Jacob Webb gets new deal in wake of summer as Cubs’ go-to reliever, despite late-season struggles

The first move in Jed Hoyer’s offseason quest to improve the Cubs’ pitching staff stayed in house.

The team announced a new one-year deal with righty reliever Jacob Webb that contains a club option for 2028.

Webb had some notable stumbles down the stretch, blowing four saves in his final 11 relief outings. But prior to that bumpy ride — one that infuriated fans and contributed to the Cubs’ inability to secure home-field advantage in the wild-card round of the playoffs — Webb spent the summer as Craig Counsell’s go-to reliever.

Webb, who signed as a free agent last offseason, unexpectedly became the Cubs’ closer with righty Daniel Palencia missing much of the season due to injury. Webb rattled off a mighty impressive stretch of 24 consecutive scoreless appearances and finished the season as the team leader in saves, with nine.

Webb’s season-ending 3.36 ERA was actually higher than his 3.00 mark the previous season as a Ranger, a number blown up by those late-season struggles: a 9.90 ERA in his final 11 outings of the campaign.

We’ll see where Webb ends up in Hoyer’s plans for the 2027 bullpen after the team president forecasted something of a relief-corps overhaul at the beginning of last month.

“I did a poor job on the bullpen this year, full stop,” Hoyer said during his end-of-season press conference last month. “The guys we acquired this winter didn’t produce nearly as well as they did a year ago.

“Last year, I was really proud of our bullpen, in 2025. It was a huge part of our success last year. We built the bullpen with the same philosophy or the same thoughts in mind. We didn’t get it right, and that’s something we’ve spent a lot of time talking about already and we’ll continue to talk about.”

Webb was the success story in that self-panned effort to replicate 2025’s bullpen production. But as a unit, things were not as good, with Cubs relievers finishing the season with a 3.90 ERA that was middle of the pack in the sport.

Hoyer & Co. are set to focus much of their offseason energy on pitching, and that includes the bullpen. A new contract for Webb is Step 1.

Another arm aboard

The Cubs added a bullpen arm from outside the organization Monday, too, claiming righty reliever Eric Orze off waivers from the Twins.

Orze, a Glenbard North alum, posted a 5.66 ERA this season but had far more success just a season earlier, with a 3.02 ERA in 33 appearances for the Rays in 2025.