Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had been saying all winter that improving the bullpen would be an offseason priority. On Saturday, the Cubs made a defining move in that area.
The Cubs and reliever Hector Neris, 34, agreed to terms on a one-year, $9 million contract with a $9 million club option for 2025, a source confirmed. The option can convert to a player option if Neris pitches in at least 60 games in 2024. With incentives, the deal can be worth as much as $23.25 million.
Neris brings veteran experience to the back end of the bullpen, which is relatively young. He pitched for the Phillies in 2014-21, becoming their all-time strikeout leader among relievers, before spending the last two seasons with the Astros.
Neris has pitched in at least 70 games in each of the last three seasons. And though he hasn’t matched the eye-popping 37.4% strikeout rate he posted in 2018, swing-and-miss remains a strength of his game.
He logged a 1.71 ERA last season, the best of his career (excluding his one-appearance debut season). When opponents made contact against Neris last season, it was usually soft. His 28% hard-hit rate ranked among the top 3% in the majors, according to Statcast.
In his two seasons with the Astros, Neris also built up his postseason resume. He allowed one run in eight playoff appearances en route to earning a World Series ring in 2022 before yielding six runs (four in one outing) in seven postseason appearances in 2023.
Neris declined his part of an $8.5 million mutual option for 2024 to become a free agent this winter.
Between his swing-and-miss stuff — led by a splitter that had a 42.2% whiff rate last season — and postseason experience, Neris gives the Cubs’ bullpen a boost in areas in which it had been thin.
Add him to the trio of Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr., and new manager Craig Counsell has a good mix of pitchers with varied profiles he can use at the end of games.
‘‘Great relievers are great friends to managers at the back of a game,’’ Counsell said in his introductory news conference in November.
In September, the long season and an especially heavy workload for the high-leverage relievers as the Cubs clawed their way into playoff contention wore down the bullpen.
Michael Fulmer, who had elbow surgery after the season and will miss the 2024 season, and Alzolay landed on the injured list with forearm strains, and Leiter battled through back spasms. Still, the Cubs only missed the playoffs by a game.
‘‘There’s a lot of ways to skin the bullpen cat, but we do need to focus on it,’’ Hoyer said this month at the Cubs Convention. ‘‘It was an Achilles heel last year, for sure.’’
The Cubs had made a minor bullpen move by acquiring reliever Yency Almonte as part of a trade with the Dodgers a couple of weeks ago.
Also this month, the Cubs strengthened their rotation by signing left-hander Shota Imanaga and filled a hole at first base by acquiring Michael Busch in the aforementioned trade with the Dodgers.
But they still must add an impact bat, whether by bringing back free agent Cody Bellinger or by signing someone else, for this to be considered a successful offseason.
