After a flurry of reliever signings, how will the Cubs pivot to fill out 'pen?

Caleb Thielbar is one of several relievers the Cubs can count on in 2026. Michael Reaves / Getty Images

Before the baseball industry's pre-Christmas run on relief pitchers, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer explained again why a careful organization typically avoids major additions to the Wrigley Field bullpen.

Simply put, the performances of relievers are too volatile within each season and too unpredictable from one year to the next. That, coupled with advancements in technology and the proliferation of data, has fundamentally changed pitching development, offering new opportunities to coach up relievers and coax out talent.

Within the parameters of the baseball budget, it makes sense to spread the bullpen money around and take a volume-based approach.

"Every team has to make their own decisions on how they allocate resources," Hoyer said. "Other teams may choose to put really big blocks in the bullpen. That's up to them. How I see it is: I would rather use those big chunks of money to go get (something else), whether it's starting pitching or position players."

League sources have described Chicago's varying degrees of interest in starters Michael King, Tatsuya Imai and Zac Gallen in a manner that suggests none of those free agents is viewed as an absolutely must-have pitcher right now, while also confirming each one could help level up a postseason org.

King, who went to high school in Rhode Island and played at Boston College, might prefer relocating back to the East Coast. Meanwhile, evaluators have questions about whether Imai is more of a middle- or back-of-the-rotation starter than a budding ace, and how to value the Japanese pitcher's first major-league contract in that context.

The larger point is the Cubs still have many options on the table, including signing All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman, trading from their stash of position players and taking some chances with the seven open spots on their 40-man roster.

The Cubs anticipated something like this happening for Brad Keller, who reached an agreement Wednesday with the Philadelphia Phillies on a two-year, $22 million contract, league sources said Wednesday. Keller, who signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs last winter, got rewarded after blossoming into one of the most valuable and versatile pitchers on a 92-win team and then proving himself as a trusted late-inning reliever in October.

Drew Pomeranz and Caleb Thielbar, who spent multiple seasons out of the majors at points in their careers, excelled out of Chicago's bullpen this year, earning healthy contracts in their late 30s.

Amid this recent flurry of bullpen signings, Pomeranz agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, and Thielbar will be returning to the Cubs on a one-year, $4.5 million pact.

Those types of success stories should help the Cubs in recruiting players, retaining talent and creating in-house opportunities.

"We've done a good job bringing the best out of guys, so I think that certainly is noticed," Hoyer said. "We're not alone in that, but I think that when we do Zooms, and we talk to different pitchers, they're aware of that."

Though acknowledging that relievers can become injured, overused and ineffective, so many other National League contenders are noticeably turning this offseason into a bullpen race:

* Keller won't have to be the closer because the Phillies made the type of larger deal the Cubs avoided at summer's trade deadline, acquiring Jhoan Duran from the Minnesota Twins.

* Devin Williams (three years, $51 million) and Luke Weaver (two years, $22 million) left the New York Yankees as free agents and will team up again on the New York Mets as part of a larger plan to replace All-Star closer Edwin Díaz, change the team's identity and redistribute resources.

* Díaz joined baseball's modern dynasty, signing a three-year, $69 million contract that underlined again how the Los Angeles Dodgers have a seemingly unlimited budget.

* Robert Suarez accepted a three-year, $45 million offer from the Atlanta Braves to be a setup man for closer Raisel Iglesias, who's returning on a one-year, $16 million deal, to form a potentially elite bullpen.

* Emilio Pagán re-signed with the Cincinnati Reds on a two-year, $20 million contract after the Cubs showed some late interest in the 34-year-old closer, helping support a strong rotation.

* Phil Maton's $14.5 million guarantee is outside the norm for the Cubs, but it ranks 12th in terms of overall dollar amount among free-agent relievers who've reached agreements this offseason, according to MLB Trade Rumors' database, which places Maton's deal at No. 15 for average annual value.

Clearly, the Cubs still have room to add. But with Maton, Thielbar, lefty reliever Hoby Milner and closer Daniel Palencia -- plus Gold Glove defenders all over the field -- the club has the makings of an effective bullpen already.

To cover more than 1,400 innings, the Cubs can use Colin Rea and Javier Assad as swingmen, assuming Chicago signs another starting pitcher, and Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon are healthy at the start of the season. Justin Steele, a one-time All-Star and Cy Young Award contender, will be waiting in the wings as he fully recovers from elbow surgery.

The Cubs aren't necessarily banking on Porter Hodge saving games again, or Ben Brown converting into a dominant reliever with his swing-and-miss stuff, but they can be open to the possibility both young pitchers could surprise and repeat what they've shown in flashes.

As manager Craig Counsell likes to say, there will be a pitcher somewhere on a field in Arizona whom no one is talking about in spring training, and he will wind up pitching in big moments at Wrigley Field.

"What we thought about our bullpen going into the season," Counsell said, "we were wrong."

It happens. But this is not a coaching staff or a front office that tends to overreact.

"We ended up pitching pretty well," Counsell said. "Maybe it wasn't the guys that we expected to do it. It just shows (you) get a bunch of good arms and kind of see what happens, and have enough abilities to pivot when you have to during the season."