The Chicago Cubs quietly made a move that says a lot about how they plan to win in 2026: they’re betting on funk, ground balls, and experience in the form of veteran lefty reliever Hoby Milner.
According to multiple reports, the Cubs and Milner have agreed to a one-year, $3.75 million deal with incentives, a move that plugs a glaring hole from the left side in Chicago’s bullpen and reunites Milner with manager Craig Counsell’s pitching philosophy.
Who Is Hoby Milner, and Why Do the Cubs Want Him?
Milner is a
34-year-old left-handed reliever with one of the funkiest deliveries in the game: a low arm slot, sweeping movement, and below-average velocity that still manages to baffle hitters.
Over
nine MLB seasons with the Phillies, Rays, Angels, Brewers and Rangers, Milner has posted a
3.82 ERA across 367 appearances, almost entirely out of the bullpen. He’s not a closer, not a flamethrower, and not a household name—but he is exactly the kind of pitcher front offices obsessed with “run prevention” love.
The Cubs, under president of baseball operations
Jed Hoyer, have repeatedly targeted pitchers with
outlier traits over raw velocity, and Milner fits that blueprint perfectly.
The Deal: Low Risk, Clear Role
MLB.com and local outlets report that Milner’s contract is a
one-year, $3.75 million deal with incentives, pending official club announcement. For a durable, matchup-friendly reliever with recent success, that’s a relatively modest investment.
Key points of the deal:
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Length: 1 year
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Base value: $3.75 million-
Structure: Includes performance incentives
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Roster impact: No corresponding move immediately needed; the Cubs still had 40-man room.
This is the kind of
bridge move contending (or would-be contending) teams make: not a headline-grabbing splash, but a piece that stabilizes the middle innings and gives the manager options.
What Milner Brings on the Mound
Milner is not going to light up the radar gun—his fastball didn’t even average
88 mph last year—but his value comes from
how the ball moves and
where it ends up.
Extreme Ground-Ball Specialist
In 2025 with the
Texas Rangers, Milner posted a
3.84 ERA over 73 appearances, ranking in the
91st percentile in ground-ball rate across MLB. That skill is gold in tight games, especially at Wrigley Field when the wind is howling out.
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2025 (Rangers): 3.84 ERA in 73 games
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2023 (Brewers): 1.82 ERA, just
1.8 walks per nine and a
0.964 WHIP—the best year of his career.
The Cubs are effectively betting that, with his ground-ball tendencies and contact management skills, Milner’s results can again line up more closely with his peripherals, which have been stronger than his ERAs the last two seasons.
Nasty vs Lefties
Milner is particularly lethal against left-handed hitters, which is a big driver of this signing.
- Career vs lefties:
.221/.269/.339 slash line allowed
- 2025 vs lefties (Rangers):
.208/.226/.300Those are
premium matchup numbers. In an era with three-batter minimum rules, you still want relievers who can dominate certain pockets of a lineup, and Milner gives Counsell a go-to option when a run of lefties is looming.
How He Does It: Funk Over Fire
Milner’s arsenal is all about
deception and movement rather than force.
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Delivery: Sidearm/low slot, creating tough east–west angles.
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Primary pitches:-
Sinker – key for ground balls
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Sweeper – a wide-breaking breaking ball that often starts near a hitter’s hip, then dives into the zone
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Changeup – used more than his traditional four-seam fastball
Even though the sweeper often lands
in the heart of the zone, the odd angle makes it difficult for hitters to square up in the air. That profile fits nicely with a strong infield defense and a team that values
soft contact over strikeouts alone.
Fit with the Cubs’ Bullpen Strategy
The Milner signing is another puzzle piece in what looks like a
bullpen rebuild-by-committee on the North Side.
Recently, the Cubs also added right-hander
Phil Maton, another contact-management, funky-profile reliever, plus
Collin Snider on a minor-league flier. None of these moves scream “closer,” but together they suggest a clear trend:
versatile, quirky arms with track records of suppressing hard contact.Milner’s likely role:
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Primary: Middle innings / matchup lefty
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Secondary: High-leverage spots vs left-heavy pockets in opposing orders
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Usage: Heavy; he threw a career-high 73 games in 2025 and 274 appearances over the last four seasons.
With his durability and ground-ball skills, he’s the kind of reliever you can trot out often without worrying as much about home runs—he allowed only
five homers in 70.1 innings for Texas in 2025.
The Counsell Connection and Tread Athletics Edge
There’s also a strong
relationship and development angle here.
Milner spent multiple seasons pitching for
Craig Counsell in Milwaukee, including that elite 2023 campaign. Counsell knows how to deploy him, when to push him, and when to give him runway against tough lefties.
On top of that, Milner works with
Tread Athletics, a modern pitching development outfit that’s become popular among pros looking to squeeze out extra performance gains. For a pitcher in his mid-30s, aligning with a forward-thinking org like the Cubs and a manager who trusts him could be a smart late-career optimization.
Why This Move Matters More Than the Price Tag
This isn’t the kind of signing that breaks X (Twitter) or leads SportsCenter, but it
is the type that shows how the Cubs are thinking about
winning on the margins.
Here’s what it signals:
- The Cubs
know they needed left-handed relief help and moved quickly to secure a proven option.
- They’re comfortable leaning into
“weird” profiles over pure velocity, a front-office trait that has become something of a calling card.
- This move
does not preclude bigger deals; it’s a foundational bullpen piece, not the headline act.
If Milwaukee-era Milner shows up in Wrigley blue, this will look like a
bargain. Even if he’s simply the 2025 Rangers version again, the Cubs get a durable, reliable lefty who soaks up innings and neutralizes tough left-handed bats—a role they badly needed to fill.
What to Watch Next
For Cubs fans, a few storylines to keep an eye on as spring training approaches:
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Usage pattern: Does Counsell treat Milner as a pure matchup arm, or a full-inning reliever despite the three-batter rule?
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ERA vs peripherals: Analysts noted his results lagged behind his underlying metrics the last two years. If that normalizes, his numbers could pop.
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Synergy with Maton and others: The Cubs are quietly building a bullpen of misfit toys; how that translates over 162 games will be fascinating.
One thing is clear: in an offseason where the headlines will go to big bats and frontline starters, the
Cubs just made a smart, targeted bullpen play. If they’re in the playoff hunt next fall, don’t be surprised if a few of those key outs came from a funky lefty whose fastball barely touches 88—but whose ground balls keep the season alive.
Sources
1. Cubs Add Workhorse Lefty Reliever Hoby Milner -
2. Cubs reach 1-year deal with lefty ground-ball specialist Milner (source)
3. Chicago Cubs Signing Lefty Hoby Milner (UPDATE)
4. The Cubs have signed Hoby Milner
