With a lockout looming on December 2, November figures to move fast for the Cubs, and Jed Hoyer looks set to attack an offseason that starts with one clear priority: pitching. Chicago needs help across the entire staff, so much of the roster-building this winter should come on the mound.
That search starts with the top of the market. If Tarik Skubal ends up back with the Los Angeles Dodgers next season, or if his price climbs beyond what the Cubs can touch, Sonny Gray looks like the name to circle first.
He turns 37 next month and would likely be chasing a shorter deal as he pursues a World Series title. Even with a 5% dip in his strikeout rate this season with the Red Sox, Gray still put up a 2.72 ERA and a 46% groundball rate.
If Chicago wants pitchers who keep the ball down, he fits the bill.
Another obvious name is David Peterson, who the Cubs already know well after making what was described as their best trade last season to bring him in. Peterson fits the profile Chicago keeps coming back to because he gets ground balls, and his final four regular-season starts in Chicago were especially strong.
Over that stretch, he posted a 1.27 ERA with a groundball rate above 52%. After what he showed down the stretch, this looks like the kind of fit that makes too much sense for both sides to ignore.
The bullpen also needs impact arms, and Adrian Morejon checks a lot of boxes the Cubs have been missing. He brings a fastball that approaches triple digits and struck out more than 30% of the hitters he faced last year.
In other words, he would give Chicago a real answer in the back end of the bullpen, something the team has not had for quite a while. He also represents exactly the kind of reliever Jed Hoyer has generally passed on paying for in recent years.
Emilio Pagán is another bullpen option who would make sense if he reaches the market. The Cubs had a brief interest in him before, and if he opts out of his deal with the Cincinnati Reds, that interest would likely pick back up.
Pagán’s fastball sits in the mid-90s, and his strikeout rate has been above 25% in each of the last three seasons. If the Cubs want more swing-and-miss in the bullpen, he gives them a straightforward way to get it.
In Other News...
Cubs Could Benefit If Dodgers Finally Start Cutting Costs
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For Chicago, the appeal is obvious: when a star-heavy team even hints at trimming costs, useful players can become available where they were never expected to be. Teoscar Hernandez, Alex Call, Emmet Sheehan and Hyeseong Kim are among the Dodgers players mentioned as possible trade candidates, though any move would depend on health, fit and how Los Angeles wants to balance its roster. For the Cubs, it is the kind of market opportunity that can open quietly and change quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Can't Afford Another Jed Hoyer Pitching Gamble To Be The Answer
The Cubs are already staring at another winter defined by pitching uncertainty, and Dustin May has emerged as one more possible name in the mix. After spending the 2026 season with the Cardinals and Brewers, he is available as a free agent, and the appeal is easy to understand: there is still enough talent in his arm to make evaluators believe there is upside to tap into if the right environment is there.
But Chicago cannot treat him like the entire answer, not with the rotation picture looking so unsettled for 2027. Mays recent struggles make him sound more like a developmental project than a safe fix, which only works if the Cubs have already addressed the bigger-ticket items on the market. The front office can take on a reclamation arm, but only if it has first done the harder work of building a staff that does not depend on another gamble paying off. [Read more 🡒]
Kris Bryant Just Got Another Brutal Sign About His Baseball Future
Kris Bryants career arc has turned into one of the tougher cautionary tales in recent baseball memory, especially for Cubs fans who still remember the peak years when he was an MVP and a centerpiece in Chicago. After injuries and a trade to San Francisco, his path took another turn with a seven-year deal in Colorado, but health problems have continued to pile up, most notably degenerative disc disease that kept him out for the entire 2026 season.
Now the Rockies are operating as if Bryant will not be part of their roster plans moving forward, a stark sign of how far things have shifted. President Paul DePodesta said the club is making moves with Bryant unavailable, and there has been no update on any contract restructuring, leaving his baseball future hanging in the same uncertain space that has defined so much of the last few years. [Read more 🡒]