Inside The Cubs

MLB Insider Reveals Major Brad Keller Free Agency Twist

Brad Keller has a lot to think about if the report is true.
Grant Young|
Brad Keller
Brad Keller | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

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Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for the Chicago Cubs in 2025 was 30-year-old pitcher Brad Keller.

Keller signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Cubs last offseason, in a move that largely went unnoticed by the baseball community. This is because Keller was coming off a season where he went 0-4 with a 5.44 ERA in just 41.1 innings pitched with the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox.

One season before, Keller amassed an unremarkable 4.57 ERA in 45.1 innings pitched with the Kansas City Royals, and has a 5.39 ERA and a 5.09 ERA in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively.

All of this is to say that nobody expected Keller to make a big impact in Chicago. However, he proved to be one of their most vital pieces out of the bullpen. He produced a stellar 2.07 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 68 regular season appearances (69.2 innings pitched), also posting a .182 batting average against and a 27.2 strikeout percentage.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Brad Keller (40) celebrates on October 8, 2025
Chicago Cubs pitcher Brad Keller | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

He followed this up by tallying a 1.59 ERA in five postseason appearances, helping the Cubs come one win away from advancing to the NLC.

With this resurgent 2025 season, Keller is poised to make a nice chunk of money in free agency. In fact, Spotrac projects that he'll sign a three-year, $4 million deal. Although that could change drastically, given a recent report that has just come out about Keller.

Insider Asserts Brad Keller Could Become Starting Pitcher

On November 13, New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman released an article asserting that Keller is generating free agency interest as both a reliever and a starting pitcher this offseason.

This is fascinating, if only because of how successful Keller was out of Chicago's bullpen. But he has started in exactly half of his 234 MLB appearances to this point in his big league career, which shows that he isn't foreign to this role.

Heyman also added that because Keller's fastball velocity improved in 2025 and he was more effective with his sinker and sweeper, some teams believe he can transition back to being a starter.

He suggested that the New York Yankees could be a fit for Keller both as a starter and as a reliever. One could presumably say the same about the Cubs, although the assumption was that they'd prefer to re-sign him in a similar role that he had in 2025.

What's for sure is that Keller's offseason just got a whole lot more interesting.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Boxing, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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