Justin Steele and the Cubs reached terms on a contract for 2025.

The team and the lefty starter agreed to a 1-year, $6.55 million deal, avoiding salary arbitration for the upcoming season, per Fansided’s Robert Murray.

Thursday was the deadline to file salary figures for teams and arbitration-eligible players. Steele was one of four Cubs eligible for arbitration. Outfielder Kyle Tucker and right-handed pitchers Nate Pearson and Eli Morgan are the others.

Steele was a Super Two player last season, meaning he went through the arbitration process with only two years of service time. He ranked in the top 22 percent of service time among players who accumulated between two and three years in the majors. He is eligible to go through the arbitration process two more times.

Steele was solid for the Cubs for the second straight year, posting a 3.07 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. But those numbers came in 24 starts (134.2 innings), as injuries caused him to throw less than he did in 2023 (30 starts, 173.1 IP).

The 29-year-old was the Cubs’ Opening Day starter in Texas last season but suffered a hamstring injury on the curtain-raising game of the season, causing him to miss the entirety of April.

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After some struggles in his return off the IL (5.26 ERA through his first 5 starts), Steele was his reliable self. He posted a 2.47 ERA in his final 19 starts, forming a potent 1-2 punch with Shota Imanaga at the top of the Cubs’ rotation.

The question now becomes whether the Cubs will work on a long-term extension to keep Steele in Chicago beyond his final three years of team control. Steele, who garnered Cy Young votes in 2023, has been the Cubs’ shining example of homegrown pitching — an area that was a struggle for them for years.

Steele rose from a 5th-round draft pick in 2015 to a solid bullpen member to a member of the rotation before breaking out as the team’s ace in 2023. He could be in line to start once again on Opening Day in 2025 — either in Japan or when the Cubs return Stateside.