The Cubs have every reason to feel good about the way their deadline unfolded, even if the celebration has to wait.
Jed Hoyer’s group came away with two of the biggest starting pitchers on the market in Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, then kept adding around the edges with Ryan Zeferjahn, Tyrone Taylor and Braxton Garrett. The moves have already looked pretty sharp in the short term, especially with Chicago winning four straight since Monday’s 5:00 p.m.
CT buzzer. The first three came against the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pete Crow-Armstrong was a major part of that run, only strengthening his case to beat out Shohei Ohtani.
Still, neither Gausman nor Holmes has thrown a pitch for the Cubs yet. Both are scheduled to make their debuts this weekend in Kansas City, and both will carry real pressure into those outings with the organization chasing World Series aspirations.
What makes the early returns around the league even more interesting is how some of the Cubs’ other rumored targets have fared since changing uniforms.
Freddy Peralta was one of the names most closely linked to Chicago before the deadline, with the Cubs long viewed as a natural fit because of manager Craig Counsell’s connection to him from Milwaukee. The conversations between clubs sounded real, but the Tampa Bay Rays ended up landing him instead.
Peralta’s first start with his new team was a rough one: 3.2 innings, seven earned runs, nine hits and two home runs allowed to the Colorado Rockies. His ERA now sits at 5.37 in 23 starts.
Mickey Moniak hits a game-tying three run blast off Freddy Peralta in Peralta's Rays debut pic.twitter.com/QbUJh651dN
Casey Mize was another arm that drew Cubs interest, though that possibility never carried quite the same buzz as deadline day approached. Even so, his 2.70 ERA made him hard to ignore, and his swing-and-miss profile would have fit a Chicago rotation that has needed more of that kind of punch.
Instead, Mize went to the San Diego Padres, and his first outing there was every bit as rough as Peralta’s. He allowed eight earned runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings, walked three and struck out just one in a 10-4 loss.
Then there’s Jameson Taillon, whose departure from Chicago at the end of July was a tough call but not a surprising one with a 5.92 ERA. The Cubs had gotten meaningful work from him over the last few years, including some big postseason innings last season, so there was always a chance he’d make them pay somewhere else.
That hasn’t happened yet. In his first start with the Toronto Blue Jays, Taillon allowed three earned runs, and it took less than three innings for him to surrender another home run.
He’s now given up 26 on the season.
Reid Detmers, another arm the Cubs were hoping might be in the mix, also stumbled in his first post-deadline start. The Angels left-hander, who still has several years of control left, gave up three earned runs and two home runs to the Orioles over 4.0 innings. He’s now allowed five home runs in his last three starts.
None of that guarantees smooth sailing for Gausman and Holmes. Gausman, especially, has work to do after struggling with the Blue Jays. But with the way the Cubs handled the deadline and the way some of the alternatives have looked since, Chicago has every right to believe it put itself in a better spot.
In Other News...
Rays Are Already Moving On From Steven Wilson
Steven Wilsons stint on the Rays active roster was over almost as soon as it began. Tampa Bay activated the right-hander from the 60-day injured list on Saturday, then immediately designated him for assignment and placed him on outright waivers after his minor league rehab work never got him into a big league game for the club.
Wilson came to the Rays in the four-player winter trade with the White Sox, but injury kept him from throwing a pitch in a Tampa Bay uniform. If he clears waivers, the next stop is likely to be Triple-A Durham, where the Rays can keep some organizational depth while his path back to the majors remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Top Prospect Theo Gillen Is Forcing A Tough Timeline Decision
Theo Gillen stayed in the Rays system through the trade deadline, and that mattered as much as any addition Tampa Bay made for the stretch run. While the front office used trades to upgrade the major league roster, it also managed to keep its top prospect pipeline intact, preserving the kind of future depth that has become part of the organizations identity. Gillen has kept validating that approach at Double-A Montgomery, giving the Rays another reminder that their best young talent is still on the way.
The tricky part now is the clock. Gillen is already in the mix as a candidate to reach Triple-A Durham later this season, and the way he continues to handle Double-A pitching only adds to the pressure on the Rays timeline. If his progress keeps holding, the conversation may shift from whether he is ready for Durham to whether he can become part of the clubs postseason picture, which is exactly the kind of late-season question Tampa Bay wanted to create for itself. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Suddenly Look Built For A Much Bigger October Run
The post-deadline version of the Rays has a different feel to it, one that goes beyond simply keeping pace in the AL East. With Liam Hicks, Tyler Wells and Freddy Peralta among the additions, Tampa Bay has added more layers to a roster that already had the look of a club capable of stacking wins in a hurry. CBS Sports has gone a step further, projecting the Rays as the top seed in the American League and the division leaders in a crowded East, which is a pretty clear sign of how much respect this group now commands.
Of course, the bigger October question still comes back to whether the roster can stay whole and keep trending the right way at the right time. Health will shape the ceiling here, and any hopes of a truly long postseason push only get stronger if Shane McClanahan makes it back into the mix. The talent is obvious enough now to make Tampa Bay look built for more than just a quick playoff appearance, but the final version of this story depends on how much of the rotation and everyday core is actually available when the games get tight. [Read more 🡒]