{"id":123844,"date":"2025-11-22T10:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T10:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=123844"},"modified":"2025-11-22T10:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T10:17:15","slug":"%f0%9f%94%a5-blockbuster-move-cubs-land-a-former-cardinals-standout-in-free-agency-sending-shockwaves-through-the-nl-central-as-chicago-aims-to-remake-its-core-and-snatch-an-impact-bat-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=123844","title":{"rendered":"\u201c\ud83d\udd25 BLOCKBUSTER MOVE: Cubs land a former Cardinals standout in free agency, sending shockwaves through the NL Central as Chicago aims to remake its core and snatch an impact bat from a division rival\ud83d\udc47\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Cubs made an under-the-radar move on Friday to shore up their pitching staff.<\/p>\n<p>The Cubs signed former St. Louis Cardinals reliever Phil Maton to a two-year contract, according to reporter Michael Cerami. The deal is reportedly a two-year pact, with the Cubs maintaining a club option on a third year.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">RHP Phil Maton and the Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a two-year guarantee with a club option for a third year, league source said. (@Michael_Cerami first reported Maton going to Chicago.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Will Sammon (@WillSammon) November 22, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maton had the best season of his career in 2025. The 32-year-old recorded a career-best 2.79 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 63 relief appearances. He started the year with the Cardinals and was later dealt to the Texas Rangers before the 2025 trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Maton was notably a reliable member of the Houston Astros\u2019 bullpen from 2021 to 2023. He was part of the 2022 Astros squad that won the World Series, but Maton missed the entire postseason that year due to an off-field injury.<\/p>\n<p>The Cubs have a lot of holes to plug in their bullpen this offseason. Three of their top relief pitchers from last season \u2014 Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller, and Caleb Thielbar \u2014 could all depart in free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Cubs made an under-the-radar move on Friday to shore up their pitching staff. The Cubs signed former St. Louis Cardinals reliever Phil Maton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":123847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201c\ud83d\udd25 BLOCKBUSTER MOVE: Cubs land a former Cardinals standout in free agency, sending shockwaves through the NL Central as Chicago aims to remake its core and snatch an impact bat from a division rival\ud83d\udc47\u201d - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=123844\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201c\ud83d\udd25 BLOCKBUSTER MOVE: Cubs land a former Cardinals standout in free agency, sending shockwaves through the NL Central as Chicago aims to remake its core and snatch an impact bat from a division rival\ud83d\udc47\u201d - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chicago Cubs made an under-the-radar move on Friday to shore up their pitching staff. 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