The Cubs made a quick roster swap, and it’s already turning into a rough one.
Bryse Wilson’s first turn in Chicago looked like exactly what the team needed. On June 28 against the Milwaukee Brewers, he carved through 4.1 scoreless innings in the series finale.
At that point, the Cubs were scraping by with only four healthy starting pitchers on their 40-man roster, so the outing mattered. Then the bottom dropped out.
In his next appearance, Wilson got tagged for seven runs on eight hits in a 17-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Cubs designated him for assignment the very next day to open a spot for Jake Woodford.
Woodford’s arrival has not changed the mood. He finally got into a game for the Cubs on Friday night, and it went sideways fast. The right-hander allowed three runs in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds, who beat Chicago 4-0 in the series opener.
That kind of outing fits the larger picture with Woodford, who has kept getting chances despite very little success. He broke in with the Cardinals in 2020 and put up a 4.29 ERA across four seasons, with a 15.1 K% and an 8.0 BB%.
Opponents hit .266 against him, and he gave up more than a home run per nine innings. In 2024, he appeared in only two games for the White Sox and seven more for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Last year, he posted a 6.44 ERA in 36.1 innings with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Even the Brewers, who signed him in early June after he was DFA’d by Milwaukee, couldn’t get much out of him. He was cut loose after putting up a 6.94 ERA over 23.1 innings.
So when the Cubs moved on from Wilson for Woodford, the contrast was glaring. Wilson had been productive enough in 2023-24 to justify a longer look, and his 2023 season was the best of his MLB career: a 2.58 ERA in 53 games. In 23 of those outings for the Brewers, he worked at least four outs, and he went two innings or more 17 times.
Wilson’s path has always been different. He came up as a starter with the Atlanta Braves, but he never really locked down that role in the majors.
He got 16 starts between the Braves and Pirates in 2021, then 20 more starts in 2022. The results weren’t strong, but Counsell helped put him in better spots as a multi-inning reliever in Milwaukee.
Now, in 2026, Wilson is stretched back out as a starter in Triple-A for the Phillies farm system. Over 54.1 innings, he has a 23.8 K% with a 6.29 ERA and a 4.05 FIP.
Across his big-league career, the split tells the story: Wilson has been far better out of the bullpen, with a 3.97 ERA in 201.2 innings as a reliever, than as a starter, where he owns a 5.44 ERA in 261.1 innings.
The Cubs needed arms. That part is clear. But after one rough Wilson outing and an even rougher first look at Woodford, this swap already looks ugly.
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