It’s a mild shocker because you kind of expect the Chicago Cubs to settle, but at least for now, they’re done with veteran pitcher Colin Rea. On Monday, the team officially declined their option on Rea that was worth $7.5 million for the 2027 season, instead paying him a $1 million buyout that makes the 36-year-old a free agent.
Rea was called into starting duty much sooner than the Cubs would have wanted in 2026, but credit to the veteran righty, who did a nice job early on amid the avalanche of pitching injuries. He allowed three or fewer earned runs in 15 of his 19 starts in 2026, but the results began to become a little more inconsistent than you’d like, and after the trade deadline Rea was rightfully moved to a lower-leverage spot in the bullpen.
Overall, in 2026, Rea recorded a 4.34 ERA in 137 innings. Across his two years with the Cubs, Rea surprisingly made 46 starts, the most on the club behind only Shōta Imanaga and Matthew Boyd.
Rea has never been a big strikeout pitcher in the majors, but given his age and the drop from 19.2 K% in 2025 to 17.2 K% in 2026, hitters also made more contact against him this past year, suggesting his future performance will continue to decline.
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If the Cubs truly move on from Rea, whether they no longer believe in the results or don’t think he’s worth what another team will sign him for, they’ll have to replace his innings. Again, it probably wasn’t planned, but in 2025 Rea logged 159.1 innings, and followed that up with 137 more innings in 2026. Maybe that swing role goes to Javier Assad, who has been as dependable as they come as the versatile option in the pitching staff for the past five seasons.
Maybe the Cubs wait out the market and re-sign Rea if he doesn’t get a better offer in free agency. It all depends on what they think he can be after a slight decline in 2026.
Elsewhere in the bullpen, the Cubs have agreed to a new contract with Jacob Webb. His new deal includes a team option for 2028.
