DECEMBER 9 : The Cubs made Boyds signing official on Saturday and Robert Murray of FanSided ( ) has the full contract details today. Boyd gets a $5MM signing bonus and a salary of $7.5MM in 2025, followed by a $14.5MM salary in 2026. There is a $2MM buyout on a $15MM mutual option for 2027. As for the bonuses, Boyd gets $100K for getting to 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 innings pitched in each season. DECEMBER 2 : The Cubs have agreed with left-hander on Rui Hachimura Jersey a two-year deal that will guarantee him $29MM, per a report from . The deal includes $1MM in performance bonuses, $500K each year, that could take the total guarantee to $30MM over two years. Boyd is represented by the Boras Corporation. Boyd, 34 in February, made his big league debut with the Blue Jays back in 2018 but established himself in the majors as a member of the Tigers the following year. From 2016 to 2020, Boyd served as a slightly below league average starter for Detroit with a 4.75 ERA (95 ERA+) and 4.54 FIP in 727 innings of work. The southpaw at times flashed exciting peripherals, such as the 2019 season when he punched out 30.2% of opponents in 185 1/3 frames while walking just 6.3%, but his overall body of work cast him as more of a solid back-of-the-rotation arm than anything else. Boyds time with the Tigers came to a close when he required surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon late in the 2021 campaign, which left him limited to just ten relief appearances as a member of the Mariners. He returned to the Tigers in 2023 but made just 15 starts to lackluster results before going under the knife a second time, this time due to Tommy John surgery. Once again a free agent coming off major surgery, Boyd remained unsigned headed into the 2024 season before eventually landing a big league deal with the Guardians back in June. The lefty didnt make his season debut until mid-August after building up to game readine s in the minor leagues, but once he suited up for Cleveland he looked quite good with a 2.72 ERA and 3.29 FIP in 39 2/3 innings of work acro s eight starts down the stretch. He struck out 27.7% of his opponents while walking just 7.3%, which would have given Boyd one of the better K-BB% figures for a starter in the sport this year if he had pitched enough innings to qualify. He built on that solid regular season performance with a strong showing during the Guardians run to the ALCS. He pitched 12 innings for the club acro s four appearances (three starts), and struck out 28% of opponents while posting a dazzling 0.75 ERA. That strong finish to Boyds season left the southpaw poised to garner plenty of interest in free agency this winter, even in spite of his checkered injury history. MLBTR ranked Boyd as the #23 free agent in this winters cla s on our annual , and predicted a two-year, $25MM guarantee that comes in just below the pact he ultimately landed with the Cubs. Boyd becomes the fifth starting pitcher to sign a multi-year deal this winter, joining s with the Royals, s with the Angels, s with the Dodgers, and the between and the Mets that was reported earlier this evening. Notably, four of the five were unencumbered by draft pick compensation in a pitching market where plenty of borderline candidates such as and were extended the qualifying offer by their clubs. (Wacha re-signed in Kansas City the day before QOs were tendered but would very likely have received one.) Each pitcher has landed a deal that come in at or above expectations. Even so, that seems to have pushed clubs that arent interested in signing a qualified free agent to act quickly. The calendar has only just flipped to December the market is already beginning to thin in terms of starters who arent attached to a qualifying offer. MLBTR predicted multi-year deals for just four more free agent starters who arent attached to draft pick compensation this winter: , , , and . Turning back to the Cubs, the addition of Boyd adds another capable veteran arm to a rotation that already features lefties and as well as right-hander . Adding to the rotation has been a well-established priority for the club this winter, though early reports of plans to eventually gave way to the suggestion Chicago could instead look for arms that pedigree. Boyd fits the latter description, given his roughly league-average work throughout his career and his recent struggles with injuries. The lefty has been limited to just 202 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2021 season, and in that time hes posted a 4.04 ERA (105 ERA+) with a 3.97 FIP and a 23.2% strikeout rate against an 8% walk rate. While Boyd may not nece sarily profile as a front-end starter, its still not hard to imagine him providing an upgrade to the Cubs rotation when healthy. After all, the lefty was legitimately impactful for the Guardians this year in both the regular season and the playoffs, and that succe s being a late-career step forward rather than a simple hot streak cant be ruled out for a pitcher who has long shown flashes of dominance throughout his time in the majors. Whats more, Chicago is perhaps uniquely well-equipped to handle any absences caused by future injuries thanks to a deep group of optionable arms that includes , , , and who can step into the rotation fairly seamle sly if needed. For the time being, that quartet appears likely to vie for the fifth spot in the clubs rotation this spring, with A sad as the early front-runner after a generally succe sful (3.73 ERA, 4.64 FIP) season as a starter in 2024. currently projects the Cubs for a $176MM payroll in 2025, and the Boyd deal should move that up to the $191MM range. That still leaves a bit more than $20MM of breathing room relative to the clubs 2024 Opening Day payroll, which notes sat just over $214MM. Its not impo sible to imagine the club pursuing another starter to strengthen their rotation through either free agency or trade this winter with the financial flexibility the club has remaining, but given the clubs needs at catcher and in the bullpen it seems those funds will likely be used elsewhereat least unle s a trade of clears some additional money off the clubs books. Dwight Howard Jersey