The Cubs landed one of the best-performing starting pitchers in the 2024 playoffs via free agency.
The Chicago Cubs have set out to improve their starting pitching heading into the 2025 season, and they have already made a potentially impactful move this early in the free agency process. On Monday morning, the Cubs reportedly agreed with left-handed starting pitcher Matt Boyd on a two-year, $29 million deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
The total value of Boyd's contract with the Cubs can reach $30 million, as per Heyman, with the 33-year-old southpaw potentially receiving an extra $500,000 in his two years in the Windy City in performance bonus if he reaches certain benchmarks.
Boyd earned this contract by being one of the best pitchers for a Cleveland Guardians team that made it all the way to the ALCS in 2024. The newest Cubs starter may have pitched in just eight regular-season games for the Guardians, putting up a solid ERA of 2.72 in 39.2 innings pitched, but in the playoffs, he was lights out, recording an elite 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings.
The big question mark surrounding Boyd is his health; he has only started 23 games over the past two seasons, and he hasn't pitched a whole season since 2020. Last year, the Guardians were able to pick Boyd up in the middle of the season after the Detroit Tigers decided not bring him back after he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 — a major worry considering that he has also endured a few other elbow and arm injuries since 2021.
But there's no question that the potential is there for the Cubs to get a major return on their investment, so long as Boyd manages to stave off the injury bug.
Cubs beef up their starting rotation with Matt Boyd addition
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The good news for the Cubs is that they aren't going to rely on Matt Boyd to be the ace of their rock-solid starting rotation, thus relieving him of some of the pressure to deliver on his new contract. Boyd is joining a talented rotation headlined by Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, and Jameson Taillon — a trio that combined for 8.3 WAR (per Fangraphs) and 81 starts last season.
The back end of the Cubs' rotation clearly needed work; Kyle Hendricks departed the team in free agency, and Javier Assad, despite posting a solid ERA of 3.73 last season, did not have the best of peripheral numbers. Boyd should come in and solidify that back-end while providing some nice, quality upside as someone boasting above-average strikeout stuff.