The Cubs have turned down Javier Assad’s $3.3 million club option, but the right-hander isn’t going anywhere.
According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Chicago declined the option yesterday, though the team never formally announced the move. Assad remains under club control as an arbitration-eligible player, so this is more of a financial reset than a goodbye.
Assad spent the 2026 season on a one-year, $1.8 million contract that included that $3.3 million option for 2027. The deal, which he and the Cubs reached last winter, bought out his first arbitration year and gave the club some protection if he took a leap. Instead, Assad split the year between Triple-A Iowa and Chicago and mostly filled a swingman role when he was in the majors.
In 94 1/3 big league innings, Assad put up a 3.63 ERA. His strikeout rate sat at 16.1%, six percentage points below average, but he paired that with a solid 7.1% walk rate.
He also recorded a pair of three-inning saves, though he otherwise didn’t collect a save or hold. Most of his work came as an opener or long reliever, usually in low- and medium-leverage spots.
The Cubs’ decision makes sense when you look at the numbers. Assad’s option was priced above the $2.3 million he’s projected to earn in arbitration, according to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
That gap points toward a new deal that could keep him in the fold for 2027 while trimming Chicago’s bill by around $1 million, give or take. That kind of savings also matters down the line, since a lower 2027 salary would reduce any possible raise heading into 2028, his final year of club control.
For now, Assad still sits in the mix for a rotation spot in 2027, but the Cubs are clearly shopping for starting pitching. Chicago watched Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman, David Peterson, Shota Imanaga and Clay Holmes all reach free agency, leaving a major chunk of the staff in flux.
Justin Steele and 2025 Rookie of the Year runner-up Cade Horton are expected back from UCL surgeries by Opening Day, but neither has pitched in a big league game since April 2025, so expectations are hard to pin down. Ben Brown is in a similar spot after a stress reaction in his neck ended his season in June, just months after he had looked like a revelation in the rotation.
More likely than not, Assad ends up back in the familiar swing role he has handled before. He made 29 starts in 2024, but his major league career has mostly been a mix of rotation and bullpen work.
Across 106 games and 65 starts, he owns a 3.47 ERA in 425 1/3 innings. Even so, the underlying profile is less flattering: below-average velocity, and strikeout and walk rates that have both trended worse than league average over his career.
Metrics such as SIERA (4.63) and FIP (4.56) suggest he’s probably been a bit fortunate to carry a mid-3.00s ERA. Still, he remains a useful arm to keep around, especially with a minor league option left.
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