Cubs ‘Here to Win’ with Deadline Splashes, Now Comes Some Serious Roster Shuffling
Jed Hoyer didn’t stand pat, nor did he wait for the market to come to him at a time when he absolutely needed to make big improvements to the Cubs’ pitching staff. The man who’s been at or near the head of baseball operations on the North Side for nearly 15 years now showed the kind of aggressiveness many fans didn’t think he was capable of, swinging four trades in the 24 hours or so prior to the deadline. He even managed to thread the needle by keeping the farm system largely intact.
“Ideally, you don’t trade prospects,” Hoyer told reporters prior to Monday’s win over the Dodgers. “But at the same time, we’re here to win.”
Cubs GM Carter Hawkins caught a lot of flak last year for an ill-advised comment about not jeopardizing 2032 with moves made in the present, and it has continued to color outside opinions of the front office’s motives. Many critics were silenced by the trades for Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, and Ryan Zeferjahn in particular, though plenty more naysayers have stepped forward due to the cost required to add those arms.
But here’s the thing about making trades: It’s supposed to hurt. As much as Facebook would love it to be true, you don’t get to acquire good players in exchange for a group of mediocre prospects with little to no future value. Nor is “This guy sucks, trade him,” a viable MO for baseball execs. If a front office is doing its job, there is enough talent on the big league roster and in the minors to effectively overpay for the pieces needed to make a postseason run.
“We’ve invested a lot in this roster, not just financially but in terms of how we put the roster together,” Hoyer explained. “It’s a really good team. That’s part of being in contention and being in a good position. You have to make those decisions. You have to draft well, you have to develop well, and if you do those things, then you can afford to make those kinds of trades.”
Pulling the trigger on those trades was one thing, but the real work will continue over the coming days and weeks as the Cubs welcome back a number of injured pitchers who will need to be activated. Gausman and Holmes will presumably push Javier Assad and Colin Rea into swing roles, which was the plan at the start of the season, but Edward Cabrera is going to need a spot in two weeks or so.
Ben Brown was just transferred to the 60-day in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, as he was not going to be ready by August 20. That’s the earliest he could have been activated, having been placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to June 21. He’s symptom-free and throwing again out in Arizona, and the assumption is that the Cubs will look to ramp him as a reliever given the short runway.
Justin Steele is progressing nicely as he recovers from a setback in his rehab from elbow surgery last season, and he is also targeting a bullpen role later in the season. Then there’s Daniel Palencia, who will begin his rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday. Hoby Milner will make his third rehab appearance with Iowa on Tuesday, at which point he should be ready to return. Hunter Harvey will likely follow Milner and Palencia, provided he bounces back well from his bullpen over the weekend.
Phil Maton has been largely forgotten since going to the IL on July 20 with right knee tendinitis, and there’s been no word on his recovery lately. I’m not saying this is one of those phantom IL stints, but you do have to wonder whether he might be transferred to the 60-day if his knee keeps barking. After all, the Cubs are going to need another roster spot to accommodate Holmes.
The former Yankee and Met is currently on the 60-day IL as he worked back from a broken fibula, but he just went 5.1 innings in his third rehab start on Sunday and could be activated by the weekend. Harvey is likewise on the 60-day, as is old friend Shelby Miller. Though Miller’s activation is more of a longshot, he’s been throwing to live batters in Arizona for at least a month.
All of this means Hoyer and Co. are going to have a whole lot of roster shuffling ahead of them. By my unofficial count, the Cubs will need to find room for at least seven pitchers between now and the end of the season. Getting to September roster expansion will give them two more spots to play with, but I wasn’t even counting Maton, Miller, or Braxton Garrett — who was optioned to Iowa after being acquired — in that tally. Of course, that’s assuming everyone gets and stays healthy.
We already know Hoyer’s got no problem making difficult-but-necessary decisions, like designating Jameson Taillon for assignment, so it probably won’t be as taxing for him to part ways with Trent Thornton, Tyler Ferguson, and Jake Woodford when the time comes. But the thing is, those guys might only clear space for one-third of the pitchers the Cubs have waiting in the wings. Then there’s Matt Shaw, who, while not part of this pitching cohort, will still need a spot when he comes back.
Then you consider the work Craig Counsell, Tommy Hottovy, and the rest of the staff will have to do when it comes to acclimating new players to the team and old players to new roles. This isn’t necessarily a plug-and-play endeavor; it’s more like performing surgery on a patient in the back of an ambulance racing to the hospital. Thankfully, it’s an ivy drip instead of a firehose when it comes to the projected timeline for all of those activations.
Get ready for the transaction tracker to shift into overdrive for a while, and for the roster to continue evolving as the postseason draws nigh. Hoyer and the Cubs aren’t out of the minefield by any stretch, but they should at least be able to start choosing between proven players rather than being forced to dole out important innings to guys who just got DFA’d by other teams.
