Bertz

Assorted thoughts after sleeping on this. Largely but not totally in positive to negative order - Love getting 3 SPs. Love love love it. There's a certain extent to which this deadline was already in the black the moment this course was committed to - From a timing/strategy perspective good on Jed for getting Peterson done a month ago and good on him for getting Gausman done Sunday night right as things started moving in earnest - Gausman and Holmes were the two rental options I liked most from a talent perspective (Peralta probably on a cost/benefit basis). They are both Boyd-caliber arms and battle tested such that you don't have to worry at all about the moment getting to them. At the risk of doing the "what are you gonna do, stab me?" meme I feel insulated from pitcher attrition (injury or performance) to the extent that's ever truly possible - Zeferjahn seems like a DUDE. I'm okay with the lack of track record and the risk that introduces because he looks absolutely monstrous at the moment. And I sort of wonder if the Cubs have more levers they can pull given their fetish for and experience with cut-ride fastballs? - Dealing Mo for Zef caught me on my back foot, though IMO it would be disingenuous for me to complain too aggressively. About a week ago I posted something like "the team needs to take a good honest look at Mo and decide if he can catch more than sparingly, and if not ship him out." Action taken and answer clearly received - Garrett's a quality buy-low piece to be in the mix for next year's rotation, and it's unlikely but not out of the realm of reason for him to be able to help this year - The team mostly dealt the right guys. I believe Everyone moved except Southisene was due for a 40 man spot this winter? And Ty was SUPER blocked in addition to the power questions. Alcantara still being here feels incongruant with a lot of other things that have gone down, and to a lesser extent so does Kepley, but otherwise they cleared the decks successfully IMO - I was less worried about it than most but glad both Shaw and Pedro made it through the deadline - Glad they added a RHH bench bat...but Tyrone Taylor's not an especially inspiring one. He's been split neutral more years than not - Holistically, the team probably got their money's worth in terms of player capital? Like if you line up all names out and all names in I think it works out, even if some trades were much better value than others - That said the Holmes deal was absolute insanity. And to not have my point above misconstrued, fleecing TOR and then turning around and overpaying for Holmes is absolutely throwing bad money after good and the former doesn't make the latter somehow fine actually - The team did not add noticeable salary for next year but did add a modest amount of talent. Adding salary wouldn't have been bad per se but it's a positive to have that powder dry for November. There's room to do more of course but the offseason to-do list looks like 1 good SP, 1 good OF, and general depth. And there's still (presumably) cash to accomplish that all via FA if they want (though it'd be a bit tight...one more offseason trade feels likely) - The team added a cost controlled starter only in the most literal sense. I like Garrett for what he is but again they once again didn't get a deal done for a SP who can help both short and medium term. Even with clear need and copious assets to throw at the problem. Credit to them for avoiding the "don't worry guys we've got Mike Soroka" situation again but like get one of these god damn deals over the line in-season. Especially since you clearly felt comfortable pissing away Rojas on a rental Overall I'm pretty happy. Let's call it a B+? Paying a more reasonable cost for Holmes would have gotten me to an A, actually getting to the finish line on Detmers (or anothe AL West SP) an A+. But overall this is a lot of additional firepower added to an already really good team.

I look at our depth like this: - Boyd/Gausman/Holmes are your clear top three and the guys you'd expect to start playoff games if they're healthy and effective. There's enough depth now though that presumably if one of them limps into the playoffs like Boyd did last year we don't just have to keep marching without recourse - Shota's the clear #4 in the regular season, and presumably starts a playoff game with a short leash. The times through the order penalty has hit him like a freight train which is unfortunate in the regular season but less of a problem in October - Cabrera's had his struggles but obviously should stick in the rotation. Both because there's not really much reason to think anyone behind him is better, but also because as someone here longer term there's incentive to get him right. He'd probably be a moster airing it out for ~3 innings in the playoffs - Peterson is the clear guy for the rotation if someone above is hurt, and also has positive bullpen experience so should still be a contributor if they're not - Rea, Assad and Garrett are probably done as MLB starters this year short of a spot start or two. But they're legitimate depth. Assad and Garrett you can stash at Iowa which is nice, Rea's generally been good out of the pen - Probably Brown and definitely Steele are not starting another game in 2026, but I'm excited to have them in relief - No prospects at Iowa look likely to contribute in the short term. Sanders looked close before he hit the IL, and Wiggins could turn things around fast (much more likely downshifting to relief), but especially now with the added depth this isn't going to happen

The rub with Ayers is age. If he was exactly the same in every way but 23 he's a top 10 global prospect. Those two years matter though. A lot. How much exactly is the question. I suspect to open the year at SB the answer was "it's nearly disqualifying" but now that he's at Iowa and still producing it's closer to a yellow flag than a red one.

There's Antoine Kelly too, though swapping him out for Milner seems clear enough. But yeah the Thornton/Ferguson thing is what I'm curious about. Ferguson seems clearly better to me? But Craig obviously likes Thornton and Ferguson's got a minor league option.

I'm curious if Thornton getting into this game is a sign he's about to get booted off the roster. Woodford it certainly was, but Thornton am not so sure.

Yeah come on guys that was laid on sufficiently thick

I assume they're done but moving Rea and/or moving Alcantara for his weight in optionable reliever would be nice things to get in under the buzzer

It's insane putting them right next to each other. I'm hoping there's a 3rd player coming our way or there is some mechanism to keep Holmes here next year on his sweetheart salary because on the surface what the flying horsefeathers

Yeah he should be back next weekend. Maybe they give him one more rehab start given the trade circumstances?

Worse, player option

Ex horsefeathering Scuse me? Tong better be included as well

Good/Better/Best for the presumed last pitching move Holmes / Eovaldi / Gore Let's go

The answer is certainly some of both but I'm curious how much of this is Z's value being ascendant while Mo's is moving the opposite direction.

Holy horsefeathers Z's really good but also Mo's value is clearly down more than I expected

Really curious who we gave up, probably going to be a lot but he's legit as hell

Go get one of the Rangers' guys and this deadline is still a homerun

Needs one more guy, but like that could easily be Matt Boyd taking the QO. I also wonder if we see more of that Eovaldi smoke. Eovaldi+Garret would hit pretty hard for both '26 and '27.

The team is in a weird spot with SP depth. Rea and Peterson can't go to Iowa, Assad really doesn't deserve to be sent back down, none of the kids at Iowa would be a viable option in case of a couple injuries. I really think Rea (or Peterson?) is about to get moved. And also the team needs several SPs heading into next year.

I would also think this increases the chances we see a SP sent out. Whether that's Rea for roster flexibility purposes or someone like Assad going the other way in a Detmers deal.

I assume everyone will be normal about this given the timing

FWIW these sorts of situations are usually just quibbling over the definition of "done" unless Bob Nightengale is involved

I legitimately wonder if Rea gets dealt in the next few hours. He's #8 in the pecking order (and that's assuming Brown is 100% a reliever here out). You would rather give that roster spot to a more legitimate short reliever and let Assad/Peterson be your depth.

Curious who the headliner is. If we really did this for Kepley/Ayers 🙏

Please let it be for the package the diarrhea guy put out there that'd be so frickin funny