The Chicago Cubs may have a new name to circle in their search for starting pitching, and it comes with a familiar kind of Rays logic attached.
Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen has surfaced in offseason trade chatter after Jeff Passan teased the possibility of a deal, and he fits the profile of the kind of arm the Cubs would love to add. He also looks like exactly the sort of pitcher the Rays could consider moving if the return is right.
Rasmussen’s $20 million club option for 2027 changes the equation in Tampa Bay. If exercised, it would make him the highest-paid player in franchise history and push the Rays’ payroll past $100 million for the first time ever.
That’s not usually the lane the Rays prefer to drive in. They’re at their best when they can move an expensive veteran and turn him into younger, cheaper talent.
The catch is that the Cubs and Rays are both shopping for the same thing: starting pitching.
That makes any deal harder to pull off. Tampa Bay is already set to lose Freddy Peralta and Nick Martinez to free agency, so dealing Rasmussen would leave the rotation even thinner unless the return is substantial. The Rays would need a package that gives them immediate value and future control.
For Chicago, that likely means parting with more than one major piece. A deal would probably have to include at least two MLB-ready arms.
One possible framework would be Javier Assad, Jaxon Wiggins, and a lower-tier pitching prospect. In that kind of swap, Tampa Bay gets three controllable pitchers, while the Cubs land Rasmussen without stripping their pitching depth bare.
And there’s a clear baseball case for Chicago to push hard. Rasmussen has posted a 2.71 ERA over 322 innings since the beginning of the 2025 season. He’d slot into a rotation mix that includes Braxton Garrett, Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera, and hopefully Ben Brown.
Even then, the Cubs would still have room to keep working the market. They’d have money left to chase free agents such as Clay Holmes, Michael King, Sonny Gray, and Peralta.
In Other News...
Alex Bregman Just Gave Cubs Fans Real Reason To Believe
After missing out on him in free agency the year before, the Cubs finally landed Alex Bregman on a five-year deal and got the kind of middle-of-the-order presence they had been chasing. The start was quieter than anyone in Chicago probably wanted, but Bregman settled in and finished with a .265/.355/.464 line, 28 home runs and a 128 wRC+, production that put him among the better third basemen in the league and earned him a finalist spot for the National League Silver Slugger Award.
What matters most for the Cubs is how he closed the season, because the late surge did more than clean up the numbers. It gave the lineup a more reliable tone heading into 2027 and offered a reminder that the signing was about more than name value, with Bregman looking like a player who can anchor the offense when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Suddenly Have More Pressure To Chase This Pitching Target
Kaima Taira is suddenly on the board, and that matters for a Cubs team still looking for more certainty in the rotation. ESPNs projection of a five-year, $72.5 million deal gives a sense of the market for the Japanese left-hander, who was cleared to negotiate with MLB clubs after leading NPB in ERA and ERA+ last season. For a Chicago team with both a need for starting pitching and the financial room to make a real bid, the fit is obvious.
The timing adds another layer of pressure. Because the NPB and MLB agreed to a modified posting window this offseason due to a pending lockout, teams have only 30 days to get a deal done, which compresses the process and rewards clubs ready to move quickly. The Cubs are viewed as a potential suitor, and if they want to stay in the conversation, they may need to act before the market tightens and the competition gets even more serious. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs May Finally Have A Real Shot At Freddy Peralta
Freddy Peraltas market is already drawing attention as the right-hander heads toward free agency, and the Cubs make a lot of sense as a team to watch. Chicago has been looking for more dependable starting pitching, and Peralta fits the kind of arm that can change the shape of a rotation if the price and term line up.
What makes him especially intriguing is the way his game has evolved, with his recent success giving clubs reason to believe there is still another level to tap into. The fit is obvious enough that speculation has already started to build around where he could land, but the real question for the Cubs is whether they are willing to move quickly enough to turn interest into a serious pursuit. [Read more 🡒]