Matthew Trueblood

Image courtesy of Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Edward Cabrera fired five no-hit innings for Double-A Knoxville Wednesday, and is no more than a fortnight from returning to the Cubs rotation. It's more likely that he comes back after just one more rehab appearance—and possible, even, that his next outing marks his return to the active big-league roster. He only threw 64 pitches against those minor-league batters Wednesday, but it might not take much more than that to fulfill his responsibilities each time through the rotation for the Cubs down the stretch. Thanks to the aggressiveness of the front office in late June and at the trade deadline, Chicago has found its way back to the place of exceptional starting pitching depth in which they felt they stood to begin the season. Your mileage may vary, but my own depth chart for healthy (or nearly healthy) starters for the team right now reads: Kevin Gausman Matthew Boyd Clay Holmes Shota Imanaga David Peterson Cabrera Colin Rea Javier Assad They started the season with a corps equally deep, but including several different names. Gausman, Holmes and Peterson were not yet in the organization. Cade Horton, Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon were in the mix instead, with the team holding out hope that they would also get starting contributions from Justin Steele. Six weeks ago or so, however, the team was down to Boyd, Imanaga, Rea and Assad, with Horton, Taillon, Brown and Cabrera all on the injured list. Piece by piece, returns from injury and trades have taken them from having to give Jordan Wicks a last chance to hack it in the bigs to once again feeling that their rotation overflows with talented arms, even though Taillon is now gone and Brown and Steele look likely only to pitch in relief (if at all). We saw how Craig Counsell will address this superabundance of starters over the course of his first week with all the new guys stepping into their roles. After four innings from Holmes in his Cubs debut Saturday, Counsell turned to Rea for the other four frames of a loss in Kansas City. On Wednesday night, Peterson went five innings, and Assad pitched the final four. Even without Cabrera back in the frame, Assad and Rea have been moved to the bullpen, but they're not switching to leveraged short relief. Rather, they're becoming long relievers—and, in some sense, that makes them piggyback starters. In the short run, of course, Counsell will still try to get length from the likes of Gausman, Boyd and Imanaga. Only Holmes, Peterson and Cabrera will be removed proactively, rather than based on their performance and the game context. But it's easy to see where this is going. As Chicago tries to catch the Brewers and win the NL Central—and, whether they succeed in that chase or not, as they prepare for the postseason—they're trending toward a piggyback rotation. Let's talk about why and how that works. Firstly, of course, a caveat: there's no guarantee whatsoever that the team will stay healthy enough to carry out a piggyback plan for their starters. As any fan who has followed the team all season knows perfectly well, eight pitchers can become four in a hurry. It's more likely to be five or six. What's fairly unlikely is that, over the final quarter of the regular season and when October comes, the Cubs really will have eight starting-capable pitchers to whom Counsell wants to turn for multiple innings in each outing. Let's assume, though, that they spend at least some time with all eight pitchers available to them. That could be the situation as soon as early next week. In such a case, there are three main reasons to deploy starters in tandems, as piggyback partners: Gaining matchup advantages. This one is obvious. If you use tandem starters of opposite handedness or who use very different arm angles, pitch shapes or release points, you can force opponents to choose between making early changes to their lineup (locking them in and making them more prone to matchup play at the end of the game) or losing an edge in the middle innings. Thwarting familiarity. Every modern manager is aware of the times-through-the-order penalty, but they have to weigh their desire to deny batters a third look at the starter against their need to keep the bullpen fresh. Piggyback starters make that less of a concern. Counsell, for instance, can take out one half of a starting tandem after 15 or 16 batters, as soon as the right matchup opportunity presents itself. Having a plan to use the second half of the tandem for the next 15 or 16 batters should get him close to the end of the game. Using a starter an opponent won't see again in a series as a major part of the relief solution for a game also means denying batters a look at one or more short-relief arms you'll deploy later. They not only don't see any hurler three times, but don't see a reliever twice in three or four days. Limiting and managing workloads. Holmes, for instance, is still working his way back to full strength after three months on the shelf with a broken leg. Cabrera is in a similar situation. Rea tends to wear down at the ends of seasons, despite his big frame and deep arsenal. Getting maximal value from certain pitchers means preventing them from piling up too many innings and being exposed to either injury or exhaustion. Right now, the Cubs are unlikely to use Rea, Assad, Peterson or Cabrera (the latter of whom would seem to be rivals for the final spot in the starting rotation if and when all eight arms are active again) as piggybacks for Boyd, Imanaga or Gausman. Those three starters need to soak up innings as Chicago tries to keep everyone fresh, at least until their bullpen gets healthier and rosters expand to allow a 14th active pitcher come September. How best to deploy a piggyback plan depends on your needs at any given time. When September comes, however, and especially in the playoffs, all eight of these guys will be candidates for some kind of tandem plan. Picking the right pairings is vital. So, how should the team do it? Which pitchers fit best together in what would be a fairly noval usage plan for a team trying to make a deep run into October? Boyd & Cabrera: Timing Nightmares In a perfect world, you'd always have one righty and one lefty in a tandem like this. Boyd and Cabrera check that box. They also offer another layer of difficulty, though. Boyd is no true soft-tosser; he can touch 95 MPH with his fastball. But he's elite at producing mistimed swings, because he leans so heavily on a changeup and breaking balls that feature big velocity differentials from even his more typical, low-90s heater. Cabrera, by contrast, throws exceptionally hard, and even his changeup relies more on movement than on velocity gap. He's power all the way. Boyd will leave you off-balance, and often early. Cabrera will look like he's throwing 105, compared to the southpaw. That's all exacerbated, for a batter, by the fact that each hurler throws from a relatively low slot, so there's about 5 feet of horizontal difference in their release points. Imanaga & Rea: Forcing Splits Again, one lefty and one righty. This time, there's no huge difference in velocity or timing tendencies, but the differences in style and delivery are enormous. One way two pitchers can frustrate hitters' timing in successive at-bats even if their raw velocities don't differ much is by having big differences in their extension at release. Hitters don't time their swings purely to numbers on the radar gun. They see a hurler's delivery and respond to it. A fastball that plays slightly faster than its unadjusted velocity because of plus extension can prime a hitter differently than one that plays down, and if the next pitcher they see has the opposite relationship between their velo and their extension, the effect is magnified. Imanaga, with his drop-and-drive delivery and short stature, has below-average extension; Rea is above average. Statcast sees a difference between their average arm angles, but hitters see an even bigger one, because of the ways their bodies actually move. Rea would also benefit tremendously from coming in to replace Imanaga, who is likely to prompt opponents to load their lineup with right-handed batters. Gausman & Holmes: Shapes and Angles With Imanaga and Rea, we talked about how tandem starters with different relationships between actual and perceived velocity can pose problems for batters, especially if their deliveries are extremely different from one another. What about two starters who look strikingly alike to batters, and who even pitch with the same hand, but whose pitch shapes are radically different from one another? Gausman and Holmes have very similar arm slots, just above the average three-quarters slot. Holmes works from the first-base side of the rubber; Gausman works from the middle. Their deliveries are similar enough to invite a hitter to see them the same way. However, Gausman gets much more extension toward the plate than Holmes does. He uses a high-rise fastball and a great splitter, but doesn't get much value from moving anything toward the glove side. Holmes has one of the heaviest sinkers in the sport, but everything else in his arsenal moves to the glove side. They're two pitchers whom hitters will want to see as similar, but whose stuff could not move more disparately. Peterson & Assad: Grounder Guys We're back to basics here. Peterson is a lefty; Assad is a righty. Peterson has elite release extension; Assad's is merely average. Peterson throws from a standard slot at 6-foor-6; Assad is a shorter, stockier guy who throws from a much higher angle. Neither is a guy you want opponents to see three times in a game, and neither will miss many bats, but they can both keep the ball on the ground and induce weak contact. That gets even easier if an opposing lineup has to hedge against playing matchups on Peterson because Assad is lurking, or if they don't hedge and Assad thus comes in to face a lineup chock-full of right-handed batters. Though Gausman, Boyd, Imanaga, Cabrera and Holmes have each looked like legitimate front-line starters in playoff series at some point in their careers, none enter the stretch run of 2026 as that kind of pitcher. The Cubs did add to their bullpen at the deadline, too, and they'll get some important reinforcement in the days ahead for that unit, but they still don't have an elite 'A' bullpen for a playoff club. Their best bet, for the final stretch of the regular season in which they'll try to secure a bye and keep people fresh at the same time and when the postseason begins, is not to treat any of their starters as traditional aces and hand the game over to multiple one-inning relievers. It's to piggyback their bevy of strong starters and shorten games in a new way. As they've already shown, they're thinking along these lines, too. It will be fascinating to see how often they piggyback their way to wins (or even use the strategy to cushion the blow of losses) in the weeks ahead. View full article

's the internet. You either die a sweetheart or live long enough to see yourself become the dickhead. I erred by rushing out the piece. Should have gone slower; the pace of rumors today messed me up. I'm pleased with our overall coverage and still perfectly happy to wear that one, if those two positions can be viewed as tenable at the same time.

Image courtesy of Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs see an opportunity to win now—like, right now, apparently. They've struck again as the MLB trade deadline rushes nearer, trading top infield prospect Jefferson Rojas to the New York Mets for starting pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor. Jon Heyman of the New York Post delivered the news. Holmes, 33, has a 2.39 ERA this season, but it’s come in just nine starts. He fractured his leg in May and is just now on the cusp of a return to the majors. He throws from a standard three-quarter arm slot, but has a sidearmer’s or submariner’s heavy sinker, which makes him deceptive as well as sheerly nasty. He does it with a unique combination of grip and supination, particularly unexpected based on his arm angle, and because of that ability to supinate, he also throws a plus sweeper and a funky changeup with depth but relative cut. He’s under contract for $13 million this season, so he’s owed about $4 million the rest of the way. He can also earn $12 million in 2027, but if he comes back and pitches well the rest of the way, he’ll almost certainly opt out, which the deal allows him to do. Taylor, 32, is also an impending free agent. He's a plus-plus athlete and great defender in either outfield corner. Bringing him in should mean more time at designated hitter for Seiya Suzuki, and it could mean less playing time against left-handed pitchers for Ian Happ. Taylor is batting .241/.290/.503 in what is the best season of his career to date; he's playing on a one-year, $3.8-million deal. He reunites with Craig Counsell, for whom he played parts of five seasons after being a second-round pick by the Brewers way back in 2012. For his career, he has fairly neutral platoon splits at the plate, but he has 11 extra-base hits in 77 plate appearances against southpaws in 2026. Rojas, 21, entered this season as the Cubs' top prospect, but had been surpassed by Josiah Hartshorn (and, depending on whom you ask, others) by the middle of summer. He's played fine for Double-A Knoxville, with a .799 OPS, but he's moved off shortstop and is unlikely ever to go back to that spot. As a third baseman, he'll face some pressure to hit that forces him to hit his 70th-percentile projection in order to be more than an average player. Swapping out Rojas for Holmes and Taylor sends a clear message: Chicago is all-in for this season. Whether they believe they can catch the Brewers and win the NL Central or merely plan to beat them (and the Dodgers) in the postseason, the front office has taken a big swing at this deadline. Holmes and Taylor each strengthen the team's depth in an important aspect, but they'll both be free agents in three months, no matter what. In trading a top prospect for them, Jed Hoyer is throwing down a gauntlet. View full article

Image courtesy of Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images Mere minutes after securing a controllable starter who's a bit of a project, the Cubs have snapped up a reliever to give them a more formidable bullpen for a push toward the playoffs, a source confirmed to North Side Baseball. Jeff Passan of ESPN broke the news on Twitter. Zeferjahn, who headlined my piece this morning about names to watch as the day unfolds, has a high-octane heater and bat-missing stuff across the board. He's been too wild to dominate the way his raw stuff would have otherwise allowed for most of his career, but he seemed to turn the corner recently, which brought him to the top of many teams' wish lists as they shopped for controllable relievers at the deadline. The Cubs expect to have Daniel Palencia resume his place at the back end of the bullpen soon, but Zeferjahn slots into their suite of high-leverage options right away. He, Jacob Webb and Palencia give the team three right-handed relievers who miss bats, and increases the depth of Craig Counsell's options box. In return for Zeferjahn, the Cubs will send catcher/designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros and pitching prospect Mason McGwire to the Halos, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. That will sound like too dear a price to some, but after Ballesteros proved himself unable to catch in the majors and struggled to adjust at the plate in his first prolonged exposure to big-league pitching, the team began to value him a bit less highly. Packaging Ballesteros and McGwire to snare a potentially elite reliever is risky but intriguing, and it underscores their desire not to give up Owen Ayers, a similar prospect to Ballesteros in some ways on whom the Angels repeatedly insisted when Chicago tried to obtain Detmers. Under team control through 2030, Zeferjahn has a chance to be the high-impact addition of this deadline for Chicago. All five of his pitches rate as better than average, some by huge margins, according to Baseball Prospectus's StuffPro. That arsenal, combined with his surge in effectiveness recently, is why Zeferjahn was an expensive acquisition. It's also how the Cubs could end up with the kind of high-powered relief corps that takes a team far in October. Giving up Ballesteros and McGwire stings a bit, but the Cubs believe they paid that price for access to a higher possible tier of achievement come the postseason. View full article

Image courtesy of Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images EDITOR'S NOTE: The original version of this piece indicated that the Cubs were acquiring Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, based on my own reporting and that of Bleacher Nation Cubs reporter Michael Cerami. I won't speak for Cerami, but my own understanding is that both pitchers were in play for the team, but that the Cubs backed away from the Angels' demands on Detmers at the last moment and pivoted to Garrett, in whom they've been interested for some time, as we reported last week. My source had their wires crossed as to which pitcher was acquired, and I failed to follow up with sufficient thoroughness after Cerami's report broke. I apologize for the confusion. Without speaking for Cerami, I take responsibility for rushing the reporting on the deal.] The Cubs have been close to acquiring Braxton Garrett before. On Monday, ahead of the MLB trade deadline, they finally reeled in the fish. Jeff Passan of ESPN broke the news on Twitter. Garrett, 28, has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, battling to complete his rehab and to reestablish his foothold in the Miami rotation after undergoing Tommy John surgery in December 2024. His sinker is a ground-ball machine, and when he can fill up the zone with his five-pitch mix, he can be dominant. He's an upside play for Chicago, after they acquired Kevin Gausman Sunday night to co-lead their playoff rotation alongside Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. Like Reid Detmers, whom the team considered heavily before pivoting based on the intransigence of the Angels regarding the return, Garrett is under team control through 2028. He can also be optioned to the minors, and might spend time at Triple-A Iowa before joining the team for the stretch run, a source briefed on the team's thinking said. As befits the seasons each pitcher is having, the Cubs are paying a much lower cost for Garrett than they would have had to pay for Detmers. Christine De Nicola of the Miami Herald was first with the names of Jonathon Long and Jace Beck, two lower-tier pieces in the thin Cubs farm system. Garrett is, in the Cubs' eyes, a buy-low version of Detmers. They were interested in Detmers even at a higher price, but not the one to which the Angels cleaved even at the endgame of negotiations. Chicago is expected to move on to a relief addition before the deadline. View full article

Wrote about this here, but yeah: I'm calling it 'controllable,' distinct from capital-C Controllable. They would have these guys next year. Not quite the same as a Detmers or a Kirby thing, but if the price difference is big enough.....

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs view a relief upgrade as a must in the final few hours before the trade deadline, but because of a last-minute shift in the market, they're redoubling their efforts to grab a starting pitcher under club or contractual control through at least 2027, according to multiple league sources. After trading for Kevin Gausman Sunday night, the front office believed the most likely path forward through the trade deadline was to bolster their bullpen while they await the return of closer Daniel Palencia. They'll still try to do that before the deadline comes in a few hours. In their conversations with the Angels, they found interim GM John Mozeliak intractable in his demand for catching prospect Owen Ayers, whom the Cubs don't want to surrended to land Reid Detmers. To get a controllable starter, they needed leverage. This morning, they found some. Though the Mariners have largely taken Emerson Hancock off the market after trading Luis Castillo to the White Sox, they're still listening on George Kirby, a source said. The Cubs have long liked Kirby, who throws strikes and shows an ability to move the ball in multiple directions characteristic of the Mariners' pitching development system products. However, the fit between Chicago and Seattle on a Kirby deal is a bit tricky. The bigger development came elsewhere in the AL West. After a rough fortnight in which they've fallen out of the leadership of the division, the Texas Rangers informed teams this morning that they're shifting into sell mode. That means being open to a wide swath of possible moves, including trading de facto closer Jacob Latz (in whom the Cubs had already expressed interest) and any of their three highly-paid starting pitchers under contract or team control through 2027: Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and MacKenzie Gore. None of those three pitchers qualify as controllable in the same sense as it can be said of, for instance, Detmers or Kirby. They each offer just one more season of team control, over which looms at least some risk of games being lost due to the forthcoming lockout and labor battle. Indeed, some sources suggest that teams including the Angels, Rangers and Blue Jays have been more eager to sell than they might have otherwise been, with an eye toward the possibility that there will be less of a season next year in which to realize value from players under control only through that year. (For the record, I'm skeptical of this psoture, on multiple levels.) Still, the Cubs like the idea of picking up any hurler who can shield them from having to replace all of Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, the already-departed Jameson Taillon, Gausman and possibly Colin Rea this winter. They also know they won't have Cade Horton until at least next June, and that the futures of Justin Steele and Ben Brown have to be punctuated by question marks, rather than exclamation points. Though they were happy to get Gausman for a price that kept their powder dry, they entered Monday hoping to find a way to secure help that stretches beyond the end of this year's World Series. Eovaldi, Gore and deGrom offer that. Eovaldi and deGrom are under contract at high prices for next season, and deGrom's contract is complicated but could extend past next year in a bad way. Gore will be arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter, so he'll be expensive, too. However, all three have mid-rotation pedigrees and front-line upside, even at the advanced ages of Eovaldi and deGrom. The Cubs like Eovaldi best in that group and are very unlikely to end up with deGrom, but they're excited to have this array of options. All these choices could lead back to Detmers, but give the Cubs the leverage they need to land him at a price they find more palatable. They're willing and ready to pay more for Detmers than for the Rangers trio. Like Kirby, Detmers is under team control through 2028. In a pinch, though, the team could move on to an alternative rotation addition who still helps them beyond 2026, in order to preserve the depth they feel they're starting to amass in the minor leagues. UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Ranges approached deGrom about waiving his no-trade clause, but he refused. That makes a relatively small difference for the Cubs, who (as I said) were never as keen on deGrom as on the other options in the Texas rotation, but it's worth noting. View full article

Yep. My favorite name I've heard (save one wild rumor that came to nothing) connected to them the last couple days.