With free agency set to open Monday night, the Cubs are still checking off items on the offseason to-do list, and one of the bigger ones already has been handled. Chicago declined Colin Rea’s 2027 option, sending him into free agency after two seasons in which he quietly became one of the staff’s most useful stopgaps.
Rea’s deal from last year included a $7.5 million option for 2027, but the Cubs moved on despite the fact that he logged the second-most innings on the team over the last two seasons. Injuries pushed him into a more prominent role than anyone likely expected, and for a while he was a steady part of the rotation mix.
But once the Cubs added Clay Holmes, David Peterson, and Kevin Gausman before the deadline this past summer, Rea slipped into the background and eventually into mop-up work out of the bullpen. That shift made his offseason departure feel increasingly likely.
Over 34 appearances last year, including 19 starts, Rea posted a 4.34 ERA. He struck out fewer than 18% of the hitters he faced and walked eight percent. Those numbers don’t jump off the page, but his ability to cover different roles gave the Cubs real value while the pitching staff was being patched together.
There’s also a financial side to the decision. With more additions expected to the pitching staff this offseason, paying Rea roughly $7 million no longer made much sense. And the Cubs may already have the next man lined up.
Javier Assad has a club option for 2027 at $3.3 million, though the expectation is that the Cubs will decline that option while still tendering him a contract. Through arbitration, Chicago would keep control of Assad through the 2028 season, and his projected arbitration salary for 2027 is $2.3 million.
Assad appears poised to take on the kind of role Rea filled over the last two years. He has already shown he can work both as a starter and as a swingman in the bullpen, and after bouncing between Chicago and Iowa over the past year, he now seems to have a clearer path to a permanent spot on the big-league roster.
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Kanzler also brings a background as a former outfielder and a coach with the Astros, which helps explain why Seattle saw him as more than just another candidate. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto pointed to Kanzlers intelligence, intensity, creativity and ability to develop young players as traits that can help build a championship standard, a profile that should resonate with anyone who watched his work in Chicago. [Read more 🡒]