Cubs setup man Phil Maton has been on the injured list three times due to what’s been labeled tendinitis in his right knee this season, but Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune reports that Maton has now been diagnosed with a partial tear of the patellar tendon in that knee. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection about three weeks back. It’s unclear if he’ll be able to return this season. Montemurro notes that the club will make a decision on that front later this month.
Maton signed a two-year, $14.5MM deal over the winter. He’s only managed to pitch 27 2/3 innings so far due to that trio of IL stints. He’s been clobbered for a 6.18 ERA in that time. Maton’s strikeout rate has dropped by 10 percentage points this season, while his walk rate has jumped to a career-worst 11.8%. Whether the tear has been present for most of the season and gone undetected or whether it developed more recently, it’s clear that Maton hasn’t been pitching at 100% this season. His results are nowhere close to his generally strong track record.
From 2022-25, Maton was one of the steadiest setup men in the game. He logged a combined 3.33 ERA in that time, accumulating nine saves and 64 holds along the way. Maton punched out 27% of his opponents against a 9% walk rate across those four years. He’s never thrown hard, but he’s piled up outs while sitting 89-91 mph with his sinker, four-seamer and cutter alike.
The two-year deal Maton signed with the Cubs was a major deviation from the norm for president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his baseball operations staff. As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the Cubs hadn’t signed a free agent reliever to a multi-year contract since their three-year, $43MM Craig Kimbrel deal back in 2019. Maton’s contract is actually the third-largest contract the Cubs have given to a free-agent reliever in the past 20 years.
Bullpen health — and pitchers’ health in general — has been a major issue for the Cubs this season. Maton is one of eight Cubs relievers currently on the injured list (although the Cubs signed Shelby Miller knowing he’d spend most of 2026 on the IL recovering from elbow surgery). They’ve been without closer Daniel Palencia for the past two months due to a flexor strain. Left-hander Hoby Milner hit the injured list in late June after an emergency appendectomy procedure and has yet to return. A flexor strain sent Riley Martin to the shelf in late April and was expected to cost him around eight weeks; it’s turned into a lengthier absence. Porter Hodge was lost to a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery back in April.
The Cubs added Ryan Zeferjahn in a deadline deal with the Angels and also reunited with Aaron Civale in a smaller July swap after the A’s had designated him for assignment. Those were their only bullpen additions during deadline season, as Hoyer & Co. understandably focused more on bolstering a rotation that’s been similarly ravaged by injury. A healthy Maton would be a big boost down the stretch, but given the ongoing nature of his injury situation, it’s not clear they’ll get a full-strength version of him even if he’s able to take the mound before season’s end.
