Cubs agreed with the left Matthew Boyd on a two-year contract that will guarantee him $29MM, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The deal includes $1MM in performance bonuses that could take the total guarantee to $30MM over two years.
Boyd, 34 in February, debuted in the big leagues with the Blue Jays in 2018 but made his mark in the majors as a member of the Tigers the following year. From 2016 to 2020, Boyd served as Detroit’s minor league starter with a 4.75 ERA (95 ERA+) and 4.54 FIP in 727 career innings. The southpaw occasionally flashed some interesting touches, such as a 2019 season in which he struck out 30.2% of opponents in 185 1/3 frames while walking just 6.3%, but his overall performance made him a solid back-of-arm. more circular than anything else. Boyd’s time with the Tigers ended when he required surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon late in the 2021 campaign, leaving him limited to just ten relief appearances as a member of the Mariners. He returned to the Tigers in 2023 but made just 15 ineffective starts before going under the knife a second time, this time for Tommy John surgery.
Also a free agent coming off major surgery, Boyd remained unsigned through the 2024 season before finally getting a major league deal with the Rangers in June. The lefty didn’t make his season debut until mid-August after preparing for the minor leagues, but when he was ready for Cleveland he looked good with a 2.72 ERA and 3.29 FIP in 39 2/3 innings of work. on the other side of the eighth it starts from the bottom with an extension. He struck out 27.7% of his opponents while walking just 7.3%, which would have given Boyd one of the better K-BB% numbers for a starter in the sport this year if he had pitched enough innings to make it. The rest built on that strong regular season performance with a strong showing during the Rangers’ run to the ALCS. He pitched 12 innings for the club in four appearances (three games), and struck out 28% of opponents while posting an impressive 0.75 ERA.
That strong finish to Boyd’s season left the southpaw poised to receive significant interest in free agency this winter, despite his injury history. MLBTR ranked Boyd as the #23 free agent in this winter’s class on our annual list of the Top 50 MLB free agents, and predicted a two-year, $25MM guarantee that comes just short of the deal he got with the Cubs. Boyd becomes the fourth starting player to sign a multi-year deal this winter, joining Yusei Kikuchithe three-year covenant with the angels, Blake SnellA five-year contract with the Dodgers, with a two-year deal in between Frankie Montas and the Mets reported earlier tonight.
Notably, all four pitchers were not held to a compensatory draft pick in a market where many borderline picks like Nick Pivetta again Luis Severino extended Eligibility Provisions by their groups. Each pitcher received a deal that came in above expectations, though only Montas did so by a large amount. Still, that seems to have pushed clubs not interested in signing a qualified free agent to act quickly, and while the calendar has just turned to December the market is already starting to thin out in terms of unattached starters. Qualifying Offer. MLBTR has predicted multi-year deals for four undrafted free agent starters this winter: Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaneyagain Jose Quintana. Without that quartet, clubs would have to give up draft picks and bonus pool money to sign an eligible free agent, looking for a candidate like Max Scherzer or Walker Buehleror explore the trade market to improve their rotation.
Back to the Cubs, the addition of Boyd adds another talented arm to an already stocky rotation. Justin Steele again Shota Imanaga and the right hand Jameson Taillon. Adding a starting pitcher to the rotation has been a top priority for the club this winter, though early reports of high-profile arm shopping plans have led to the suggestion that Chicago instead seek arms. a class or two below that genealogy. Boyd fits the latter description given his near-par league performance throughout his career and his recent struggles with injuries. The lefty has been limited to 202 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2021 season, and in that time has posted a 4.04 ERA (105 ERA+) with a 3.97 FIP and a 23.2% strikeout rate against 8 walks % average.
While Boyd may not look like a prime starter, it’s still hard to imagine him providing an upgrade to the Cubs’ rotation if he’s healthy. After all, the lefty has had a legitimate impact on the Guardian this year in both the regular season and the playoffs, and that success being a temporary step forward rather than a simple hot streak can’t be taken away from the veteran striker. he has shown flashes of dominance throughout his time in the majors. In addition, Chicago is perhaps uniquely equipped to handle any future injury-induced absences thanks to a deep group of small arms that include Ben Brown, Javier Assad, Jordan Wicksagain Hayden Wesneski which can go into rotation seamlessly if needed.
For now, that quartet looks set to battle for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation this spring, with Assad leading the way after a generally successful season (3.73 ERA, 4.64 FIP) as a starter in 2024. RosterResource currently projects the Cubs at a $176MM cap hit in 2025, and the Boyd deal should raise that to the $191MM range. That still leaves more than $20MM of salary-related breathing room for the club’s Opening Day 2024 contract, which Cot’s Baseball Contracts notes sits at just over $214MM. It is not possible to imagine that the club is pursuing another starter to strengthen its rotation through free agency or trade this winter with the financial flexibility of the club, but given the needs of the club in the holding and the fields it seems that those funds will be used. elsewhere-at least unless the trade of Cody Bellinger removes more money from the group’s books.
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