Cubs Free Agent Target: Phil Maton |
To say the 2023 MLB offseason has been a dud so far for the Chicago Cubs would be an understatement, as things remain quiet on their front. Sure, the team brought in manager Craig Counsell a month ago as their first big splash, but since then, it has been nothing but crickets by Jed Hoyer and the higher-ups.
As frustrating as this has been for fans, Hoyer has earned the fans trust especially, when you look at what he did for this team the past two seasons. Ideally, most fans would say they would love the Cubs to get at least one, if not two, of the big-ticket free agents, and Hoyer would, too. However, Hoyer will not overpay anyone to come to Chicago as that jeopardizes the long-term plan to be successful now and for the foreseeable future. Eventually, things will start going into motion not just for the Cubs, but for the rest of baseball, and once that happens, the moves will come flying. This team has specific needs they need to fill and ideas of how to fill those needs. Now comes the hard part. Picking which idea they think is the best idea and rolling with that. One of the ideas that needs to be discussed is how to fix a bullpen that was gassed down the stretch last season. For what it is worth, Hoyer has done a marvelous job piecing together bullpens over the years with one-year contracts, as most of those guys ended up having tremendous seasons before being traded away for assets. That works when you are rebuilding, but the Cubs appear to be out of that phase, which means no more one-year deals. Hoyer addressed this at the Winter Meetings, as did Carter Hawkins, as they know the bullpen needs retooling and are willing to start giving players multi-year relief contracts to help. One name to keep an eye on as free agency continues would be former Houston Astros right-hander Phil Maton, a free agent looking for a new home. Over the past seven seasons, the Astros have been the Gold standard in the American League, advancing to seven consecutive ALCS and taking home a pair of World Series Championships. Sure, one has an asterisk to it due to the sign-stealing scandal, but you can't discredit the organization's success over the years. A big reason for their success was a relentless offense capable of putting up runs in a hurry and a pitching staff that was one of the best in baseball from top to bottom. That includes their bullpen, which Maton was a part of and played a huge role in. Primarily a middle relief guy who pitched in the sixth or seventh innings, Maton has been a set-up man in the past and could be used in that spot with the Cubs. For what it's worth, Mark Leiter Jr and Julian Merryweather are also back, but with the expectation that neither of them pitches at the same level they did this past season, Maton is a good insurance policy to have. Going back to the 2023 season, Maton was about as reliable as you could ask for, pitching in 68 games and totaling 66 innings. He posted a 3.00 ERA and 1.121 WHIP. His strikeout (10.1 per nine innings) and walk (3.4 per nine innings) ratios were good, and he generally kept the ball in the ballpark, allowing just six home runs. All those numbers would play well at Wrigley Field, making this acquisition all the more intriguing. Unlike most relievers in today's game who live in the mid to upper 90s, Maton is more of an old-school pitcher and is like the Kyle Hendricks of relief pitching. He won't blow you away as the sinker, fastball combo is between 88-90 MPH, but he works the corners and changes speeds very well to keep hitters off balance. His best pitch is the 80 MPH sweeper that breaks like a frisbee and has been his go-to pitch for the past few seasons. Mix that with a curveball that reaches 74 MPH and falls off the table, and Maton can be difficult to hit if all of his pitches work the way they can. While the overall results, especially from 2023, were good, his postseason experience sets him apart, and he could play as the ultimate X-factor in any deal. Maton has 20 games’ worth of postseason experience, including five appearances in the 2021 World Series. In those postseason games, he’s been excellent: 0.83 ERA, 0.738 WHIP, just five walks, and 22 strikeouts in 21⅓ innings. When you look at how much postseason experience the Cubs bullpen has, Maton has more games pitched than the entire Cubs roster put together, apart from Hendricks and his postseason resume. Coming off a season where he made less than three million dollars, the soon-to-be 31-year-old is looking for a multi-year deal in the 10-14 million range. That plays right into the Cubs hands in both the price range and the years behind the deal as he is an addition the Cubs pen could use.
