The Cubs won’t have to wait much longer to see two of their biggest deadline additions take the mound.
Kevin Gausman is set to make his Chicago debut Friday in the opener against the Kansas City Royals on the road, according to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Clay Holmes is lined up to follow on Saturday, assuming his bullpen session Wednesday goes smoothly.
Gausman was the first of the two to arrive, landing with the Cubs on August 2 in a deal that sent prospects Ty Southisene and Brett Bateman the other way. He last pitched on August 1, when he worked 5.2 innings against the Cardinals and allowed one run.
That outing wasn’t spotless. Gausman gave up nine hits, and that’s one area Chicago will be hoping to tighten up.
His 4.38 ERA is well above what he’s posted in past seasons, but the underlying numbers still point to a pitcher whose stuff remains intact. The Cubs are betting a new setting can help him iron out the rough edges, and they’re clearly intrigued by the combination of playoff experience and production he brings.
Holmes comes next, and his path back has been a longer one. The former Mets arm has been out since May 15 with a fractured fibula, but he’s now put together three rehab starts. His most recent came on August 2, when he threw 5.1 innings in High-A and allowed three earned runs.
Chicago appears convinced he’s ready to return. If Wednesday’s bullpen session checks the right boxes, Holmes will start Saturday in Kansas City.
There’s plenty for the Cubs to like in the early numbers, even if they come from a small sample. Holmes has posted a 2.39 ERA this season, and the source of the optimism is easy to see: he’s been a ground-ball machine. That skill set, paired with Chicago’s interior defense, has the club believing he could become one of its top arms in short order.
All of this naturally raises the question of what comes next for the rest of the rotation. The expectation is that Javier Assad and Colin Rea could move to the bullpen.
Then there’s Edward Cabrera, who was acquired last offseason but has not delivered the results Chicago wanted. The Cubs still have a decision to make on how long they want to stay patient with him.
They already gave a glimpse of one possible bullpen move Tuesday, when Ryan Zeferjahn got his first look in a high-leverage spot against the Dodgers. He entered at the top of the eighth with Chicago leading 4-1, fired a 97.1 mph first pitch for a strike, and got Tommy Edman to ground out on the next delivery.
Alex Call then fell behind 2-0 before lifting a pop-up toward the Cubs dugout that Pedro Ramírez made a strong play to catch. The real challenge came with Shohei Ohtani, who saw a sweeper drop into the dirt before Zeferjahn finished him off with his best pitch of the night.
The 4x MVP flew out to left field on the next pitch.
Zeferjahn needed just nine pitches to get through a clean 1-2-3 inning, and seven of them were strikes. It’s obviously just one outing, but it was about as strong a first impression as the Cubs could have asked for.
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