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Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Update: A correction has been issued. Milner has been placed on waivers, but was not DFA'd. If he goes unclaimed, he will remain with the Cubs. If he is claimed, that team would assume the remainder of his contract in full. Original article as follows. On Friday afternoon, it was announced that the Chicago Cubs are designating veteran relief pitcher Hoby Milner for assignment. Milner hadn't appeared in a game for the Cubs since June 25 following an appendectomy. He'd been working his way back from that in recent weeks, but his 30-day rehabilitation window was set to expire having started that process at the end of July. Milner was a key left-handed arm for Craig Counsell—with whom he shared a history in Milwaukee—earlier in the year. He threw 15 innings in March & April as the bullpen battled through their early injury woes, pitching to a 2.40 ERA across various forms of leverage. He followed that up with exactly 10.1 innings in each of the two subsequent months, but had taken a step back in June prior to the need for his procedure. Up until that June 25 date, he'd pitched to a 6.10 ERA as opposing hitters torched him for a .417 wOBA. It's important to note, though, that much of that damage came in one specific outing wherein he allowed six runs in just one-third of an inning. In large part, he'd been exactly what the Cubs expected: meager at gathering whiffs, but otherwise producing strong numbers thanks to his ability to prevent free passes and avoid hard contact. In total, he pitched 35.2 innings across 38 appearances with a 3.53 ERA to his name. The Cubs are cutting bait with Milner just before rosters expand. Without a lot of option-ability throughout the rest of the relief corps, the front office decided that their current setup is more worthwhile than one that results in a departure from a different arm that has seen more recent action. That leaves breakout arm Ryan Rolison alongside Caleb Thielbar as the team's two left-handed arms in relief, with a pitcher featuring more flexibility likely on the way early next week. The Cubs will place Milner on waivers as a part of the DFA process. Given that we're past the trade deadline and close to the August 31 postseason eligibility threshold, it's entirely possible that another team snags him off waivers and gives the Cubs a bit of relief on his modest $3.75 million salary through the end of 2026. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images When you've got a team with hitters performing at either end of the offensive spectrum at a given point in the year, it becomes easy to ignore the steady ones. In the case of the Chicago Cubs, the bulk of 2026 has been spent marveling at the work of Pete Crow-Armstrong & the second half of Alex Bregman, or worrying about the sustained early summer slump from Nico Hoerner or woeful stretches from Ian Happ. Which means that Seiya Suzuki has been left somewhere else, lost in the shuffle. Suzuki is in the midst of yet another above-average offensive season for the Cubs. While 2025 saw him eclipse the 30-homer mark for the first time against a modest step back in batted ball luck (reflected in a .245 average), this year has represented a bit of the inverse. His isolated power has fallen from a career-high .233 last year to a still-quality .209, while he's bumped his average way up to .270, with a .364 on-base percentage that is nearly 40 points higher than it was last season. It'd be hard to characterize one season as better than the other. Either way, you're getting a good run of production that just happens to manifest in slightly different ways. If there's one thing that sets the 2026 iteration of Suzuki apart from 2025 and the two seasons prior, though, it's that he's been just a touch more aggressive. Suzuki's 22.4 percent chase rate is roughly two percent higher than each of the last two seasons. That may not seem like a tremendous difference from prior rates, especially while he's made the same amount of overall contact on just about the same rate of swings. However, it's just enough of a difference for a hitter that was previously labeled as too patient to throw some things off. Each of his barrel and hard-hit rates have slipped, but he's still managed to remain productive given almost no mechanical change (save a slight closing of his front foot in his stance). The trade-off has come in the form of losing some of his run value in the heart of the zone (which has dropped from +10 to +3) while accruing gains in the shadow of the zone; his run value on the edges has been a combined -38 in the last two years, while sitting at -15 this year (his best since 2023). This is all a somewhat complicated way of noting the continued quality Seiya Suzuki displays, despite some drops in a handful of underlying factors. Nevertheless, he's turned in a .270/.364/.478 line with a 134 wRC+ that represents exactly the type of year we'd expect from him, even if everything in those trends was completely aboveboard. In fact, let's look at where Suzuki stands throughout his time with the Cubs. There are 286 hitters with enough playing time to qualify for the leaderboard since 2023. Suzuki's 130 wRC+ over that time ranks 21st. He's 44th in average (.270), 35th in OBP (.352), and 37th in ISO (.211). In short, he's been one of the best hitters the league has had to offer since he entered it. Even in the midst of some defensive woes across his first three seasons, Suzuki has still managed to accumulate 13.0 fWAR (good for 37th). With that element of his game back on track (five Outs Above Average this year), his 3.7 fWAR in 2026 specifically has him at 26th this year. The value of a player with that level of consistency can't really be overstated. Sure, there are stretches where he's disappeared or that overly patient approach becomes a detriment to his game. But the long and short of it is that there are very few players as steady in what they provide as Suzuki. Which brings us to a very important consideration. Suzuki and Ian Happ are both free agents at the end of 2026. It'd be difficult to see the Cubs retain both of them (though a world does exist where that is the case). Happ is enduring his worst offensive season since 2021, slashing .220/.327/.426 with a strikeout rate a touch over 30 percent. While he's on pace to exceed his previous career high in home runs, his inability to create regular contact (despite a patient approach), below average baserunning, and overstated defensive competence against less-favorable metrics all work against him. Suzuki, meanwhile, has turned in that remarkable steadiness and has ascended defensively. If you could only re-sign one on a new deal, it'd be tough to turn on the broader consistency that Suzuki offers, even in the eyes of Happ's longevity with the organization. Whether or not that comes to pass is a matter for another day. In the meantime, there's a certain marveling that should be happening over the steadiness that Seiya Suzuki possesses. It doesn't always manifest on a daily basis, but the fact that he can be relied upon to drop virtually the same line year-over-year is a rare quality worthy of celebration, even if he's always flying a bit under the radar. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images Earlier this week, our @Jeremy Tecktiel examined the Chicago Cubs' defensive performance in 2026. Therein, he was able to illustrate the idea that this year's group has not only been the best team in Major League Baseball on that side of the ball, but has turned into something legitimately historic. And that status comes regardless of your defensive metric of choice. In the case of the that broad perspective, their collective work with the gloves has them on pace to turn in some absolutely wild numbers as they relate to each of Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average, and Fielding Run Value. Whether you're interested in run prevention or the recording of outs, they're your team. It's not just that they're posting such impressive metrics in a vacuum, but ones that far exceed any team that could be considered in league with them from a defensive standpoint. Jeremy's piece examined the team in the cumulative sense. Let's take it a step further and see just where those gaps between the Cubs and their big-league counterparts are present. How Cubs Stack Up At Each Defensive Position In 2026 The most obvious area of gap-creating play comes in the form of Pete Crow-Armstrong. It's not enough that he's had a complete breakout at the plate; he's been far-and-away the best defender the sport has to offer this year as an outfielder. By OAA, his mark of 23 ranks second (behind Bobby Witt Jr.) but is also nine outs clear of the next-closest outfielder (Ceddanne Rafaela, at 14). That same gap exists within FRV, where the top two outfielders carry over the same numbers. DRS doesn't love Crow-Armstrong's work quite as much (14), but he still sits as one of the top defensive performers regardless of position. None of that is surprising. Crow-Armstrong's jump is well-ahead of the second-ranked outfielder (Wyatt Langford), and he's recorded more five-star catches (defined as a catch with under a 25 percent probability) than any other defender you'll find. That such a gap would exist here before anywhere else is a relatively easy pattern to discern. The next area that helps to create the Cubs' team-wide advantage isn't quite as obvious. It's the work of Alex Bregman at third base. In the case of both OAA (7) and FRV (6), it's Bregman's name that lives atop the leaderboard. The only third baseman higher on the DRS side is Matt Chapman, whose 16 runs saved narrowly edges that of Bregman's 14. If we're looking at defense as the business of recording outs, though, it's Bregman leading the pack, with his work at the hot corner helping to the Cubs to push their gap wider. If we pivot back into more obvious notes, the middle infield of Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson has done their part, but more in conjunction with one another than on their own. Hoerner ranks fourth in OAA among second basemen (9), seventh in FRV (8), and 8th in DRS (3). Swanson, meanwhile, is third in OAA (16), fourth in FRV (11), and sixth in DRS (6) among those plying their trade at the six spot. They're both very good within the context of their own position, but it's what they do as a duo that makes the Cubs so darn good up the middle. As far as OAA goes, those two are both in the top 13 among infielders. Only the St. Louis Cardinals have each of their two middle infielders (JJ Wetherholt & Masyn Winn) up that high on the leaderboard (we're not considering Milwaukee, as Joey Ortiz has roughly half the innings of work at shortstop that either Winn or Swanson do). That same trend is present on the FRV side, where each of Hoerner & Swanson are in the top 12. Again, it's only St. Louis doing something similar in that matter. When you factor in the other positions at which the Cubs are having success—Ian Happ is above average in left field by both FRV & DRS, Michael Busch is above by both of those and OAA at first base, Seiya Suzuki has been near-elite according to all three, and both of the team's catchers are lingering around an average threshold—it's clear that the whole roster is contributing to this contemporary excellence. But it's the the work of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alex Bregman, and the tandem of Nico Hoerner & Dansby Swanson that has helped to create a legitimate and insurmountable gap between the Cubs and their competition. View full article

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs entered Major League Baseball's 2026 trade deadline with as clear of needs as just about any organization in the league. Jed Hoyer's previous track record of addressing needs in more of a tepid fashion than an assertive one didn't lend itself to the idea that the organization would properly go about their business. What transpired, though, was fairly remarkable. Not only did Hoyer and his front office comrades put the Cubs in a position to address their shortcomings, they completely solidified the staff on paper as the team awaits the recovery of various arms suited for various roles. A bench bat was even added for good measure. As a recap, here's where things fell prior to the Aug. 3 deadline for the Cubs: Acquired RHP Kevin Gausman from Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for prospects Brett Bateman & Ty Southisene Acquired RHP Clay Holmes & OF Tyrone Taylor from New York Mets in exchange for prospect Jefferson Rojas Acquired RHP Ryan Zeferjahn from Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Moisés Ballesteros & prospect Mason McGwire Acquired LHP Braxton Garrett from Miami Marlins in exchange for prospects Jonathon Long & Jace Beck The moves that the Cubs made were largely about 2026 (Garrett, Zeferjahn, and their respective team control notwithstanding). While Bateman has since made his big-league debut with Toronto and Ballesteros is back at the top level with the Angels, we're not at a point of re-grading the moves based on the performance of those who departed the organization as part of the transactional spree. As such, we're only interested in the early returns from those acquired. Let's take a quick look at those returns. Kevin Gausman Despite his status as an impending free agent, Gausman was perhaps the most significant addition the team made ahead of the deadline. He's a veteran with postseason experience capable of working deep into ball games. His first start indicated as much, as he threw seven innings while allowing two earned runs against Kansas City back on August 7. His second start didn't land quite as favorably, as he ran up the strikeout numbers (seven) but only worked 4.2 innings while allowing six earned runs. Gausman's splitter has absolutely played in each start, which is hardly a surprise given that its his pitch that has generated the most chase (39.2 percent), whiff (39.8 percent), and groundball action (48.9 percent) of anything else in his arsenal. As long as he's deploying the fastball effectively (something that did not happen against Washington last week), he should be able to provide the Cubs with plenty of much-needed efficiency down the stretch atop their rotation. Clay Holmes Holmes hadn't pitched since May 15 when the Cubs acquired him, as he was recovering from a broken fibula that was the result of a comebacker off his right leg. His return was imminent, though, and his two starts since arriving in Chicago have been a sort of inverse of that of Gausman. He labored through his first start, throwing four innings, allowing six hits and two walks, and being tagged for four runs in a game the Cubs eventually lost. In start No. 2, however, he was brilliant. Against St. Louis over the weekend, Holmes worked into the seventh (6.2 innings), allowed just a single hit and one walk, and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard. His sinker was out in full force; he threw it 55 percent of the time and generated groundballs on 61.1 percent of the balls in play allowed. That sinker should allow him to continue to find success down the stretch, as he's a groundball machine on the mound throwing in front of an elite infield defense. Ryan Zeferjahn It's a bit more difficult to gauge the early returns on a relief pitcher than it is a starter. Zeferjahn has made six appearances for the Cubs thus far, logging 5.1 innings of work. His ERA sits over eight (8.44) through those initial appearances with a FIP (7.58) that doesn't look much more favorable. However, his strikeout rate is still admirable (25.0 percent) and his walk rate is down a touch (10.7 percent). It's also noteworthy that each of the appearances that Zeferjahn has made to date have come in a game that the Cubs would go on to win. He's allowed runs in three of those six appearances, but none of those clunky outings have come in a way that was damaging to the Cubs' playoff pursuit. Unlike a starting pitcher that has multiple innings at a time, Zeferjahn hasn't had quite the springboard to gaining his footing quite yet, so even through some bad luck (.400 opposing BABIP), we don't yet have a reason to be worried that their big relief acquisition is a dud. Tyrone Taylor Taylor was brought in to, essentially, serve as a fifth outfielder and right-handed bat off the bench. That's the role he's filled thus far. Of his 11 games with the Cubs, he's been a pinch runner once and has pinch hit on three different occasions with only six starts to his name. There hasn't been anything particularly noteworthy on the stat sheet quite yet (47 wRC+), but he's scattered a few hits across his smattering of appearances. He's an especially difficult player to gauge in terms of overall value, but as his sample increases (particularly against left-handed pitching), you'd hope to see the occasional contribution, even if it's not coming with much frequency. Braxton Garrett The only deal the Cubs made with a clear eye on the future (Garrett is under team control through 2028), it was a bit of a surprise that the team added him to the big-league roster so soon after his acquisition. However, that was more about giving their pitching staff some coverage than anything, and he has yet to make his Cubs debut. He's also made just one appearance with Iowa, throwing a pair of innings while walking six and allowing an earned run. Unless he's added back into the mix upon the expansion of rosters, it's unlikely we'll see him again before 2027 as the Cubs work to develop him into a starter worthy of next year's rotation. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images In the most objective sense, the Chicago Cubs had one of the better trade deadline sequences of any organization in Major League Baseball. They had clear needs, and the front office took firm and aggressive steps toward addressing those needs. That doesn't mean each piece of their new roster puzzle fits in seamlessly, however. Kevin Gausman will get work at the front of the rotation. Clay Holmes, when healthy, will have a spot in his own right. Ryan Zeferjahn should be able to parlay some solid work with a listless Los Angeles Angels squad into leverage opportunities with a depleted Cubs bullpen. Where we start to run into some uncertainty, though, comes in the form of Braxton Garrett. Garrett was acquired from the Miami Marlins in exchange for prospects Jonathon Long and Jace Beck. The return itself is decent-enough from the Miami side, but the Cubs' perspective is a simple calculus; they gave up a bat-first player without a positional future in Chicago and a 26-year-old minor-league free agent that had broken out but lacked a pathway to innings at the top level. Neither name involved suggests that Garrett is a player the Cubs had to have. Nor does it indicate they need to bestow upon him an immediate major-league role. However, it isn't difficult to see what they liked. In 2023, Garrett was a breakout arm for the Marlins. He made 30 starts, threw almost 160 innings, and pitched to a 3.66 ERA (3.68 FIP), a 23.7 percent strikeout rate, and a 4.4 percent walk rate. The walk rate stood out, in particular, as it sat in the 97th percentile that season. All told, he turned in a 3.1 fWAR and established himself as yet another interesting young arm in South Beach. A year later, Garrett made seven tough-luck starts in which he continued to excel in his strikeout and walk rates but ran into a fair bit of hard contact and a .310 opposing batting average on balls in play. His ERA sat over five before hitting the shelf in June and undergoing Tommy John surgery in December of 2024. That wiped out all of 2025, with just two big league starts to his name since. At the minor-league level, Garrett has excelled. With the Marlins' Triple-A affiliate this season, he'd made 15 starts to a 2.90 ERA, a 26.4 percent strikeout rate, and a 9.4 percent walk rate. Elements of his profile that must have represented enough intrigue to the Cubs to execute this deal have been on display within all of that. The pre-surgery iteration of Garrett was primarily sinker-sweeper/slider. The 2024 season saw the introduction of a four-seam with a higher frequency, leading to a predominant three-pitch mix. Since getting back into regular work, that trio is primarily what we've seen from him in Triple-A this season: As with his previous major-league work with Statcast, it's likely that TJ Stats has that slider/sweeper features significant overlap, with only the sinker sitting above it usage. The old mix of the sinker with a breaking pitch was successful for Garrett as it allowed him to be something of a groundball specialist. In his more than 300 innings of big-league work, he's gotten the ball on the ground 48.2 percent of the time. The four-seam addition hasn't dramatically overhauled his usage within a general context, but has provided him with a second pitch to lean on in those situation where he ends up behind. The metrics supporting it are also slightly better than the sinker in terms of the success of opposing hitters (though in a smaller sample). In general, here's where Garrett falls within his minor-league performance this season: Ultimately, even as an arm logging his innings in the minor leagues at present, it's not hard to see where the Cubs' intrigue originates. He brings multiple fastballs and an effective sweeper/slider combination that has allowed him to mitigate hard contact in an effective fashion and helps him get a healthy amount of groundballs. That latter note is especially significant given the defense that will be playing behind him in Chicago. There's also the factor of control. For a package of Long and Beck, the Cubs were able to get a multi-year left-handed starter with an interesting profile. They could have acquired a stronger track record in Reid Detmers, but at a much higher cost. The additional move for Holmes (while already having Gausman and David Peterson in tow) makes this more appealing than it otherwise could have been. We don't know what Garrett's role looks like this season. He may not even have one in 2026, barring continued injuries to the starting staff. But with Gausman and Matthew Boyd as pending free agents and Holmes holding a player option with the wide expectation that he'll decline, Garrett offers them much more certainty beyond 2026 than they may otherwise have had. It's a good bit of business from Jed Hoyer, even if the results may not be realized until a post-lockout world View full article

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images He's faced plenty of well-earned criticism throughout his tenure, but Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has occasionally been able to flip the narrative in his favor. We saw it when he traded for Kyle Tucker prior to the 2025 season. We saw it manifest in a different way with the signing of Alex Bregman, followed by the acquisition of Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins. An executive known for being among the game's most conservative was willing to push the chips in if he felt the fit was there. Moves of that magnitude have reshaped perception of Hoyer a bit recently. Additional criticisms have persisted, though. Chief among them is Hoyer's tendency to go conservative on the other end of the roster. Rather than address the shortcomings of a group with surefire solutions, his reign atop the front office hierarchy has been marked by half-measures. The 2024 team acquired Isaac Paredes, Nate Pearson, and a couple of minor-league fliers for a team that finished middle-of-the-pack in their production from the mound. Last year, it was Willi Castro, Michael Soroka, Andrew Kittredge, and Taylor Rogers. Needs were addressed, but in a way that spoke to more of an on-paper sense and allowed Hoyer to preserve his farm system above all. It's the type of trend we've seen from Hoyer in working to fill out the fringes of a roster. He's made a bad habit of building bad benches. On the mound, he's chased reclamation projects, rather than paying top dollar for established entities. He took a step toward dispelling both critiques, however, with an uncharacteristically aggressive approach to this year's trade deadline. The Cubs entered the 2026 trading frenzy with extremely clear needs. A rash of injuries has left them depleted in the rotation all year, with those woes spilling over into the relief corps. Starting pitching was the focus above all, with innings coverage needed and playoff-caliber upside still in short supply. Relief help was a secondary but major need, too. The Cubs bullpen has stabilized in the wake of myriad injuries, but further help was needed. At the bottom of the list (but still noteworthy) was a right-handed bat to combat the volume of left-handed pitchers they'd be liable to face come playoff time. Hoyer was able to strike to address all three in the most impactful ways possible. While he didn't morph into an executive from the same stratum as someone like A.J. Preller and sell the farm entirely, he stood far less on sentiment here. Prospects with actual name recognition in the system—Jefferson Rojas, Moisés Ballesteros, Jonathon Long, Brett Bateman, and Mason McGwire among them—were sent out for players who can help the Cubs immediately. In Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, and Braxton Garrett, Hoyer addressed his team's need for starting pitching almost entirely. Gausman is an innings-eater with actual playoff experience. Holmes, upon his return from a broken leg, offers additional stability in the middle of the rotation. Garrett has flashed upside as recently as 2023, though injuries have derailed him. He offers medium-term team control, and can still be optioned to the minor leagues while he tries to unlock his fujl skill set again. He's the least exciting of the three, but he adds additional flexibility to a starting group that sorely needed it. From there, you get into how this could lead to arms currently starting transitioning into relief roles. Javier Assad or Colin Rea could extend their value by working out of the bullpen. That alone adds depth, in addition to the acquisition of Ryan Zeferjahn, who should see his strong peripherals play up to the front of the stat sheet with an elite defense behind him. And in Tyrone Taylor, the Cubs get a lefty masher that can compensate for Ian Happ's absence of productivity against pitchers of that handedness (and work as a solid bench bat in a general sense). These aren't half measures. All told, Hoyer moved four prospects from our top-20 list and another that had just graduated from it. The players acquired aren't the types we've grown accustomed to seeing from Jed Hoyer this time of year. There's actual value in what they can provide down the stretch in 2026. The change of tack is not necessarily indicative of a change in philosophy for Hoyer himself. More than anything, it speaks to the faith Hoyer has in this year's group. This is a roster that features one of the league's most productive offensive groups and a defense that far exceeds that of its peers across the league. The jury very much still may be out on the quality of Jed Hoyer as an executive. But good executives move in a shrewd fashion when things are aligned correctly within their organization. Hoyer just did a thing that good executives do. View full article

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images In acquiring Kevin Gausman from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday evening, the Chicago Cubs took at least one step toward stabilizing their rotation. Of course, even for a pending free agent, a pitcher of that stature doesn't come without a notable cost in terms of prospects headed the other way. As part of the deal, the Cubs sent middle infield prospect Ty Southisene and outfielder Brett Bateman to the Jays. Of our top prospects in the Cubs' organization, Southisene was the higher-ranked prospect of the two (no. 15), with Bateman's departure somewhat thinning out an unclear outfield picture for the future at the top level. Southisene began the 2026 season in Low-A, before being promoted to High-A. Upon his promotion to the higher of the two, he absolutely thrived. At the time of the deal, Southisene was slashing .333/.459/.381 with a walk rate (14.9%) that exceeded his strikeout rate (12.9%) and a 134 wRC+. The approach is Southisene's hallmark, as indicated by the low strikeout figure and overall ability to make contact. Within his profile, however, lurk two major questions. Whether he can add any semblance of power is the first one. His ISO in A-ball was .105 before slipping to .048 in High-A. In his brief time in the system, there's been very little power to speak of, and whether more is on the way remains to be seen, and to access any pop, he might have to sacrifice some of the hit tool. The second question revolves around his position. Southisene's arm strength is a question, leaving many to wonder if he can stick at shortstop or is destined for work at the keystone for the better part of his career. Ultimately, Southisene rising to the top level with the Cubs was always going to be a tough sell. His profile isn't dissimilar from that of Nico Hoerner, who is plugged into second base for the next six years after his contract extension earlier this year. While you love a profile that sits on a foundation of approach and contact, it was unlikely we were ever going to see him climb all the way up given the Hoerner-sized roadblock standing in his way—especially given that the transition to second seems like a lock. In Bateman, though, the Cubs lost a similar profile but at a more certain position of need. With each of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki set to hit free agency this winter, there is very little certainty to speak of on either side of Pete Crow-Armstrong on the grass. Bateman had looked very good in Triple-A after starting there at the outset of the 2026 season. His slash read .312/.431/.422 with closely-aligning strikeout (18.8%) and walk (17.3%) rates and a 126 wRC+. There's a bit more power than his trade-mate Southisene (.110 ISO), with the ability to play all three outfield spots competently. He's not featured in our list of Cubs top prospects. Nor will you find his name across other outlets (even the ones that feature a higher volume). However, that profile could have allowed him to hang around as a fourth outfielder at some point. At the end of the day, this is kind of the plutonic ideal of a deadline deal for the Cubs. They acquired a player at a dire position of need, while sending back a pair of prospects with decent floors but limited ceilings. The Cubs may end up missing Bateman more than Southisene considering the aforementioned absence of clarity on the grass, but this doesn't feel too much like a deal where they're going to regret the prospects they had to send the other way against the stability wrought by the pitcher they were able to acquire. It also shouldn't stop them from being able to do anything else they want to get done today. View full article

Image courtesy of © Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Despite obvious needs, there are quite a few things working against our clarity surrounding the Chicago Cubs' trade deadline plans. For one thing, they're an organization that famously plays things close to the vest. For another, one of the few surefire sellers at the deadline happens to reside in their own division in the form of the Cincinnati Reds. While the Reds aren't completely out of the National League's Wild Card race, they're currently 4.5 games back of the third slot with five teams ahead of them (before you even get to one of the three teams currently in playoff position). There's no way they're buying in that position, and the team's current offensive picture makes it difficult to envision them making the sort of run over the next handful of days that would justify a pivot. As such, we can consider them among the teams most likely to sell alongside the likes of the New York Mets or Los Angeles Angels. This is where the Cubs come in. They need help on the mound, primarily in the form of starting pitching, but also on the relief side of things. The former will take priority over the latter, but there should be an assumption that, considering their current health woes on both fronts, additions are coming to in every phase of pitching. In the bullpen specifically, they're still rolling without the likes of winter signings Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, and Hunter Harvey, in addition to Daniel Palencia. That's left them leaning heavily on the likes of Jacob Webb, Trent Thornton, and a smattering of other journeyman types. If the Cubs and Reds were going to come together on a trade, it's difficult to see it coming to fruition for any marquee piece. The intradivision component makes that quite rare, with the Cubs likely lacking the gumption to create a larger package required to facilitate such a deal. Not that the Reds were selling any of their young hitters or starting pitchers, but even someone like Brady Singer (who has pitched much better these last two months than his full-season numbers would indicate) may be out of reach unless the Cubs overpay. Someone who would have made a logical fit, like Spencer Steer, is now likely out of the question due to injury (but even then, may have been a difficult get for Jed Hoyer and company). However, those same limitations don't always apply to middle relief pitchers. The Reds have exactly the type of reliable bullpen arms the Cubs could covet to help bridge the gap between their thin rotation and injury-plagued leverage group. Among Cincinnati's handful of potentially-available relief pitchers, Caleb Ferguson, Brock Burke, Pierce Johnson, and Emilio Pagán are all on short-term deals. Ferguson & Burke are free agents at season's end, with Johnson possessing a mutual option that effectively makes him the same. Of that quartet, Pagán is a name we can likely cross off the board given his $10 million player option and intensely concerning peripherals. Ferguson, Burke, and Johnson, meanwhile, offer a bit more appeal for the Cubs. The former two are both southpaws; Ferguson has a respectable 3.86 ERA through 21 innings of work, while Burke has been the far healthier of the two in working to a sterling 2.66 ERA across roughly 50 innings. Both have out-pitched their peripherals — Ferguson has a 3.63 xERA & 4.49 FIP, while Burke is working with a 4.30 xERA & 4.28 FIP — and each presents the kind of profile the Cubs tend to like out of their relievers. Neither features high-strikeout tendencies, but they each carry a history of heavy groundball work (Ferguson, specifically, is at a 54.0 GB% in 2026) with Ferguson's sinker-cutter-four-seam & Burke's four-seam/slider combination representing an appealing mix for a relief arm. Johnson would be a tougher sell. His ERA is up over five, with a FIP that looks very similar. He's only exceeded a 40 percent groundball rate once in the last four years, with a 14.6 homer-to-flyball rate that sits 35th among 189 relievers with at least 30 innings to their name. Ferguson & Burke offer that left-handed appeal in addition to a performance advantage over Johnson. The Cubs are rolling with Caleb Thielbar & Ryan Rolison at present as their primary southpaws in relief. While Rolison has been a revelation, Thielbar hasn't been remotely as effective as he was in 2025. Hoby Milner's return is imminent, but it's entirely possible the Cubs want to pursue an additional lefty to further solidify their relief corps ahead of October. Neither Ferguson nor Burke would shift the paradigm of this bullpen, but they would at least help to stabilize things. If Hoyer can accept the inherent surcharge that comes with working with a division rival this time of year, he'll find the relief corps reinforcements he's been looking for. View full article