Drew Smyly exercises player option with Cubs

Left-hander Drew Smyly exercised his player option to return to the Cubs, tweets Jesse Rogers of ESPN. He’ll make an $8.5M salary next season and is guaranteed a $2.5M buyout on a mutual option for 2025.

There wasn’t much suspense with the decision. Smyly wasn’t going to beat $11M in guarantees on the open market. The veteran southpaw had a tough 2023 campaign, allowing five earned runs per nine across 142 1/3 innings. The Cubs moved him to the bullpen in mid-August as his struggles mounted. Smyly fared well in relief, working to a 2.51 ERA through 28 2/3 innings.

That’s perhaps the ideal role for him to assume in 2024. The Cubs have Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon locked into three rotation spots. 

They’re likely to add at least one arm this winter to replace Marcus Stroman, who opted out of his contract. Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski headline the remaining options for back-end roles.

With Smyly officially back in the fold, Roster Resource projects the Cubs’ 2024 player payroll around $178M. They’re at roughly $186M in luxury tax obligations, around $50M shy of the threshold. Chicago opened the ’23 campaign with a payroll around $184M.