The Chicago Cubs are wheeling and dealing this winter right off the bat. But instead of focusing on bats, they are adding arms to a bullpen that contains many free agents, such as Brad Keller. The team has already moved on from Andrew Kittredge after trading for him in 2025.
For a Cubs bullpen that saw its fair share of injuries, including the one to closer Daniel Palencia down the stretch, adding another arm in relief is never a bad thing. Especially for a team like the Cubs, who ended a four-year playoff drought recently.
Not having made the World Series since 2016, many signal that the Cubs’ signing of relief pitcher Phil Maton is a step in the right direction. However, adding the former Texas Ranger hurler may not be the best idea after all, and here’s some reason’s why.
Texas Rangers relief pitcher Phil Maton | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images
Consistency isn’t in favor of Maton
Maton turns 33 before the season starts. But since the 2021 MLB season, the Paducha, Kentucky native averages just over 60 innings pitched per season.
He has also been traded midseason four times in his career, not finishing the season with the same team he began it with three times this decade already.
During this span, the Louisiana Tech graduate has blown multiple saves in every season since 2021, except one, while also walking at least 23 batters in every season since as well.
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell hands the ball over to pitcher Brad Keller | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
After playing 40 games with the Cubs’ NL Central rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, Maton struggled with his new team, the Rangers. His ERA ballooned from 2.35 to 3.52 in 23 games for Texas.
Preparing to enter his 10th season in MLB, Maton is playing for his 8th team, having never played three consecutive seasons with the same team.
Maton isn’t reliable in the playoffs during his career
If the Cubs are looking to make it past the NL Divisional Series round and back to the World Series, adding a relief pitcher who hasn’t performed well in the postseason isn’t the answer.
In his nine MLB seasons, Maton has appeared in the playoffs four times. That’s not bad.
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) hits a two run home run against New York Mets pitcher Phil Maton | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
However, his last appearance was in 2024 for the New York Mets, where he had an ERA of 8.53 in six games. Maton pitched in just six and one-third innings while walking four batters, giving up a total of 11 hits, six earned runs, and blowing a save.
Thus, a two-year deal with an option for a third seems like a head-scratcher to offer a nomadic relief pitcher who hasn’t established himself yet with any one particular franchise. Hopefully, Maton will turn things around, but given his history, we might not see him in a Cubs uniform for too long.
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