The Cubs bolster their bullpen with a reliable lefty. Milner brings veteran presence and innings-eating ability, reuniting with manager Craig Counsell.
The Chicago Cubs have made their second free-agent move this offseason.
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation was the first to report that the Cubs have signed left-handed reliever Hoby Milner. The contract is said to be a one-year, $3.75 million deal with Chicago. Milner now joins Phil Maton as the first two bullpen pieces the front office has added this offseason.
Milner might not be the biggest relief pitcher on the open market this offseason, but this is a solid add for the Cubs. He gives Chicago a reliable left-handed pitcher in its bullpen, and the 34-year-old veteran has had success on the mound in recent years.
The southpaw has a combined 3.55 ERA and 245 strikeouts with the Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers over the past four seasons. That included a solid 2025 campaign in which he finished with a 3.84 ERA across a career-high 70 ⅓ innings pitched.
Milner's numbers won’t jump off the page, with his low strikeout rate and low whiff rate. Last season, his 24.8% chase rate, 15.5% whiff rate, and 19.8% strikeout rate all ranked in the 20th percentile or worse among all pitchers.
However, Milner gets the job done. He doesn’t walk many batters, and his hard-hit rate against has ranked in the upper half of the league in each of the last four seasons. The left-hander has also finished with an expected 3.40 ERA in three of the past four years.
Therefore, this is a solid bullpen addition for the Cubs. He is a workhorse on the mound, with four straight seasons of at least 64 innings pitched. As a matter of fact, his 262 innings pitched as a reliever since the start of the 2022 season are the seventh-most among all bullpen arms.
Here at Cubs Roundtable, we actually wrote about the possibility that Milner could be a target for the North Siders. We detailed that in our bullpen piece last week, which you can read down below.
This Milner addition just made too much sense for the Cubs. His price tag is very cheap, and manager Craig Counsell is familiar with the southpaw from his time with the Brewers. Counsell and Milner spent three seasons together from 2021 to 2023 in Milwaukee.
In Counsell’s last season with the Brewers, Milner posted the best numbers of his career. The veteran ended the year with a 1.82 ERA and 59 strikeouts across 64 ⅓ innings pitched.
So, Cubs fans should like this Milner signing. He will become a dependable left-handed reliever in the bullpen and should eat a ton of innings. This could be looked back on as an underrated move by the front office a year from now, similar to the Caleb Thielbar move last offseason.