Chicago baseball insider Bruce Levine gave fans an update on the current offseason plans for the Chicago Cubs and that includes two free agent relievers who are on the team’s radar. As you’ll probably guess, neither are seen as top-of-the market bullpen arms, but they each come with an established track record in the majors.

Jed Hoyer is trying to stabilize the Cubs’ bullpen entering 2025 and according to Levine the team is targeting a pair of veteran relievers to resolve one of the team’s issues from this past season. Levine lists old friend Andrew Chafin and Kirby Yates as the two bullpen weapons the Cubs are interested in at the moment.

Via 670 The Score.

Righty reliever Kirby Yates and lefty reliever Andrew Chafin are on the Cubs’ radar. The Cubs have been particularly light on veteran left-handed bullpen arms in the past two seasons, with righty reliever Mark Leiter Jr., who’s now with the Yankees, often facing dangerous left-handed hitters because of his reverse splits.

Yates, 37, had a terrific 2024 season for the Rangers, posting a 1.17 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in 61 2/3 innings across 50 appearances. He converted 33 of his 34 saves chances.

Chafin, 34, had a 3.51 ERA in 62 appearances for the Rangers and Tigers last season. He pitched for the Cubs in 2020 and 2021.

Andrew Chafin

The veteran lefty had a nice bounce back year in 2024, finishing the season with a 3.51 ERA in 56.1 innings. He was dealt from the Detroit Tigers to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline for a pair of players and while his numbers dipped Chafin was still fine overall.

Aside from the shortened 2020 season, Chafin has been fairly consistent throughout his career. The big speed bump came in 2023, when he was in his second stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks and then pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers. The lefty had a 4.73 ERA in 51.1 innings in 2023. Besides that Chafin has had six strong seasons since 2017 and has a career 3.42 ERA in 601 MLB appearances.

The main concern looking at Chafin’s past couple of years is that his walk rate his climbed. While the strikeout numbers remained close to 30% Chafin has a 12.6% walk rate the past two years. Still, a reliable lefty who can easily slide into a set-up role as well in the Cubs bullpen if needed.

As Levine points out, the Cubs do not have many left-handed options out of the bullpen. Luke Little is coming back from injury and Rob Zastryzny is the only other lefty reliever currently on the Cubs 40-man roster.

Kirby Yates

Kirby Yates was unbelievable for the Texas Rangers in 2024, earning All-Star Game honors for the second time in his career, while also being named to the All-MLB Second Team. The 37-year-old recorded a 1.17 ERA in 61.1 innings, striking out 85 batters in 61 appearances. More importantly when it comes to the current bullpen situation for the Cubs, Yates closed out 33 of 34 save opportunities with the Rangers.

Sure, Yates is on the older side, but he’s shown the ability to be absolute nails throughout his career. In 2019, Yates was the NL saves leader with 41 pitching for the San Diego Padres. During that season, Yates had a 1.19 ERA in 60.2 innings with a ridiculous 41.6% strikeout rate.

Now, maybe you’re gun-shy after the Hector Neris signing, but it seems like Yates has already dealt with late-career struggles and has found a way to get better again. Yates had a couple rough years from 2020-22, but you can probably point to his Tommy John surgery as the main culprit for his brief decline. Yates underwent the elbow surgery on March 24, 2021, missed the entire season and only pitched in seven games in 2022.

In 2023, Yates was back fully healthy and logged 60.1 innings with the Atlanta Braves, leading to his superb 2024 season.