I’ve rooted for him. He’s got steeled nerves and knows how to compete. Back when I pulled for the Bravos before I followed Dansby to Chicago. Wish Webb the best. Jed is a cheap POS along with the entire Ricketts brain trust. Nonetheless I pull for the boys to overcome their pathetic overseers.
Love the cheap guys if they stink just cut them and no years of contact to eat.
So much for learning from the playoffs and getting power arms. Guys like this are fine for the season. But, you need power arms for the playoffs. smh.
They lost 6 relievers to free agency. Not surprised they added one like Webb .
true, but they already signed w others like him in terms of lower velocity, gets outs and soft contact. Fairbanks just signed a 1 year deal. That would’ve been nice.
Agreed. Fairbanks would have been a good sign.
They will have to get someone else.
Isn’t Webb the Yips guy?
I don’t think so.
His BB rate is a bit high,
but not extreme.
Signing all these mediocre pitchers to a single year contract on top of virtually the entire team becoming free agents in a year and going elsewhere, surely it looks as if hoyer and ricketts objective is to not even field a team in 2027!
They think there will not be a 2027 season because of the labor stalemate. They might be right.
In fact, 2026 might be the last season of “the MLB” as we know it.
Or 2028 or beyond , not lookin good for current ownership!
On the cheap a great pick up
Nothing of an offseason so far for the Cubs. I did not expect big things but hope they manage to make at least a couple decent moves.
The Bargain bin is yielding results!
Christmas wish list, a Starter and Bats?