Cubs eye bullpen reinforcements. Will a career year pivot Brad Keller from reliever to starter, drawing interest from elsewhere?
The Cubs will be looking for bullpen help this offseason.
With Daniel Palencia and Ben Brown the only two relievers that ended the year with the team still on the roster, the front office needs to add five to six more relievers this winter. So, it’s not a surprise that pitching appears to be the team’s largest focus right now.
The Cubs already traded Andrew Kittredge away to save some money, and key bullpen pieces from last season like Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, and Drew Pomeranz are set to hit free agency. The front office simply has to find a way to replace those bullpen arms.
The one number priority for the Cubs should be re-signing Keller following a career year. He was the team’s most consistent reliever throughout the 2025 season and came up big in plenty of high-leverage spots.
Keller finished the year with a 2.07 ERA and 75 strikeouts across 69 ⅔ innings. The 30-year-old also totaled five saves, which included saving both Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series and Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
However, there’s a good chance that we have seen the last of Keller in a Cubs uniform. That’s because the right-hander is drawing interest from teams as a potential starting pitcher.
Keller actually started his career as a starter, but his numbers in that role weren’t great. He finished with a 4.19 ERA and 122 strikeouts across 28 starts with the Kansas City Royals in 2019 and then had a 5.39 ERA in 26 starts in 2021.
After a career year on the mound, though, it appears some teams are interested in converting him back to a starter. Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote that Keller “is receiving inquiries this offseason as both a starter and reliever.”
That doesn’t come as a major surprise since Keller’s numbers across the board were elite in 2025. His expected batting average against (.200), average exit velocity (86.7 mph), hard-hit rate (30.6%), barrel rate (5.8%), and strikeout rate (27.2%) all ranked in the 80th percentile or better.
While we don’t know if teams will eventually sign Keller as a starter, it’s hard to imagine the Cubs being one of those teams. The front office seems to be looking for a top-of-the-line starting pitcher this winter, and there is some risk in signing the reliever to a multi-year contract to be a starter.
Considering MLB Trade Rumors predicts the right-hander to sign a three-year, $36 million deal this offseason, Cubs fans might have seen the last of Keller.