Could Chicago Cubs Still Reunite With Top Free Agent Reliever Available?

The Chicago Cubs have gone to great lengths to make upgrades to their bullpen ahead of the 2025 season.

The team followed up its blockbuster acquisition of Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros by dialing up Dana Brown once again to land all-star closer Ryan Pressly, and more recently, the team added veteran Ryan Brasier in a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The old adage goes that you can never have enough pitching, and if president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer decides to keep on adding in accordance with that, he could look to forge a reunion with former Cub David Robertson.

Despite a phenomenal 2024 effort in his age-39 season, Robertson remains available on the free agent market after declining a mutual option with the Texas Rangers.

Writing for MLB Trade Rumors, Nick Deeds broke down some of the teams that make sense for Robertson to continue his MLB journey that began in 2008 with the New York Yankees, and he included the Cubs among the teams that made sense earlier in the offseason and still might.

"The Cubs and Tigers were both connected to Robertson at various points throughout the winter, and a return to Chicago in particularly was frequently bandied about in the rumor mill throughout the offseason," Deeds wrote. "Those rumors persisted even after the Cubs added Ryan Pressly to handle the ninth inning, but their subsequent trade with the Dodgers to acquire Ryan Brasier may have put an end to their pursuit of Robertson."

While the additions of Pressly and Brasier are certainly helpful, there is not a single Cub in the bullpen whose 2025 Fangraphs projections have them bettering the 3.00 ERA or 12.38 strikeouts per nine innings rate that Robertson produced with the Rangers in 2024.

Robertson was so effective in his 16th Major League season last year that he ranked 12th among all relief pitchers in strikeouts per nine and ninth in Fangraphs WAR.

The Alabama native has shown consistent excellence in the back half of his career, including in his prior tour of duty with Chicago. In 2022, Robertson gave the Cubs 40.1 innings of a 2.23 ERA to go with 51 strikeouts and 14 saves.

If the Cubs do decide to pursue a reunion, they would likely have to offer Robertson more than the $7 million he would have made on the mutual option he declined with Texas.

According to Spotrac, the Cubs have a projected total allocation of $189 million this year, well below the luxury tax threshold.

Recommended Articles