Clay Holmes’ finish with the Cubs was rough, but Chicago doesn’t sound ready to move on.
The Cubs brought him in at the trade deadline because they needed help in the rotation, and they also hoped he could matter in October. Instead, Holmes never appeared in the team’s two-game Wild Card Series against the Padres, leaving his stint in Chicago with an awkward ending.
That’s a far cry from the way things looked right after the trade. Holmes briefly looked like the ace of the staff and, at one point, seemed to be setting himself up as the top fallback option to Tarik Skubal in free agency this offseason. Then September hit, and his ERA ballooned to 8.24.
Even with that ugly finish, teams are expected to focus on the bigger body of work Holmes has put together over the last two seasons, which is part of why he’s still expected to decline the $12 million player option for the 2027 season. And despite the September stumble, the Cubs are still expected to have interest in keeping the 33-year-old beyond this year.
That makes sense given why they wanted him in the first place. The Cubs pursued Holmes for the same reasons they’d likely consider bringing him back now: he fit what they were trying to do. Jed Hoyer also knows the club has leaned too heavily on its defense when evaluating pitchers, but Holmes, at his best, checks the kind of boxes Chicago wants.
Patrick Mooney of The Athletic also pointed to the key issue that defined Holmes’ late-season slide. In September, he walked just over 16% of the hitters he faced. In August, that number was just over 8%.
For his career, Holmes owns a 10.1% walk rate. And while his September struggles made him less of a priority when Craig Counsell had to line up the Cubs’ pitching plans for the playoff series in San Diego, they shouldn’t automatically scare the team away in free agency. Holmes’ walk rate in 2026 was the highest it has been since 2019, which suggests the control issues may not be a long-term concern.
The Cubs still need more velocity and more swing-and-miss in their pitching mix for 2027, but with so many rotation spots to fill this offseason, a Holmes reunion would be a straightforward move to make.
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