RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesJed Hoyer (left) talks with shortstop Dansby Swanson (right) before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Jed Hoyer finished his media scrum in the Cubs dugout at Wrigley Field with a simple phrase: “I’m tired.”
Who could blame him?
Hoyer’s front office made a flurry of moves before the MLB trade deadline Monday evening, adding four new pitchers and an outfielder onto the roster in a 24-hour span.
It was an aggressive deadline for Hoyer, who gave up quality young talent in exchange for a chance to go deep into the playoffs.
Included in the haul was a starting pitcher Hoyer termed the Cubs’ “white whale” ( Kevin Gausman ), a veteran starter who also has vast experience pitching out of the bullpen ( Clay Holmes ), a dynamic reliever who piles up the strikeouts ( Ryan Zeferjahn ), a southpaw that will factor into future rotation plans ( Braxton Garrett ) and a right-handed-hitting outfielder that fills a need for this current team ( Tyrone Taylor ).
Gausman, Holmes and Zeferjahn are the headliners here, especially given the Cubs’ obvious need for pitching this season (and down the stretch).
“In some ways, we were as focused as I can remember in a deadline,” Hoyer said. “It was very clear we needed to add pitching. The position player group has been excellent all year. The pitchers have fought through a lot of injuries that they’ve been really resilient, but we wanted to add reinforcements and we certainly did that.”
The Cubs entered play Monday with the sixth-best record in the majors and the fourth-best run differential.
That’s despite utilizing 35 different pitchers (plus one position player appearance) and handing the ball to 12 separate starters.
The team’s top two starters to open the season (Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton) combined for just 73.1 innings before Boyd took the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday evening.
Despite the rash of injuries on the mound, the position player group has lifted the team to a 91-win pace behind a relentless offense and an elite defense.
That impact was on full display Monday night, in a resounding 10-5 win, as the lineup smashed four home runs off Dodgers All-Star Justin Wrobleski and made highlight-reel plays in the field, as if to send a message to the new pitchers that they’re about to get a lot of help behind them.
pedro. ramírez. pic.twitter.com/6JHowzvW2E
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 4, 2026
from way back at the warning track. pic.twitter.com/QwChxDg22f
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 4, 2026
Hoyer sent a message of his own to the roster, rewarding their strong play by parting ways with important young players like No. 2 prospect Jefferson Rojas and catcher/DH Moisés Ballesteros.
“This year, we had really clear goals based on how the team has played,” Hoyer said. “The resilience this team has shown has been really special. I think we did the things that we felt like would honor that and reinforced the roster over the next 50 games. The way this season has gone, that was something that was really important with 50 games left.”
Hoyer’s aggressiveness at the deadline also carries an emotional and mental weight — in a good way.
“I really love how this group goes about every day,” Craig Counsell said. “I think they’re not seeking validation for that — they’re going to do that no matter what’s going on. But I think there’s some belief that’s shown in the group here and what we can accomplish with the caliber of people that are coming here.
“And that fires everybody up for sure. That part’s important.”
The Cubs currently hold the top Wild-Card spot in the NL, meaning they do not get a first-round Bye and instead would have to play a best-of-three series before advancing to the NLDS. That drags down the Cubs’ World Series odds a bit, but Hoyer and Co. still felt it was worth paying a hefty price to invest in this group.
“The other part is, it’s not easy to put these things together,” Counsell said. “I want to just emphasize that. You have to make difficult decisions and you have to give up good players and that all has to fit and make sense. Putting it together is not easy and credit to Jed for doing that.”
Gausman, 35, has an accomplished track record as a two-time All-Star who received Cy Young votes in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He has also made 14 appearances in the postseason, including six last year for a Blue Jays team that took the Dodgers to the brink in the World Series.
He is a guy the Cubs have targeted for the better part of a decade, dating back to his time with the Baltimore Orioles, who made him the fourth overall pick in 2012.
“He was kind of a white whale-type target for us for a long time, going way back,” Hoyer said. “He kinda struggled early on and we kept asking about him and kept asking about him. He was with Baltimore and then he was in Atlanta and Cincinnati.
“We never acquired him. He went to San Francisco and he took off and we were like, ‘ugh, we’ve been asking about this guy for years, thinking this is the talent he had.'”
Gausman instantly elevates the Cubs rotation, moving either Javier Assad or Colin Rea into the bullpen.
Holmes will eventually be an impact pitcher for the Cubs, but they don’t know exactly when. He is recovering from a broken leg suffered on a comebacker in mid-May, though he made his third rehab outing Sunday in the Mets farm system, building up to 73 pitches.
The Cubs want to get Holmes in-house and discuss options with him, including making one more rehab start or folding into the big-league roster right away.
Clay Holmes (35) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Chase Field. (Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images)
The 33-year-old Holmes kickstarted his career as a relief weapon in the Yankees bullpen, eventually developing into a closer who saved 74 games in three years. But he signed with the Mets prior to last season and made the transition to starter, posting a 3.26 ERA in 42 games (...
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