The Cubs did a lot right at the trade deadline. They patched over a glaring weakness by adding David Peterson in June as a short-term fix, then brought in Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, two of the best rental arms available.
For the most part, those moves have already paid off. In their most recent turn through the rotation, Gausman and Holmes combined for 19 innings and allowed just two runs, exactly the kind of stability Chicago needed from a staff that has been hammered by injuries.
But one thing still slipped through their hands: a controllable starter.
The Cubs made the rounds on that market, too. They checked in with the Blue Jays after trading for Jose Soriano to see whether Toronto might be willing to move him. More notably, there was the Reid Detmers mix-up - Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami reported the Cubs had acquired the Angels left-hander, then later retracted the story and apologized after it turned out to be wrong.
What Chicago actually offered for Detmers, and what the Angels asked for in return, may never come fully into focus. Still, the broad picture is clear: Jed Hoyer again decided the price was too steep for one of the few controllable starters on the board. If Los Angeles was demanding a package led by top prospect Josiah Hartshorn, it’s easy to understand why the Cubs backed off.
Now Detmers is making that decision sting a little more.
Since the deadline, the lefty has been rolling. In four August starts, he’s put up a 1.50 ERA and struck out 30% of the hitters he’s faced.
The numbers behind that run support it, too: a 2.67 FIP and a 33.3% hard-hit rate suggest this isn’t just a fluky hot stretch. His season-long indicators already pointed to a pitcher whose results were lagging behind the quality of his work, and now the stat line is catching up.
His ERA is down to 3.63, while his FIP sits at 3.23.
That doesn’t mean the Cubs are out of the conversation for good.
There’s at least some upside in the fact that Detmers wasn’t moved to a contender. Deadline talks can spill into the offseason, and Chicago has already had a reason to keep lines of communication open. The Cubs and Angels also matched up on a Ryan Zeferjahn deal that involved Moises Ballesteros, which may have helped build a little more familiarity between the sides.
Chicago’s need for starting pitching isn’t going away. A lot of the current rotation is headed toward free agency after the season, and there’s still plenty of uncertainty around Justin Steele, Cade Horton and Ben Brown after injuries. If the Cubs want to get back to the postseason in 2027, the front office is going to have to keep searching for ways to put together a workable staff.
Detmers fits the profile of what they need. He’s a left-hander who could help offset possible departures from Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, and even though his velocity isn’t elite, he’s been one of the better swing-and-miss pitchers in the sport this year with a 28.5% strikeout rate. His walk rate has also come down to 7.3%, the best of his career.
The problem is that every good start he throws now probably makes him more expensive later.
If he keeps this up, the Angels may decide to hold onto him because he has two years of control left, or they may simply wait until they can squeeze more leverage out of a future deadline. Either way, the price is likely to climb, especially with this turning into a career year.
And there’s another wrinkle: John Mozeliak is only acting as interim general manager, so the Angels’ long-term direction is still unclear. Arte Moreno gave him more freedom to sell at the deadline, but once a permanent decision-maker is in place, the team’s priorities may shift away from moving a homegrown arm.
Then there’s the biggest obstacle of all: the looming threat of a lockout. A work stoppage in 2027 feels all but inevitable, and the gap between players and owners is wide enough that losing a season is not impossible. With that kind of uncertainty hanging over the sport, it’s hard to picture Hoyer giving up major prospect capital for a pitcher who could end up being a rental anyway.
For now, Reid Detmers looks like one more near miss for the Cubs - another arm that fit the profile, flashed the upside, and may end up staying just out of reach.
In Other News...
Cubs Anniversary Team Reignites One Franchise History Debate
The Cubs official 150th anniversary team is set to be honored before the Aug. 29 game, and the ceremonial 40-man roster is already doing what these kinds of selections always do: stirring up debate about who belongs and who got left out. Voted on by fans and spread across multiple eras of franchise history, the group is meant to celebrate the broad sweep of Cubs greatness, from the old names etched into team lore to more recent favorites.
But the absence of Carlos Zambrano stands out, and not just because he was one of the most recognizable Cubs pitchers of his era. His career in Chicago included the kind of big moments and durability that usually help a player gain a permanent place in franchise conversations, which is why his omission has prompted a familiar argument about how the team defines its greatest players. For a club that has spent 150 years building an identity, those choices can say as much about the present-day view of its history as they do about the history itself. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Steele Shows Why Cubs Fans Should Love This Wrigley Trend
A new CardVault by Tom Brady location has quickly become part of the Wrigley Field neighborhood, and it fits neatly with a hobby that already has a foothold inside the Cubs clubhouse. Players have been opening sports and non-sports card packs for a while now, and Justin Steele recently gave a glimpse of just how deep that interest runs, even while he works his way back from an elbow injury.
Steele also talked about his own collection, which is the kind of detail Cubs fans tend to love because it makes the game-day routine feel a little more personal. His best card is a 2014 Bowman First Superfractor, a reminder that the card-collecting trend around Wrigley is not just a storefront story across the street, but something that has clearly made its way into the clubhouse conversation as Steele nears a return to pitching. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Prospect Ethan Conrad Brings Back A Familiar Concern
Ethan Conrads season has hit another pause, with the Cubs prospect landing on the seven-day injured list after his last game on Aug. 23. Chicago has not offered much detail beyond the move, and that leaves a familiar layer of uncertainty around a young player whose development has already been interrupted before.
The biggest question now is whether this is tied to the shoulder and back issues that have lingered in his recent past, or whether it is something new altogether. Either way, the timing is frustrating, with only a short stretch left in the minor league calendar and no clear indication yet whether Conrad will be back before the season ends on Sept. 11. [Read more 🡒]