Cubs Sign Hector Neris
Reliever Hector Neris has reached a deal with the Chicago Cubs on a one-year, $9 million contract with a $9 million team option for the 2025 season, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan first reported Saturday morning.
The Cubs are getting the best reliever left on the free agency market, as they continue to add pieces to find that postseason formula once again after just missing the playoffs last season by one measly game.
Neris did contribute to the 2022 World Series Champion in Houston. The Cubs bringing him in will help add another playoff-tested veteran to contribute to the Cubs’ push for another postseason run with how last season ended leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many–crumbling down the stretch.
Neris, 34, is coming off one of his best seasons in 2023 for the Astros. He posted a career-low 1.71 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 77 strikeouts across 68.1 innings. Neris will likely be the Cubs’ main option for the 8th inning as a setup man to closer Adbert Alzolay.
His 10-year career has seen him own a career 3.24 ERA with 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings over 546 appearances with the Philadelphia Phillies and Astros. His main pitch is his four-seamer, which primarily serves as his setup pitch to his good splitter that just falls off the bottom half of the plate. He’s mainly a two-pitch reliever, but does have a sinker he uses on occasion as well.
The Cubs to this point have been very quiet in terms of moves. Such a slow market in the last few months doesn’t make this news groundbreaking. They have been in on a lot of free agents this offseason and are still looking to get deals done, especially since Cody Bellinger is still on the market after a big resurgence season for the Cubs last year.
Hopefully, signing Hector Neris is just the start of what is brewing in Chicago. Concluding with another run of October baseball in Wrigley.
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