Jed Hoyer pushed beyond his usual lane this past year, paying real prospect capital for pitching help in Clay Holmes and Edward Cabrera, with Kevin Gausman also brought in as part of the effort to keep the Cubs from repeating last October’s NLDS problem against the Milwaukee Brewers. The idea was simple: build enough depth and flexibility so the staff would not run dry when the postseason arrived.
Instead, the return on those swings was almost nothing when the games tightened up.
Cabrera didn’t make the Cubs’ Wild Card roster. Gausman threw less than four innings and was ineffective.
Holmes never entered the pitching picture in the series. He did warm up briefly near the end of Wednesday’s game, but the moment never came for him to be used.
The Holmes move was the kind of deadline deal that makes sense in the moment. The Cubs needed pitching badly over the first several months of the season, and without that help they might not have reached October at all. Still, once you attach a free-agent arm to a deal and send out a top prospect like Jefferson Rojas, the front office has to live with the bigger question: did the process actually work?
The same uncomfortable answer hangs over Cabrera. The Cubs gave up their No. 1 prospect, Owen Caissie, for him this past offseason, and he didn’t even crack the Wild Card roster.
There was also a practical wrinkle with Holmes. He last pitched for the Cubs last Friday, when the team still had a shot at the top Wild Card spot, so Craig Counsell had every reason to use him against the Red Sox. But once Wednesday arrived, the question was whether the Cubs should have turned to Holmes on short rest instead of starting Gausman, who was less than 100%.
That debate only adds to the broader issue. Holmes struggled badly in the final month of the regular season, and that problem may tie directly back to the Cubs’ pitching infrastructure. The same concern now follows Cabrera into the offseason, with the Cubs trying to figure out why he struggled so much last season.
The bottom line is hard to miss: the Cubs made aggressive pitching bets, and they got very little out of them when it mattered most. Until that changes, the stagnant feeling around the club is going to stick around.
In Other News...
Cubs May Regret How Much Jed Hoyer Paid For A Short-Term Push
The Cubs pushed hard at the deadline, and the cost of that urgency is already easy to see in the shape of the deal Jed Hoyer made. Chicago brought in Kevin Gausman and Ryan Zeferjahn to bolster the pitching staff, parting with a batch of prospects that included Brett Bateman, Ty Southisene, Moises Ballesteros and Mason McGwire in the process. It was the kind of move that can look bold in July and much tougher to judge once the season has had time to breathe.
Gausman gave the Cubs nine starts and finished with a 4.83 ERA before getting hurt late in the year, while Zeferjahn showed enough to keep some intrigue with a 4.50 ERA over 18 innings. The harder part for Chicago is looking back at what went out the door: Bateman has performed well with the Blue Jays, while Ballesteros has struggled since landing with the Angels. Those mixed returns only sharpen the question of whether the Cubs paid too much for a short-term push. [Read more 🡒]
Craig Counsell Is Safe But Cubs Changes May Be Coming Behind Him
Craig Counsells first three seasons in Chicago have been productive enough to keep the Cubs in the postseason mix, but not quite enough to quiet the larger questions around a club that expected more. The manager is still viewed as secure in his seat, even as the organization looks ahead to what comes next under a new front office regime.
Ryan Flahertys name is one to watch in that process, with the bench coach potentially in line for managerial chances elsewhere. Tommy Hottovys status is another point of interest, since the Cubs are also weighing ways to sharpen pitching development, and any staff turnover behind Counsell could become one of the first signs of how aggressively the club plans to adjust around him. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Have A Bigger Offseason Problem Than Losing Two Fan Favorites
The offseason conversation around the Cubs is already drifting toward the usual end-of-year exits, with Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ expected to hit free agency. Those departures would sting, especially for a club that has leaned on both in recent seasons, but Chicago has at least built enough depth in the outfield to absorb that kind of hit better than it could in other areas.
The bigger issue is on the mound, where ESPNs Jesse Rogers reports the Cubs are expected to make rebuilding the pitching staff their top priority. With several pitchers also set to reach free agency, the club faces work in both the starting rotation and the bullpen, and that is the part of the roster that could shape how quickly Chicago gets back into contention. [Read more 🡒]