Cubs Officially Announce Kevin Gausman Trade, Have Now Parted with 6 of Top 7 2024 Draft Picks

I promised a little more on the Kevin Gausman deal when I wrote it up last night, but then I got worried that there wouldn’t be much more to say about a guy who’s been in the bigs since 2013. Thankfully, there are indeed some new threads to pull on. The first, and this was noted briefly in that earlier piece, is that Gausman is lined up to pitch on Thursday if the Cubs stick to his regular schedule.

That would see him take the mound against the Blue Jays, who will be in town for a day to make up their rainout from June 21. It would be really wild if the Jays had Jameson Taillon start that game after acquiring him from the Cubs just a few hours before consummating the Gausman deal. That feels like Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins doing Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins a solid, as trading for Taillon will see them eating his salary to offset some of what Gausman is owed.

Gausman had a partial no-trade clause that did not include the Cubs, so the Jays didn’t necessarily have to accommodate his wishes. Still, it’s very possible that they worked to get him to a team he really wanted to play for. This reminds me a little bit of how the Cubs and Rangers worked out a mutually beneficial Drew Smyly trade after the Cubs picked up Cole Hamels‘ option and ate money that otherwise would have landed back on the Rangers’ books.

Like David Peterson before him, Gausman stands to benefit from a much stronger defense than he’d been pitching in front of previously. Then there’s the matter of being back in the thick of the playoff race, not to mention the excitement of a new adventure of sorts. The Cubs are certainly hoping that’s the case. Speaking of which, we can’t forget about Peterson as one of Hoyer’s big adds, albeit one that came well ahead of the deadline.

Viewed as more of an emergency depth move that was more like impulse-buying a lottery ticket at the gas station, Peterson has worked out incredibly well. He is 3-1 with a 4.36 ERA that includes giving up 10 runs to the Cardinals in less than four innings, and the Cubs have won four of his six starts. In those five good starts, Peterson has allowed only six earned runs with 19 strikeouts and seven walks. What’s more, his groundball rate has improved in each of his last five starts.

Gausman does not need to make as extreme an improvement over what he’s done so far, but the Cubs do need him to make the most of these next two months. Not that they gave up a lot to rent him for the playoff push. Both Brett Bateman and Ty Southisene have been very solid in their brief professional careers, and the former is having a breakout campaign for Triple-A Iowa. However, both are speed-first guys with 20-30-grade power and profile as bench bats.

By moving Southisene, their fourth-round pick in 2024, the Cubs have now traded all four of their top picks and six of their top seven from that class. Cam Smith (1) was involved in the Kyle Tucker deal; Cole Mathis (2) was the return for Peterson; Ronny Cruz (3) went to Washington as part of the Michael Soroka trade; Ryan Gallagher (6) went to Minnesota for Willi Castro; and Ivan Brethowr (7) brought back Taylor Rogers from the Pirates. Smith is the only one to have reached the majors and Gallagher is the only other to have reached Triple-A, so the jury is still out on the results.

There will probably be more prospects traded ahead of today’s deadline, but I’m guessing Ariel Armas (5) won’t be one of them. Not because of who he is as a player, just that moving the last of those top seven picks would be wild. Things could get pretty wild, so fasten those seatbelts.

See the media release below for more nuts and bolts…

The Chicago Cubs today acquired right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman from the Toronto Blue Jays for minor-league outfielder Brett Bateman and minor-league infielder Ty Southisene. The Cubs 40-man roster currently stands at 40 players.

Gausman, 35, is 5-10 with a 4.38 ERA (62 ER/127.1 IP) and 127 strikeouts in 23 starts for the Blue Jays this season. Among qualified American League starting pitchers in 2026, Gausman ranks fifth in chase rate (34.4%), 11th in whiff rate (27.0%) and 12th in walk rate (6.7%). He has held opponents to a .212 average (39-for-184) with 57 strikeouts and a 39.8% whiff rate on his splitter, the second-highest whiff rate amongst splitters in the A.L. this season. The righthander has registered 11 quality starts in 2026, tied for eighth in the A.L., and became the first pitcher in major league history to record at least 21 strikeouts and no walks in their first two starts of a season.

The six-foot two-inch, 200-pound Gausman has appeared in 384 career major league games (345 starts) with Baltimore (2013-18), Atlanta (2018-19), Cincinnati (2019), San Francisco (2020-21) and Toronto (2022-26), going 117-123 with a 3.85 ERA (872 ER/2,038.1 IP) and 2,081 strikeouts. His 2,081 strikeouts rank fifth among active major league pitchers, while his 2,038.1 innings are sixth. After signing a five-year contract with Toronto in Dec. 2021, Gausman won at least 10 games and made at least 30 starts in all four of his full major league seasons with the Blue Jays, including his second career All-Star selection in 2023. Following the 2023 campaign, he finished third in the A.L. Cy Young award voting.

In 14 career postseason games (eight starts), Gausman has gone 2-5 with a 3.83 ERA (24 ER/56.1 IP), including 2-3 with a 2.93 ERA (10 ER/30.2 IP) in six games (five starts) during Toronto’s run to a World Series appearance in 2025. He made two starts against the Dodgers in the World Series.

Gausman made his major league debut with Baltimore in 2013 during his second professional season and spent the 2013-18 seasons with the Orioles, prior to being traded to Atlanta as part of a six-player trade on July 31, 2018. In 2021, Gausman was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and finished sixth in the N.L. Cy Young Award voting, setting then career-best marks in innings pitched (192.0), wins (14), quality starts (20), ERA (2.81), strikeouts (227), opponents’ batting average (.210), and WHIP (1.04).

The Centennial, Colo. native was selected by Baltimore with the fourth overall pick in 2012 out of Louisiana State University.

Bateman, 24, is hitting .280 (316-for-1,129) with 42 doubles, five triples, six home runs, 112 RBI, 218 walks and 83 stolen bases in 314 minor league games across four seasons with the Mesa Cubs (3 games), Myrtle Beach (29 games), South Bend (79 games), Tennessee/Knoxville (122 games) and Iowa (81 games). The left-handed hitter was selected by Cubs in the eighth round in 2023 and is ranked as the organization’s No. 21 prospect according to MLB.com.

Southisene, 21, has recorded a .275 average (157-for-572) with 13 doubles, seven triples, 71 RBI, 104 walks and 72 stolen bases in 156 minor league games over two seasons with the Rookie League Cubs (one game), Single-A Myrtle Beach (112 games) and High-A South Bend (43 games). The righty was selected by the Cubs in the fourth round of the 2024 draft and is currently ranked as the organization’s No. 13 prospect by MLB.com.