As you know, the Cubs pitching staff has been decimated by injuries this year. It’s one of the reasons Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer went and traded for Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Ryan Zeferjahn — to address perceived weaknesses in both the starting rotation and bullpen.
Before I delve into the question posed in the headline, let me give major props to Cubs manager Craig Counsell for his handling of the rotation and pen. To have this team at 67-49 with all those injuries? Excellent
work by Counsell, and I’m going to say it right now: If the Cubs win the NL Central, he’ll be NL Manager of the Year. Or maybe even if they fall just short of a division title.
Now let’s look at the Cubs pitching staff.
As the team enters Friday’s game against the Royals, here are the 13 pitchers on the MLB active roster (in alphabetical order):
Starters (5): Javier Assad, Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman, Shōta Imanaga, David Peterson
Relievers (8): Aaron Civale, Braxton Garrett, Colin Rea, Ryan Rolison, Caleb Thielbar, Trent Thornton, Jacob Webb, Ryan Zeferjahn
First order of business: You’ll note the starter list does include Gausman, who was added to the active roster on Wednesday. He’ll start tonight in Kansas City. It does not include Holmes, who will be added either today or tomorrow and will start Saturday’s game. Holmes is currently on the 60-day IL, so a 40-man roster move will be needed.
So who goes when Holmes is added? The Cubs have already stated that Assad will move to the bullpen (and not be demoted, at least for now).
I’d think it’d be Civale. He could likely be DFA and return on a minor-league deal. (This sort of thing appears to be the new market efficiency; the Braves did it with Carlos Carrasco six times this year before finally releasing him last month.
Here are the rest of the Cubs pitchers who are on the IL (60-day IL as noted, also in alphabetical order):
Ben Brown (60-day)
Edward Cabrera
Hunter Harvey (60-day)
Porter Hodge (60-day)
Gavin Hollowell
Cade Horton (60-day)
Riley Martin (60-day)
Phil Maton
Shelby Miller (60-day)
Hoby Milner
Daniel Palencia
Ethan Roberts
Justin Steele (60-day)
That’s 12 pitchers, just one man short of a full staff, and you could almost make a full rotation and bullpen out of that list.
Anyway.
Of those 12, Hodge and Horton will not pitch this year. That leaves 10.
Of the other five on the 60-day — Brown, Harvey, Martin, Miller and Steele — Brown seems the most likely to pitch again. He was placed on the 60-day mainly as a procedural move. And presuming he does return, he’ll likely be working in relief — an “out-getter,” as Counsell likes to call his pitchers.
Cabrera, Milner and Palencia are currently on rehab assignments and of the three, Milner seems closest to returning. When he does, as I see it the Cubs have two possible moves: Either option Garrett to Triple-A, or DFA Thielbar. My guess is that Thielbar gets more rope and Garrett, who is a possible 2027 rotation candidate, gets optioned.
For Palencia and Cabrera, now we’re getting into speculation. It’s possible the Cubs option Assad at that point to keep him stretched out to start. But who else from that list of eight would go? Cabrera’s likely not going to start, unless the Cubs go to a six-man rotation, which they could, or they move Holmes to the pen, another possibility as he was a good closer for the Yankees for three years. I’m still not seeing any obvious candidate from the current eight.
Beyond that, I suspect Hollowell and Maton remain on the IL the rest of the year, though Hollowell could be activated and optioned. I don’t think we see Maton throw another pitch for the Cubs in 2026.
Roberts was spotted at Wrigley Field this week, but he’s returning to Iowa, from what I have heard, and is likely going to be optioned once he’s done with his rehab assignment.
Harvey has been reported as getting ramped up to return, but I don’t really see him being a contributor to the Cubs this year. Same for Steele, even though it would be a great story to have him back. I haven’t heard a thing about Martin, who was a great story earlier this year; he might also be done for 2026. Miller has been rumored to possibly be ready to return, but — where would they put him?
Again, these are good problems to have. You can never have too much good pitching.
How do you see things shaking out for the Cubs pitching staff the rest of the way?
