Clay Holmes Declines Player Option

Right-hander Clay Holmes declined his $12MM player option with the Cubs, per an announcement from the MLBPA. He is now a free agent. Teammates Hunter Harvey and Caleb Thielbar also head to free agency after their mutual options weren’t exercised.

Chicago landed Holmes in a deadline deal that sent prospect Jefferson Rojas to the Mets. The Cubs also received outfielder Tyrone Taylor. Holmes was recovering from a fractured fibula at the time of the trade. He returned in early August and made nine starts down the stretch for Chicago. He pitched to a 4.25 ERA over 48 2/3 innings. Holmes did not appear in the Wild Card series.

The Mets signed Holmes to a three-year, $38MM deal heading into the 2025 season. He was making the transition back to the rotation after working as a reliever for the majority of his big-league career. Holmes delivered 165 2/3 innings of a mid-3.00s ERA in the first year of the contract. He faded down the stretch, which wasn’t overly surprising given the huge jump in innings.

Holmes entered 2026 as a firm member of what seemed to be a deep rotation. Injuries and poor performance quickly thinned out the group. Holmes had a stellar 1.86 ERA through eight starts before a Spencer Jones line drive broke his leg. He missed nearly three months with the injury, though it did impact his desirability at the trade deadline. Chicago added Holmes and Kevin Gausman to a rotation crushed by injuries all season. It was a worthwhile gamble, and Holmes was solid in August, but the wheels came off in September.

While he won’t be at the top of the starting pitching market, Holmes should certainly make more than the $12MM he was set to earn if he opted in for 2027. He’ll join a mid-tier group that includes teammates Gausman and Shota Imanaga, plus guys like Sonny Gray, Foster Griffin, Tyler Mahle, and Casey Mize.

Thielbar has been with the Cubs for the past two seasons. He re-upped on a $4.5MM deal last offseason that included a $6MM mutual option for 2027 and a $500K buyout. Thielbar was a critical member of Chicago’s bullpen in 2025, posting a 2.64 ERA across 58 innings. The veteran lefty couldn’t replicate that success this past season. He struggled to a 4.86 ERA over 58 games. Thielbar’s fastball sat at a career-high 93.4 mph in 2026, so he might have a bit more left in the tank, even as he enters his age-40 season.

Harvey’s time with the Cubs consisted of just four innings. The club signed him to a one-year, $6MM deal to be one of the top setup men ahead of closer Daniel Palencia. Harvey went down with right triceps inflammation in mid-April and didn’t return. His $8MM mutual option for 2027 included a $1MM buyout. Injuries have limited Harvey to 16 games over the past two seasons. His heater has been closer to 96 mph in recent years, down from the 98 it sat at in his heyday with the Nationals.