It's official: Cubs sign veteran reliever Brad Boxberger |
CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Brad Boxberger on a one-year major league contract with a mutual option for 2024. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Boxberger, 34, last season went 4-3 with 29 holds, one save and a 2.95 ERA (21 ER/64.0 IP) in a team-leading 70 games for Milwaukee. The 70 appearances were one shy of his career high, his 64.0 innings were just shy of his career-best 64.2 innings in both 2014 and 2021 and his 2.95 ERA was his lowest since 2014. Boxberger did not allow an earned run in 55 of his 70 outings and surrendered one earned run or fewer in 65 appearances. His 70 outings were third most among N.L. pitchers and his 55 games without allowing an earned run were tied for sixth-most in the N.L. In 11 major league seasons with San Diego (2012-13), Tampa Bay (2014-17), Arizona (2018), Kansas City (2019), Miami (2020) and Milwaukee (2021-22), Boxberger owns a 31-37 record with 91 holds, 82 saves and a 3.44 ERA (175 ER/457.2 IP) with 564 strikeouts, a 1.27 WHIP and .215 opponent average in 484 games, all in relief. Among relief pitchers since 2012 (min. 450 IP), Boxberger is eighth in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (11.09) and strikeouts per batter faced (.291), and ninth in opponent average. Boxberger spent the majority of the 2014 season in the majors for the first time in his career, appearing in 63 games for the Rays. He put up career-best numbers that season in ERA (2.37), strikeouts (104), strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched (14.47), WHIP (0.84), strikeouts per walk allowed (5.20) and tied a career high with 64.2 innings pitched (also 2021). Boxberger was named to A.L. All-Star Team in 2015, and that season posted an A.L.-best 41 saves for Tampa Bay, good for fourth-most in the majors. In his first season with the Brewers in 2021, Boxberger tied a career-high in innings pitched (64.2) spanning a career-high 71 outings. His 83 strikeouts and 1.07 WHIP were the second-best single-season marks of his career, behind only his 2014 breakout campaign. The five-foot 10-inch, Fullerton, Calif., native, was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the first round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Southern California. Boxberger graduated from Foothill High School (Santa Ana, Calif.). His father, Rod, was selected by Houston in the first round of the 1978 draft and played six seasons in the Astros, Yankees and Angels farm systems. The #Cubs today agreed to terms with RHP Brad Boxberger on a one-year major league contract with a mutual option for 2024.
Welcome to the team, Brad! pic.twitter.com/dQqdcZzt2d
