5 Pitchers Who Could Address Cubs' Shortfall of Pure Stuff This Winter

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The smaller the strike zone gets, the tougher the job of pitching becomes. That's self-evident. At first, though, one might be tempted to think that was solely because throwing strikes is harder (and walks are, therefore, more plentiful) when pitching to a smaller zone. It's not so. There's another layer of danger for a pitcher who has to throw to a smaller zone, consisting of the fact that the hitter also has a smaller zone to cover. That can produce more confident takes and more aggressive swings. It makes it harder to hunt whiffs and harder to limit hard contact. Every lost inch at the edges of the zone increases the importance of raw stuff. To succeed when the zone is small, you have to be able to dominate the batter.

Infamously, the 2026 Cubs couldn't do that. Injuries and the shortcomings of their development infrastructure left them with a skeletal pitching staff for much of the season. According to StuffPro, from Baseball Prospectus, the Cubs were 21st in the majors. According to both Stuff+ and PitchingBot, which are published at FanGraphs, they were 24th. The team absolutely must be better in 2027, with specific regard to throwing hard, missing bats and overwhelming batters within that smaller zone. It's the only way they can get where they're trying to go. Here are five pitchers who could be available this winter, who have the stuff to be of help in this regard.

Adrian Morejon, LHRP, Free Agent

The Cubs have gotten lots of chances to see Morejon's dominance up close. Most recently, he mowed them down over two scoreless innings in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series. That must have been particularly painful for them, because they've long loved and prized Morejon. If the front office had had its druthers, he'd have been pitching for them, instead of against, in each of the last two Octobers.

With the very definition of a power sinker (average velocity: 99.5 MPH), Morejon dominated this year. He racked up a career-best 30.4% strikeout rate, while keeping the ball on the ground exceptionally well. He wasn't available at the end of the Padres' loss to the Brewers in the NLDS, with what the team characterized as a "sticky" shoulder, so he heads into free agency with a slight cloud hanging over him, but if he's healthy, the Cubs need to be in on him. He's one of just six pitchers who posted a better StuffPro than Cubs righty Ryan Zeferjahn in 2026. Adding him would give them the scary back end of the bullpen they've lacked for several seasons now.

Michael Petersen, RHRP, Marlins

A tower of power, Petersen is 6-foot-7 and throws from an overhand slot, making him very different from Daniel Palencia and Zeferjahn. He would introduce a new element into the Cubs' bullpen, despite having a pretty similar arsenal to Palencia's and Zeferjahn's, on the surface. He leans heavily on a four-seam fastball, which hums in at 98 MPH with plus carry at the top of the zone. Off that, he spins a wicked, hard slider. He's a late bloomer, 32 years old but still under long-term team control, so the Marlins won't be motivated sellers. Players like this are always available, though, to a team who decides to buy into what they do well. Petersen fanned 30.1% of the batters he faced in 2026. The Cubs should try to be the team who buys into the raw stuff, at least gauging the asking price the perpetually rebuilding Marlins affix to him.

Jacob deGrom, RHSP, Rangers

Petersen is the quintessential under-the-radar guy. deGrom practically is the radar, he's so much on it. A trade for him would look about as different from a deal for Petersen as is possible, too. At the last moment, the Rangers tried to make deGrom available at the trade deadline, but he rejected a trade to the Atlanta suburbs. He might be just as stubborn this winter, but the Cubs should swoop in and make an inquiry.

There's one guaranteed year left on deGrom's contract, which will pay him $37 million at age 38. That's a big cost, and deGrom has a long injury history to go with the hefty salary. Texas might therefore be ready and willing to move him again this winter, and though he wouldn't come free, his acquisition cost would (however surprising this might sound) be considerably lower than that of Petersen, at least in terms of young players. Even as he hurtles toward 40, deGrom throws 97 and has that buzzsaw of a 91-MPH slider, and he fanned 30.1% of the hitters he saw in 2026. He's worth the risk and the expense.

Dustin May, RHSP, Free Agent

Anyone following the Brewers this month has seen the downside of May. The upside is there, too, but it's harder to see. He throws 97, with both a four-seamer and a sinker, and he adds three breaking pitches with swing-and-miss potential: hard cutter, sweeper, and curveball. It's a deep arsenal of plus stuff; that's why the Brewers traded for him in August. His command has been the big problem. He gave up some gut-punch homers down the stretch (and one in the NLCS) because of poor sequencing and/or location. He'll be less than a marquee free agent at the end of the World Series, but the raw stuff is still very good. With the right pitching coach, he might be able to put together a full season that looks more like his strong first half of this year, with the Cardinals.

AJ Blubaugh, RHP, Astros

This is one of those rare chances, in the modern game, to sneak in and take advantage of a club that's truly stupid. Almost every team is getting smarter by the day, but in Houston, they've chosen to turn away from the advances they made in the past. They're an organization in chaos, which might leave Blubaugh available to a smart executive. He was strictly a reliever for the team in 2026, but he racked up 96 innings by often working multiple frames. His sweeper and changeup are both plus-plus pitches, and when working in shortish bursts, he throws 96 MPH. He'd be a candidate for a move back to the starting rotation, but failing that, he'd also be extremely valuable in the role he filled for Houston this year. The Astros are in disarray; the Cubs could benefit from it.

One way or another, the Cubs must bring in better arms this winter—not just better, overall, but livelier and more capable of beating hitters inside the zone, regardless of its size. There are plenty of pitchers who could help them do so, but these five stand out as opportunities they must explore.