The Cubs are not expected to pick up their option on right-hander Colin Rea, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The veteran had a $7.5MM club option for 2027 with a $1MM buyout.
Rea put together a decent season in a swingman role. He compiled a 4.34 ERA across 137 innings. The righty made 19 starts and 15 relief appearances. Rea opened the year in a long relief role, but it didn’t last long. He was thrust into a starting gig by mid-April due to injuries in the rotation.
Chicago brought in reinforcements through the trade market over the summer. The additions of David Peterson, Kevin Gausman, and Clay Holmes eventually bumped Rea back to the bullpen. He served as a sparsely used long reliever over the final two months of the year. Rea did not make the Wild Card roster.
The Cubs added Rea on a one-year, $5MM deal heading into the 2025 season. The agreement included a $6MM team option for 2026, with a $750K buyout. Instead of picking up the option for 2026, Chicago worked out a new deal with Rea that included a $5.5MM salary this past season plus the aforementioned 2027 option. That scenario could play out once again this time around, with the two sides coming up with a reworked agreement.
Rea’s flexibility helped the Cubs survive a mountain of pitching injuries this season. Cade Horton was lost to Tommy John surgery almost immediately. Matthew Boyd and Edward Cabrera missed extended time. Justin Steele was expected to contribute at some point in 2026, but had setbacks in his recovery from elbow surgery and never rejoined the team. Ben Brown, like Rea, began the year as a long reliever before moving into the rotation. A neck strain ended his season in June.
With Boyd, Gausman, Holmes, Peterson, and Shota Imanaga headed to free agency, the Cubs will have some work to do this offseason. Steele should be back to headline the rotation, along with Cabrera and Brown. There are health questions with that trio. It’s an uncertain group beyond them.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
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