When the offseason started after 2025, one area that everyone knew would be a priority was rebuilding the bullpen. Most people assumed that Brad Keller would be too expensive, Andrew Kittredge was not worth the price of his club option, and there was no way they would bring back all their free agents, including Taylor Rogers, Mike Soroka, Aaron Civale, Drew Pomeranz, and Caleb Thielbar.
But I was surprised when the Cubs not only re-signed Thielbar, but went out and signed four relief pitchers on major league contracts.
There of them were names I was familiar with. Phil Maton had been an effective reliever for year. Hunter Harver was an often-injured right hander with good velocity. And Hoby iMlner was a lefty with a funky delivery, who could get out left-handed hitters. Those three plus Thielbar cost nearly $18.5 Million for 2026.
But one guy that they signed for only $1.9 Million was someone I had never heard of: Jacob Webb. He was 32 when they signed him, and had a relatively undistinguished MLB career with Atlanta, the Angels, the Orioles and, most recently, the Rangers. But looking at his stats now, I’m disappointed in how lackluster I felt about the signing.
It turns out that he’s had a very solid career, with number very similar to what we’ve seen in 2026. He has a career 1.20 WHIP and 2.85 ERA, compiling a 4.4 bWAR over 8 seasons. His lifetime k% is 23.8 and BB% is 9.8, all solid numbers. Although he has improved on all of those in 2026 with a 2.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 1.2 WAR (already the highest of his career), 27.2 K% and 8.6 BB%.
I did not realize that Webb could be pitching for the Rangers this season if they had tendered him a contract for just $2 Million. Instead, he was non-tendered with a group that included Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim and Josh Sborz. So their loss became the Cubs’ gain.
But I wasn’t even sure he would make the team. In my roster predictions throughout the Spring, I only had him as possibly making the roster, with 6 relievers as locks or near locks — Palencia, Thielbar, Maton, Milner, Harvey and Rea. I bunched him in with Ben Brown, Javier Assad, Porter Hodge, Luke Little and Jordan Wicks. Yikes on those last two.
I finally moved him to the ‘Probable’ category in late Spring, but wrote “Webb was a free agent pickup and has had a decent spring. I think he makes the team, but would be a candidate to be replaced based on his early season performance.”
As the season got going, I was not much higher on him, and for good reason. In March and April he had a 5.06 ERA, a 6.18 FIP and a 2.06 WHIP, number that scream DFA candidate. He sat in the “low confidence” tier on my reliever rankings into the first week of May.
And then, almost like magic, a switch flipped.
- Between May 12 and June 7th, he went 11 outings without allowing a run.
- There was a hiccup between June 10th and June 20th, where he allowed 7 runs in 5 games and 3 home runs
- Since the game on June 20th against the Blue Jays, where he allow 3 runs in 2/3rds of an inning, he has gone 23 games without allowing a run.
He has become the Cubs most reliable reliever, picking up where Brad Keller left off last season. Here is a side by side comparison of Brad Keller in 2025 versus Web in 2026.
| Pitcher | ERA | FIP | WHIP | K% | BB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keller ’25 | 2.07 | 2.93 | 0.96 | 27.2% | 8.0% |
| Webb ’26 | 2.25 | 3.30 | 1.18 | 27.2% | 8.6% |
Meanwhile, Keller has been much worse in 2026 while making over $9 Million more this season.
It is interesting to see how Webb has been covered through his career as a journeyman reliever, where expectations were not that high.
Here is an article before the 2022 season:
https://www.batterypower.com/2021/12/8/22819018/jacob-webb-2021-atlanta-braves-season-in-review
And here is an article when he was DFA’d by the Angels in 2023:
https://halohangout.com/posts/angels-news-angels-dfa-once-promising-reliever-in-latest-roster-move-jacob-webb
And now, he’s become the closer for the Cubs, and they have a club option to keep him around next season. I expect Daniel Palencia to eventually take back the closer role, but at this point I’m doubtful that will happen in 2026. Webb has just been too good.
Cubs in 7 
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