The Chicago Cubs are in a precarious place right now when it comes to their bullpen.

This is owed to the team having multiple key pieces to their 2025 relief corps elect free agency heading into this offseason, including Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, Aaron Civale, Taylor Rogers, Ryan Brasier, Michael Soroka, and Brad Keller.

While there’s a good chance that Chicago re-signs some of these arms, there’s no doubt that some of them will be wearing a different team’s uniform by Opening Day 2026.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Chicago’s front office. In fact, it allows them to pursue fresh arms in free agency in hopes of improving a bullpen that had a collective 3.78 ERA during the 2025 regular season, which put them at No. 11 in MLB. Not to mention that there are many more valuable arms and elite closers available than there were just one offseason ago.

Aug 31, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Daniel Palencia / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Perhaps the biggest question Jed Hoyer and the rest of the Cubs’ brass need to decide is whether they’re content with keeping Daniel Palencia as their closer heading into next season.

While the 25-year-old was extremely solid as the Cubs’ bullpen anchor during the regular season (as shown through his 2.91 ERA and converting 22 of 25 save opportunities), there are questions about whether Palencia is truly elite, given that 2025 was a breakout year for him.

Luke Weaver / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

However, if the Cubs were to sign former New York Yankees reliever Luke Weaver in free agency this winter, his versatility would make it so Chicago didn’t need to make any decisions on Palencia.

What we mean by this is that Weaver excels as a high-leverage reliever late in games, but can also be a solid and consistent closer. In fact, he has taken over as the Yankees’ closer several times in the past couple of years when the team’s incumbent closer (Clay Holmes in 2024 and Devin Williams in 2025) lost their job due to poor performance.

This is a relatively rare trait for a former closer to have, as many closers prefer to only pitch in the ninth inning.

So the Cubs could sign Weaver, have him start the season as their high-leverage guy, and then potentially have him take over for Palencia in case of injury or underperformance. And since Spotrac projects that Weaver will sign a three-year, $24 million deal, he should be within the Cubs’ price range.

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