Question of the week: What is the Cubs' biggest need heading toward the deadline?

[Brock Beauchamp]

I mean, I think I know how you're all going to vote... so who are you targeting?

[We Got The Whole 9]

A reinvigorated offense 

[Rcal10]

How can anyone vote for anything other than a starting pitcher as the Cubs #1 need? 

[Bertz]

So it's definitely starting pitching.  But I do think if we're getting pedantic I might say "impact pitching" and not necessarily delineate between starter and reliever.

Like if my options are:

1. Another Taillon caliber starter and another 7th/8th inning type for the pen

or

2. Another Colin Rea caliber starter and a closer caliber reliever

I'm absolutely hammering the button for option #2.

[mul21]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

So it's definitely starting pitching.  But I do think if we're getting pedantic I might say "impact pitching" and not necessarily delineate between starter and reliever.

Like if my options are:

1. Another Taillon caliber starter and another 7th/8th inning type for the pen

or

2. Another Colin Rea caliber starter and a closer caliber reliever

I'm absolutely hammering the button for option #2.

I'll disagree with you on the assumption that Hodge comes back healthy and effective.  I think they have enough late inning arms to finish games with some mixing and matching and I really feel like getting someone who can eat innings efficiently is going to do more for long term/playoff success.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

A playoff starter also creates the potential for a leverage pen addition via Brown/Horton, whereas another Rea probably needs more of a hedge by keeping that person stretched out

[BKHoo]

An ace starting pitcher.

[cubfansince77]

2 hours ago, BKHoo said:

An ace starting pitcher.

Yep.....don't really know who's available but it'll cost us  a couple of our prize prospects to do it so I'd VERY much prefer it not be a rental. Don't wanna trade Moises either. I know he's blocked for now but he can rake. 

[Rcal10]

On 6/13/2025 at 9:51 AM, Bertz said:

So it's definitely starting pitching.  But I do think if we're getting pedantic I might say "impact pitching" and not necessarily delineate between starter and reliever.

Like if my options are:

1. Another Taillon caliber starter and another 7th/8th inning type for the pen

or

2. Another Colin Rea caliber starter and a closer caliber reliever

I'm absolutely hammering the button for option #2.

To add to your scenarios, if it is Sale or another TOR starter and nothing else, or a guy to slot under Taillon and another middle relief pitcher, I go with Sale and roll with the pen they have. I would also take the ace starter over your option #2. 

[Hot Sauce]

1. Top-of-the-rotation pitcher

2. Reliable bat off the bench

[731.4life]

Ace pitcher, another bat, another bullpen arm...

[Jason Ross]

I'm with Bertz in that I'm pro "impact pitching". Even if it's a reliever, the Dodgers proved last year you can survive in the post-season with a deep and varied bullpen carrying you more often than you'd like. If the Cubs went into the playoffs with a pitching staff of:

SP: Shota, Boyd, Taillon 
RP: Horton, Brown, Hodge, Pressley, Pomeranz, Thielbar, Palenica, Braiser, Rea/Flexen, and another Impact Arm 

You'd be a in a good spot. Figure there's a few guys who can go a few innings (Horton, Brown, Rea/Flexen) a bunch of power arms and a good mix in between. Even if you do a BP game in there, you'd probably be more than capable of filling it all out.

Obviously that's  "best case scenario" assuming injuries are kind. 

[Rcal10]

9 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I'm with Bertz in that I'm pro "impact pitching". Even if it's a reliever, the Dodgers proved last year you can survive in the post-season with a deep and varied bullpen carrying you more often than you'd like. If the Cubs went into the playoffs with a pitching staff of:

SP: Shota, Boyd, Taillon 
RP: Horton, Brown, Hodge, Pressley, Pomeranz, Thielbar, Palenica, Braiser, Rea/Flexen, and another Impact Arm 

You'd be a in a good spot. Figure there's a few guys who can go a few innings (Horton, Brown, Rea/Flexen) a bunch of power arms and a good mix in between. Even if you do a BP game in there, you'd probably be more than capable of filling it all out.

Obviously that's  "best case scenario" assuming injuries are kind. 

As long as if they went pen, it was high end pen arm. My first choice would be high end starting pitcher, but if not that then high end pen arm. And I really don’t know of any high end pen arms who would realistically be available. To me the only difference in rotation arm versus pen arms would be if the Cubs don’t get a TOR starter I would be ok with a guy like Keller, Fedde, Lugo, etc…. where if the Cubs didn’t get a high end pen arm, I feel a middle relief pitcher is kind of redundant. They have those. To me they need a starting pitcher regardless of if he is TOR or MOR. They need to limit Brown and Horton innings. And replace Rea. 

[Jason Ross]

27 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

As long as if they went pen, it was high end pen arm. My first choice would be high end starting pitcher, but if not that then high end pen arm. And I really don’t know of any high end pen arms who would realistically be available. To me the only difference in rotation arm versus pen arms would be if the Cubs don’t get a TOR starter I would be ok with a guy like Keller, Fedde, Lugo, etc…. where if the Cubs didn’t get a high end pen arm, I feel a middle relief pitcher is kind of redundant. They have those. To me they need a starting pitcher regardless of if he is TOR or MOR. They need to limit Brown and Horton innings. And replace Rea. 

It's probably impossible to limit two SP's and replace a third. That's just not going to happen. The Cubs are currently 5.5 games up in the central and Rea isn't going to be anything but long-man mop-up in the playoffs more than likely. They don't really need to replace him. They can survive there. 

On the first sentence, I'm not super interested in speculating names, but the reality is this: there is always a few guys who can slot into an 8th or 9th inning role at the deadline. There will be some. Who? Like I said, we're too early to speculate, but I trust that this won't be the first deadline in history without a good reliever available somewhere. 

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, Jason Ross said:

It's probably impossible to limit two SP's and replace a third. That's just not going to happen. The Cubs are currently 5.5 games up in the central and Rea isn't going to be anything but long-man mop-up in the playoffs more than likely. They don't really need to replace him. They can survive there. 

On the first sentence, I'm not super interested in speculating names, but the reality is this: there is always a few guys who can slot into an 8th or 9th inning role at the deadline. There will be some. Who? Like I said, we're too early to speculate, but I trust that this won't be the first deadline in history without a good reliever available somewhere. 

Well Imanaga replaces Rea. Another starting pitcher, preferably a TOR starter gets added. That makes Taillion, Imanaga, Boyd and the starter added, which would be 4 of a 5 man in the rotation. Brown and Horton can fill in on the 5th spot, which would limit their innings. They would be going every 10 games instead of 5. If they trade for one starting pitcher they can limit each of those guys. Plus Assad might be back. If they wanted to, they can spot start Rea once or twice. Maybe even some sort of 6 man rotation. By getting one starter and getting Imanaga back they can absolutely limit innings on guys. Yes, come actual playoff time a stud pen arm can be as valuable as a starting pitcher. But they have to get there. And I would like to do that with Brown and Horton still having some innings in their arms. I am not arguing against a pen arm. I am saying if they get one I want a 9th inning guy. I think they have plenty of middle relievers. 

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Well Imanaga replaces Rea. Another starting pitcher, preferably a TOR starter gets added. That makes Taillion, Imanaga, Boyd and the starter added, which would be 4 of a 5 man in the rotation. Brown and Horton can fill in on the 5th spot, which would limit their innings. They would be going every 10 games instead of 5. If they trade for one starting pitcher they can limit each of those guys. Plus Assad might be back. If they wanted to, they can spot start Rea once or twice. Maybe even some sort of 6 man rotation. By getting one starter and getting Imanaga back they can absolutely limit innings on guys. Yes, come actual playoff time a stud pen arm can be as valuable as a starting pitcher. But they have to get there. And I would like to do that with Brown and Horton still having some innings in their arms. I am not arguing against a pen arm. I am saying if they get one I want a 9th inning guy. I think they have plenty of middle relievers. 

I doubt Imanaga will replace Rea. I would expect one of Brown or Horton (my guess the former) will either find his way to Iowa (and pitch every 6th day vs every 5th) or phantom IL, or find his way to the BP to limit innings.They need to begin to watch those a bit. Horton has probably been too good to be the guy being limited now. Rea has innings to burn and the Cubs have leeway in the division right now. I'm non-plussed letting Rea take the bulk of the starts as the number 5 moving forward as I don' think he'll be the reason they don't win it at this stage. 

And we agree on the type of arm. My initial post was "impact arm". 

[Tryptamine]

#1) is a given that they need, at very least, a solid pitcher who can eat innings with Horton, Brown, etc. on pitch limits and Steele out.

#2) I'm gonna hot take and say they need a bat like maybe a 3B bat or at least a strong bench bat. Once Horton and/or Brown eventually go to the pen I think it's already going to be excellent even without an addition. 

[Hot Sauce]

1 minute ago, Tryptamine said:

#1) is a given that they need, at very least, a solid pitcher who can eat innings with Horton, Brown, etc. on pitch limits and Steele out.

#2) I'm gonna hot take and say they need a bat like maybe a 3B bat or at least a strong bench bat. Once Horton and/or Brown eventually go to the pen I think it's already going to be excellent even without an addition. 

A bench bat that can spell Shaw is the next biggest concern after “impact” pitching.

[Rcal10]

How about one stop shopping on Suarez and either Kelly or Gallen. All are FA at the end of the year.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

#1) is a given that they need, at very least, a solid pitcher who can eat innings with Horton, Brown, etc. on pitch limits and Steele out.

#2) I'm gonna hot take and say they need a bat like maybe a 3B bat or at least a strong bench bat. Once Horton and/or Brown eventually go to the pen I think it's already going to be excellent even without an addition. 

I agree that if they get a quality starting pitcher I wouldn’t worry about the pen, with the exception of a top closer. I wouldn’t pick up a journeyman middle relief pitcher. They are fine there. Just get the best starting pitcher they can get. 
As for a bench bat, I think once the AAA season ends they can bring up someone. I am not that worried about the bench bat. 

Edited June 16, 2025 by Rcal10

[NorthsideAvenger]

How about Swanson stop being a pudwacker with RISP?

[DrCub]

2 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

I doubt Imanaga will replace Rea. I would expect one of Brown or Horton (my guess the former) will either find his way to Iowa (and pitch every 6th day vs every 5th) or phantom IL, or find his way to the BP to limit innings.They need to begin to watch those a bit. Horton has probably been too good to be the guy being limited now. Rea has innings to burn and the Cubs have leeway in the division right now. I'm non-plussed letting Rea take the bulk of the starts as the number 5 moving forward as I don' think he'll be the reason they don't win it at this stage. 

And we agree on the type of arm. My initial post was "impact arm". 

Is there any chance they would piggyback Horton and Brown and keep them pitching regularly but limiting their innings to 3-4 every 5 days?  

[Geographyhater8888]

10 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

I agree that if they get a quality starting pitcher I wouldn’t worry about the pen, with the exception of a top closer. I wouldn’t pick up a journeyman middle relief pitcher. They are fine there. Just get the best starting pitcher they can get. 
As for a bench bat, I think once the AAA season ends they can bring up someone. I am not that worried about the bench bat. 

It’s not a guarantee you’ll get production from a platoon bat from the farm at 1st base vs lefties as opposed to a sure thing like a Jake burger with a 760 OPS vs lefties, who’ll be cheap as a rental as a spit ball idea. I also don’t know how Long projects but he’s not a top 100 prospect for whatever it’s worth.

bigger question is if it’s worth sacrificing Cade Horton for Sale. If you pull the trigger that trade, assuming the Braves are sellers you’ve put a lot of chips into this year and if the Cubs insist on being a fringe top 10 spender then you’re without Tucker, Horton and however many years are left on sales contract.

If they operate like a serious team and Tucker is a Cub I’d be a lot more comfortable dealing Horton for a big time pitcher because you’ll still have 5 peak years or so from Tucker to offset the loss of Horton and increase your WS winning odds.l for 2025 and beyond.

 

Edited June 17, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Bertz]

3 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

It’s not a guarantee you’ll get production from a platoon bat from the farm at 1st base vs lefties as opposed to a sure thing like a Jake burger with a 760 OPS vs lefties, who’ll be cheap as a rental

Jake Burger had a 79 wRC+ against lefties just last year

[Jason Ross]

12 hours ago, DrCub said:

Is there any chance they would piggyback Horton and Brown and keep them pitching regularly but limiting their innings to 3-4 every 5 days?  

I think it remains "possible" but my guess is "unlikely". That means 2 of your 13 pitchers on your roster are essentially doing the job of one. In other words, while the rest of the league is running a 13 man pitching staff, you're running what is closer to 12. I won't say I know exactly how the Cubs feel about that, but my guess is they would not go that route.