The Cubs are planning to add an established starting pitcher to their rotation this winter, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. The club has Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad in four spots. Per Mooney’s report, adding one more name into that mix would push guys like Ben Brown, Cade Horton, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski down the depth chart.
“In one sense, you feel like you’re in a solid position because we have a number of young pitchers (who) have had success in the big leagues,” Manager Craig Counsell is quoted as saying in the piece. “Now with all of them, there’s been injuries. And it’s not a big sample as of yet. But that’s also kind of the nature of pitching. It’s the nature of young pitching. So we’re in a good spot in terms of that area of depth. But as we saw this year, it disappeared quickly.”
The quartet of Imanaga, Steele, Taillon and Assad have been the club’s best starters this year, both in terms of quality and quantity. Each of that group has an ERA of 3.41 or lower at the moment and all of them have tossed between 130 and 175 innings on the season thus far.
But as Counsell alluded to, there were also some challenges. Steele made a couple of trips to the injured list, one for a left hamstring strain and another for left elbow tendinitis. The Cubs had picked up a $16.5MM club option to bring back Kyle Hendricks but that ultimately proved to be a misstep. Hendricks struggled badly enough to get moved to the bullpen. He eventually retook a rotation spot but has a 6.28 ERA for the year overall. Wicks is currently on the IL for the third time this year, having gone on the shelf for a left forearm strain and then two separate stints for right oblique strains. Brown hasn’t pitched since June due to a stress reaction in his neck. Horton last pitched in May, getting shut down with a subscapularis strain and suffering a setback while trying to return the mound.
An argument could be made for rolling into 2025 with the same front four, letting the group of Wicks, Brown, Horton and Wesneski fight for the fifth spot. But with so many issues in 2024, adding some more security makes plenty of sense. None of those four are fully established. Wesneski is the only one with more than 81 big league innings pitched, and his 186 frames have been split between the bullpen and rotation. Wicks, Brown and Wesneski all still have options, meaning they could be stretched out in Triple-A if not needed on the big league staff. Horton isn’t yet on the 40-man and doesn’t need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until December of 2025.
The Cubs also might not have much else on their winter to-do list. Even if Cody Bellinger eventually opts out, the outfield will still have Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman, with Alexander Canario, Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara and Brennen Davis at Triple-A. The infield has Isaac Paredes, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch, with Matt Shaw knocking on the door. Miguel Amaya has shown some progress at the plate and Christian Bethancourt can be retained for next year if the Cubs believe in his recent performance. Moises Ballesteros will also be pushing for a job soon.
The bullpen arguably should be a focus but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had made it clear he would prefer to not to make free agent splashes there. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, since Hoyer was hired in November of 2020, the club hasn’t given a multi-year deal to any reliever. And of the one-year deals they have given out, the only guy to get more than $5MM was Héctor Neris, who got $9MM.
Unless a change is coming in terms of the approach to bullpen construction, starting pitching is a logical target with the position player group in strong shape. And there should be some powder dry for reinforcements. The club went narrowly over the $237MM competitive balance tax this year, with RosterResource currently pegging their number a bit over $238MM. Next year’s tally is only at $126MM right now. Arbitration raises for guys like Paredes and Steele will certainly add to that number and it will grow significantly if Bellinger decides to stay, but there will still be room for a notable contract.
Hoyer hasn’t played at the top of the market in terms of starting pitching but has given out some mid-market deals. As shown in the MLBTR Contract Tracker again, Imanaga, Taillon and Marcus Stroman have each received guaranteed between $53MM and $71MM, the largest guarantees the Cubs have given to starting pitchers in the Hoyer era.
This winter’s starting pitching class will be topped by guys like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Jack Flaherty and Blake Snell, assuming Snell stays healthy and opts out of his deal. Signing any of those guys would likely require the Cubs to go to a new level of spending, getting into nine-figure territory. If they want to stay in that Stroman/Taillon/Imanaga tier, they’d probably be debating names like Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta and others. Hall-of-Fame-bound veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander will be limited to short-term deals since they are both in their 40s and coming off injury-plagued years in 2024.
The trade market will be another option for the Cubs. The White Sox didn’t end up flipping Garrett Crochet at the deadline but could perhaps make him available again in the winter. The Marlins lost almost all their rotation options to injury this year but it’s possible to see them considering deals as the group gets healthier for 2025. Somewhat similarly, the Rays seem to have an abundance of rotation options with Jeffrey Springs, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen returned from longs absences, with Shane McClanahan to join them next year. Other possibilities will surely emerge as the winter goes on.
It will be an interesting offseason for the Cubs. Their signing of Swanson heading into 2023 seemed to signal a wish to return to contention after a couple of rebuilding years. They had a solid but unspectacular year in 2023, winning 83 games. They may top that here in 2024, currently at 80-76, but will miss the postseason again. Pressure figures to be high for a club that hasn’t made the postseason in a full campaign since 2018, but a lot of good elements are in place and a few finishing touches could perhaps get them over the hump in 2025.
Prunella Vulgaris
Would be nice if Crochet went to the Cubs.
rememberthecoop
I highly doubt that happens.
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
Max Fried payday to team up with Dansby again?? My guess is Fried to the Dodgers and reunite with me again.
Susannah
We can basically say “All teams planning to add starting pitching.”
mindseye15
Yeah the article says they’re adding a starting pitcher. If anybody has watched the Cubs on a regular basis, they know the Cubs need to add at least 2 starters. I don’t know if one can really trust Assad with all the walks. Burnes would definitely make the Cubs rotation more respectable.
drasco036
Assad is fine. It looks like he has kind of tired out down the stretch and also it looks like Counsell has been given him a longer leash. Assad to me is a lot like Lester in the sense he is comfortable with pitching himself out of trouble. He will give up walks and hits, just like Lester and more often than not he limits the damage.
I want to see a righty option at the top of the rotation to go between Imanaga and Steele. I’d love for the Cubs to trade Tailon and sign a front line starter, then allow Assad, Wicks, Brown and maybe Horton to fight out the back of the rotation. I really think Brown can be a similar two pitch star like Strider is in Atlanta.
rememberthecoop
The arrogance of Hoyer to not want a closer continues to infuriate me. If you look at how many save opportunities were blown this year, you’d know that this is a roster that screams for the need to have one. The Cubs blew 17 chances before the AS break alone. Hoyer kept saying that the lack of offense was simply putting too much pressure on the bullpen. That sounds great, except all it does is deflect blame away from Hoyer because he can say that underperformance from players as opposed to not having the right players or admitting a need for high leverage help in the bullpen was the cause of their troubles. $230M+ spent and not one star on the roster. Most good leaders take accountability. Not Jed.
desertbull
Alzolay was supposed to be the closer coming off a successful stint there in 2023.
Hodge has been very good as the closer in the 2nd half of 2024.
pohle
with the volatility of relievers, i understand the philosophy of trusting that youll make it work and be able to add, and true relief aces are increasingly rare. i think the discrepancy is hoyer mandating that scouts spend more time figuring out how to fix what they find off the scrap heap, rather than helping average or better relievers become great.
Unclemike1525
Putting all of your faith in Hodge going into next year would be equally as stupid as putting all of your faith in Alzolay this year. Now I like Hodge a lot more than Alzolay because Alzolay was and still is a walking injury like Brennen Davis has turned out to be and if anybody thought Neris was decent option 2 they were just fooling themselves. The Cubs have a lot of maybes that could also be a Closer after watching how the blown saves early in the year sunk the Playoff hopes you’d think the light bulb would go on. But Kudos to the Tigers who launched a bunch of Vets at the deadline and brought up kids and look like they’re going to the Playoffs. Shows you what a team can do with a real GM who has a plan and a brain. Much like AZ last year I hope the Tigers go to the Series and prove me right yet again.
drasco036
Neris was a fine signing for insurance in the event Alzolay went down for 15 days or if Alzolay was ineffective, Neris could step in for a little bit while the Cubs worked out a trade.
The fact that Merryweather, Alzolay and Almonte were all on an extended IL stint AND the Cubs did nothing to address the back end was beyond ignorant.
PapaBear562
Bingo. Relief pitching was the biggest reason why they’re not in the post season. If even half of the blown saves were converted they’d be in.
drasco036
I get the complaint but who?
A lot of people complained about Hoyer not addressing the back the pen but with who? They really didn’t have the money to bring in Hader, and he hasn’t been great for Houston, Chapman? Moore? Robertson? Some people are mad that the Cubs didn’t trade for Clase but Clase never got moved, we have no idea if the Guardians were even going to move him.
My complaint was not making a deal for a back end piece when Alzolay went down. You knew Merryweather was going to be out for a while, Alzolay was going to be out for a while and you needed someone.
My other complaint was that the Cubs should have went heavy for Saurez when it was clear Morel couldn’t hand third defensively. The Snakes were struggling out of the gate and Saurez looked awful, the rumors were Arizona would have happily sent him packing with next to nothing in return. He bounced back in July and put up monster numbers. It was a missed opportunity by a team that was scared of the luxury tax.
Unclemike1525
It’s not a matter of who but why as you well know but still refuse to accept. The real problem is you have a GM who got burned once or who has a phobia for some reason about signing big ticket relievers but regularly tosses money away on bad overspends like Swanson Mancini, Hendricks. Look I like Swanson but the Cubs already had Nico who was getting the Job done not to mention the Cubs have like 8 SS’s who now have no future at all with the Cubs. It’s horrible use of funds and bad management. Basically it’s bad use of personnel as I mentioned above plus a phobia of using young players unlike Detroit and AZ who brought up kids and got the job done. And 7 years? That was just dumb.
robert-5
Because you foresaw the Eugenio Suarez rebound and knew Isaac Parades would continue to struggle? Cmon…
raz427
I’m thinking Hoyer is actually speaking about adding veteran starting pitching. The rotation is still young. I think they’ll make offers on Michael Wacha or Anthony DeSclafani, maybe Nathan Eovaldi. Any of those pitchers would be an addition to this staff. As for relievers go, maybe Lucas SIms or Jose Leclerc?
rondon
I’m thinking Eovaldi as well. Everyone knows his injury history and that’s a valid concern. But if a couple of those kids step up, that could alleviate some of that worry. They could trade for one as well… They still need a stud with power in that lineup- and no, not Patrick Wisdom.
raz427
I don’t think they need to spend $$$$ to get a quality starter or two. Maybe Eovaldi and possibly trade for Gausman? Pipedream I know, but Gausman is exactly the type of starter they probably would love to acquire.
cubbyblue816
Forget adding the starting pitching. Nothing is going to happen in the right direction until we replace the front office
Samuel
Actually, they need to build up the bullpen (and elsewhere).
But you are correct. Hoyer has been going around in circles for years.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
They should sign one or two among Tanner Scott, Kenley Jansen, Andrew Kittredge, AJ Minter, Blake Treinan and Carlos Estevez.
Otherwise, Ben Brown for closer? I still like Alzolay, but I doubt he will be ready by Opening Day.
I don’t see them signing Burnes or Snell. More like Wacha, Quintana, or Cobb.
Joe Kerr
Bartolo Colon
stubby66
Go ahead sign Burnes your not going to get your money’s worth. He dies at end of season and doesn’t do anything in the playoffs. Very prone to the homerun. Yes I’m a Brewers fan and no im not bitter because we still kept the right one in Woodruff.
YankeesBleacherCreature
He’s 3-1 in 25 IP, 1.08 ERA so far this Sept.
Burnes also has 2.84 ERA in 19 postseason IP with 22 Ks. The only klunker was his start last season.
Samuel
stubby66
The Brewers and O’s are 2 of 7-8 teams I’ve watched and followed closely the past 3 or so years.
I have a lot of questions about Burnes. Old-time baseball people would call it his heart, or maybe his ability to be clutch. His kvetching over his arbitration hearing a few years ago and his subsequent bashing of the Brewers FO (saying the relationship between he and the Brewers was damaged) when they were only doing their job, is something that was uncalled for. Said a lot about him. Fact is that Brewers team should have made the playoffs in 2022. The guys on that team out and out quit. And he was one of them.
To the Brewers credit, they’ve gotten rid of just about all of the veteran players from that team…as they should have. The youngsters on this years Brewers team are not quitters and don’t think they’re owed anything.
Tigersin2050
Okay I didn’t read the article, but to the headline I say, So is every other team.
3 finger split
LMAO…show me a team…any team that isn’t looking to add starting pitchers to their roster.
Unless you have a team that is going to put up 8 runs a game and the Cubs aren’t that team then yes…every team in MLB is looking for starting pitching
PurePlano
They have a lack of elite level talent. There is average to above average players at every position other than catcher. The rotation looks better suited as a 2-3-4-5 than a 1-2-3-4.
They should win the bidding on Corbin Burnes, even if it has to get goofy. They should trade for Shae Langeliers. And they should trade for an elite level bullpen arm or two. Trade from the position player prospects they have. They need to go into next season with a 90+ win projection. Stop settling for rolling out a 82 win projected team with this core. This is the offseason to push in while they have Steele, Imanaga & the position player core locked in for the next few years.
just_thinkin
Where are the other 29 articles with this headline?
Butter Biscuits
Get belli off the books, if he doesn’t opt out trade him for low level prospects and focus on front of the rotation and a closer
drasco036
Cubs need Bellinger. Suzuki is awful in right field and we don’t have much in way of insurance for Busch at first base (Paredes) or centerfield. I threw up a little when I read Tauchman as a fourth outfielder.
Tauchman is thriving in his role as a pinch hitter but I think his arbitration salary is going to be too much for his worth. I also think he needs to be taken away from CC, Counsells decision to have Tauch leadoff for as long as he did cost the Cubs several games.
Mike56
Lance Lynn will probably be available
Warden of the North(acoss13)
Hoyer needs to add a closer, probably via trade this offseason. Tired of hearing about all these great prospects and not doing anything with them. Cubs need to start using these prospects as trade chips for areas of need…
DM_Nats
Corbin would be a good fit for them