May 10: The Cubs have officially selected Horton’s contract, according to a team announcement. Left-hander Tom Cosgrove was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Horton on the active roster, while right-hander Eli Morgan was transferred to the 60-day injured list due to an inflamed ulnar nerve in his right elbow.
May 8: The Cubs are promoting pitching prospect Cade Horton, per reporting from Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register first reported this afternoon that Horton was traveling to New York in advance of this weekend’s series against the Mets. The young righty is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster, so they will need to open a spot for him.
Chicago’s rotation has taken a few notable hits recently. They came into the season with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga as a one-two punch atop the rotation. Unfortunately, Steele required UCL surgery last month, putting him out of action for the rest of the year. Imanaga suffered a hamstring strain a few days ago. He is surely facing a far shorter absence than Steele but has been placed on the 15-day IL, meaning he’ll miss at least a few turns through the rotation.
Those are the two most obvious losses, but the clubs has also been without Javier Assad all year. He started the season on the 15-day injured list due to an oblique strain. He started a rehab assignment last month but re-aggravated the same muscle, suffering a Grade 2 strain.
Those injuries have created an opening for Horton to make it to the majors for the first time. The Cubs have “TBD” listed as their starter for Saturday’s game at Citi Field, which will seemingly be when Horton takes the ball. It seemed the decision on Imanaga’s rotation spot came down to promoting Horton or stretching out veteran swingman Chris Flexen.
Horton is the higher-upside play. Chicago selected him out of Oklahoma with the seventh overall pick in 2022. The 6’1″ righty has been the organization’s top pitching prospect over the past few seasons. His arsenal is headlined by a mid-90s fastball and a slider that grades as a plus pitch. Horton’s fastball velocity had dipped slightly to the 94 MPH range last year but has rebounded to sit at 95.8 MPH on average with Triple-A Iowa this season.
The 23-year-old has been out to an excellent start in Triple-A. Horton carries a 1.24 ERA while striking out nearly 31% of batters faced through 29 innings. He’s issuing walks at a lofty 12% clip, but the high-octane stuff will get him an opportunity to step into Imanaga’s rotation spot. If Imanaga makes it back within a few weeks, it might be a brief call-up, but the Cubs could theoretically push Ben Brown or Colin Rea to the bullpen if Horton forces their hand with a strong showing over his first few starts.
It’s too late for Horton to reach a full year of service time the traditional way. He meets the necessary prospect criteria to qualify for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, however. That means he could earn a full service year if he finishes in the top two in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. The Cubs would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote Horton early enough to spend 172 days in the majors.
Cade “Thanos” Horton: he was inevitable
Horton is no iron man. He will either be an ace or injured. Hoping for the former.
Long time cubs fan here saying this, hope he doesn’t follow in the injury footsteps of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior!
Good news!
Good time for this.
Cubs are looking way better than expected.
Never Remember = idiot. LMAO
Never Remember = idiotic troll
The next intelligent thing he posts will be the………………What am I saying. That isn’t happening ever.
Im happy about it. If he flames out, the Cubs will be pressing for a starter at the Trade deadline.
Ben Brown has been fairly good though. If the Cubs have to move one of their young, developing SPs to acquire a more seasoned starter at the deadline, I wonder who it would be, Horton or Brown? Or do they roll the dice with what they have, knowing that their pitching is weak?
Going to be good, Im always ready for the next Cubs blunder.
I don’t think Ben Brown will make it as a starter with his 2-pitch mix. It can be done, sure. Cubs have seen it work recently, but at some point you really need at least a 3rd pitch. Ben can’t get thru the lineup 2 or 3 times. He’s destined for the pen where I think he could be quite a weapon. Even there it would behoove him to develop a change/splitter for LHHs
He’s got 4 pitches. He throws a fastball, slider , Knuckle curve and a change up. He’s only thrown the change up like 14 times all year. Horton, Brown, and Wiggins should all be learning a change. Probably wouldn’t hurt Hodge and Palencia either.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/ben-brown-676…
He might *have* a Change, but 2% rate doesn’t mean he mixes it in. Brown needs a solid 3rd offering if he’s to succeed as a Starter. Like Robert said, I also think his ultimate destination is the Pen. Only being able to go through a lineup once isn’t indicative of an effective Starter. He’s a rotation band-aid at best, for now.
Mike, Horton has a solid chaneup and a curveball. Palencia and Hodge also have some sort of an offspeed split/change 3rd offering. Palencia actually mixes his in a bit to lefties, but Hodge throws his about as much as Brown- hence why he is a reliever. Thanks for making my point 😉
Obviously you guys can’t count He has 3 pitches plus one he’s tossing in once in awhile. So why do keep insisting he has only 2? One Two Three and Sometimes in a great while 4. I’m sure he’s working on it at his own pace. Maybe try Sesame Street. i heard they teach you how to do that.
Did you skip the Seasme Street episode that teaches you how to click links, Mike? And did you see that Ben has *never* thrown a fourth pitch in The Bigs? I concede that he *has* a third pitch, but he doesn’t use it.
Stats don’t lie.
The main thing to remember, in order to put things into perspective – – is that Horton only threw about 34 innings last summer. Most likely I think he will be receiving starts only until Shota is back.
Maybe then he’ll be rested awhile, then used carefully out of the bullpen.
I don’t like this move. He needs more time in Iowa. If they went with Flexen and has a rough outing in NY, it’s just that and at worst, he goes back to the BP. It’s a lot rougher if Horton has a bad outing – couldn’t they at least wait for a home game against the Marlins next week??
You still could get your wish rondon, there’s supposed to be a lot of rain around NY this weekend.
It’s not his talent I’m questioning, it’s has he pitched enough innings this season? I just think June or July would’ve allowed him the time to build up stamina and work on his secondary pitches some more.
I think it’s a fair question whether Horton is truly ready, but if Shota will only be out for 15 days or so, this can be a nice opportunity to see how he fares against ML hitters. If he struggles he can go back to Iowa knowing what he needs to work on. But if he’s ready and pitches well, why not use his innings to help the ML team continue to play good ball.
Regardless, I believe the Cubs will need to add a frontline starter, or at least someone like Sandy Alcantara that has shown capable of filling that role. Rea is better off as a long reliever/spot starter. I don’t believe Ben Brown is a starter. His fastball/curve combo would look nice setting up Hodge as our closer. Time to cut Pressly or at minimum take him out of the closer role.
Then Hoyer needs to figure out 3B, cant keep using bench guys on a team built to make the playoffs.
@robert-5: Good points, but surely Shota will be out more than 15 days; it’s a hamstring, and such injuries are always at least a month.
@rondon Fair point, but it’s less a question of his needing more time in Iowa, which is surely the case in the short term, but rather whether he’s the best option for the Cubs right now considering how close the wildcard and the Central races are likely to be.
@robert-5 I disagree only with your last graf: Nearly every team, no matter how good, scratches together multiple positions over a season.
The 2001 M’s won 116 despite limping through 2001 with Al Martin in LF, and gave John Halama 17 starts with his 5.13 FIP.
4/9ths of their starting lineup had OPS+s of 93 or less.
Especially in the FA era even the best teams are scratching with the last 8-10 guys on the 25/26-man roster.
You’re likely right but so far sounds like they are trying to downplay the severity. Of course, we’ve seen this before with this front office keeping their cards close to their vest.
I love it when Sox fans come on heee to give their ‘expertise’ on what’s wrong with the Cubs. Hilarious.
No, he does not need more time in Iowa.
Makes sense. He maxed out, career, at 88 innings in 2023. He won’t be a SP for the rest of the year.
He’s not very good so good luck
Thanks for the well wishes, pookie!
Never Remember
Did you acquire a new user name to troll this blog?
Ask Soto. SWORD!
Finding a 40 man spot isn’t really a problem.
The Pope is a Cubs fan, and Horton arrives on the same day. Coincidence?
Nicely played
Q got a job again so maybe there is something to it.
I think not. It’s like what Harry Carey said when a ball caroomed off of Lee Smith to the shortstop to win a game in 1984: the good lord must be a Cubs fan!
Brother said he’s a Sox fan.
Sox fans don’t exist anymore they haven’t existed since 2005
A Pope of lost causes!
How can he be a Cubs fan when he is a Cardinal?
WAS a Cardinal !! He just got called up.
EST thing about a Cubs fan becoming pope is that he is no longer a Cardinal.
God is a Red Sox fan. This is known.
The new Pope is a White Sox fan, not a Cvbs fan.
Yes. He is from Dolton, surely he is a Sox fan, if anything…He also has preached some very hateful and ignorant things, so we should be glad not to claim him as one of our own.
Son, here is no one more hateful or ignorant than an evangelical or conservative Catholic.
Pope is a Sox fan. The media wanted him to be a Cubs fan.
Will Horton hear a who? Or hatch an egg?
I’m willing to see him pitch and cut him some slack. Hoyer won’t though. That moron will throw him against the Mets in NY when common sense tells us it’s better he starts against the Marlins and W. Sox, It just gives Hoyer an excuse to send him back if it doesn’t go well. If you’re a first time parachuter do you jump out over a square mile of metal spikes, Or do jump out over a nice field of grass? Hoyer is so stupid it’s not funny.
Mike
Hoyer is desperately trying to save his own job, that is what guides Jed. Sometimes that will align with what is best for the team and sometimes not. I am more worried about Horton’s pitch count than the quality of the opposition.
I think you’re focusing on the quality of the opposition too much, Uncle. Let’s see what he can do against the Mets. And he isn’t going to be sent down after one start in any case….The bigger worry is that he might turn out to be Caleb Kilian by another name. But we’ll see.
Killian only got emergency starts where he was called up the day of the game so I can’t hate on him. But yeah he didn’t fare well and now he’s hurt again and will be gone when he’s healthy. It’s not a huge loss but just another case where Hoyer never really gave a guy a chance at all. A snowball has better luck in Florida than a Cub prospect gets.
Completely agree. You’re called up to the major leagues because the organization believes you’re ready. That means you have the attitude that you can face any lineup. The quality of his debut shouldn’t make or break whether he gets more starts, so the opponent doesn’t matter.
Dude, if you can’t pitch against the Mets you need not put on a major league uniform. This is the majors….it’s not going to be easy against anyone.
Top 100 is right….the pitch count is the key. He’s been able to get 6 innings out of 75-80 pitches in the minors. You need to hope he can get into the 5th at this level.
The Cubs had a day off this week. That means they could have started every game this week on normal rest with what they had with Flexen in long relief. There was ZERO need to bring him up before Monday. It’s not a question of ability, It’s question of strategy. A smart team wouldn’t have had a premature explosion like I bet Hoyer does every day. Everything is a shiny object to him until it’s not and it blows up in his face and he looks like the Coyote in a Road Runner Cartoon.
Understood on the day off Uncle but inserting Horton (or anyone) affords FOUR pitchers and extra day off and Horton IS pitching in his regular rotation.
Since there are three guys you hoped for at the beginning of the season (Steele, Shota, Assad) MIA you are already into pitchers 8, 9, 10 territory and I’m sure you are eagerly awaiting a Rea or Boyd implosion so I find very little issue getting four starters an extra day when you can.
It would be real helpful to get some length from Taillon tomorrow. Taillon to Hodge in the 9th….sound good?
No I’m a Cub fan. I’m not eagerly awaiting an implosion. Nobody will be happier than me if Boyd lasts past June and Rea keeps it up but history tells me different. Rea has been an effective short term starter in his career but hasn’t really been good for a whole season. Boyd hasn’t had a full season in years. When Hoyer signed Boyd I sincerely thought he signed him to be the Closer and I think he would have been good at that and 5 million cheaper than Scott. I hope to God that Hodge is ready for the Closer role now because we need him more than ever. I think it’s too much to put on Palencia as I’m just happy he learned to throw strikes. Gotta keep him where he’s at. The only way Hoyer is getting out of this is if Imanaga and Assad don’t make it back and Horton and Brown are restricted what’s ole Jed gonna sacrifice next to save his job? I shudder to think after seeing what he’s got for all the talent he gave up on already for no reason. Scares me.
@Uncle: I agree with you that he should not trade prospects for short-term. Where I don’t agree with you is that he has a history of doing that. He has only rarely done that (albeit disastrously). If anything, his tendency has been to be a prospect hugger.
DJ Herz
Jackson Ferris
Alfronsin Rosario
Hayden Wesneski
Cam Smith
Isaac Parades
Zyhir Hope
Matt Mervis
Michael Arias
Kevin Made
Say you’re wrong
What he got for all of that is 1 year of Kyle Tucker, A relief P who needs TJ probably, Michael Busch, 2 months of a horrible Candelario and a worthless Vidal Brujan.
The Dodgers were going to have to cut Busch probably because they have Freddie Freeman and Busch was out of options. But Jed came to the rescue and gave them two top 3o prospects and a damn fine P and CF. If Hoyer could have kept it in his pants he could have had him for waiver money.
Herz and Made for Candelario was a joke
Rosario for Eli Morgan is a bigger joke
Giving Arias away for free was even dumber.
Love him if you want.
I know Herz is hurt now but he wasn’t then. And what P these days doesn’t have a TJ in his future.
Rosario was 4 tool player. He might turn into a 5 tool guy, Remains to be seen . He’s already been promoted from A to A+
Like I said. Not against trading them. But for basically nothing? Spare me.
Uncle—you can turn the card the other way—Wesneski, Paredes and Mervis were all with the Cubs and they stunk.
You can argue that Michael Busch alone, right now, is a better major leaguer than all of the other guys combined—and I’m not even factoring in Kyle Tucker.
Please—what prospects have been traded by Hoyer that have become sure fire, bonafide plus plus major leaguers.
You may end up right on more than one of these guys but I’m not going to be alive for any of their hall of Fame speeches.
@Uncle, but for the most part, that’s not a very impressive list. They were more “nothing trades” than terrible trades. Of course, he should be blamed for making nothing trades–and for failing to make many good ones. We need a better POBO, and we might get one in a few months. Sam Fuld.
Jo Jo the Dog Face Boy from the Circus would be an improvement. 10 years of nothing and still counting.
You throw ten years in but continue to say he had nothing to do with winning a World Series.
Jed slept with his wife. It’s the only reasonable explanation.
Nah I’m just kind of funny that I want the guy who runs the Organization to have a plan and an idea of what he’s doing. Not only have a plan, But stick to it. We’re on the 10 year plan now. Most guys get 5 to show improvement. And no I don’t give the Theo yes man any credit for the WS. He was a GM INO just like his clone Hawkins is now. He had as much to do with that team as I did.
If you think that Jed had nothing to do with it, why would he leave the Padres GM position to become Theo’s yes man?
I wish Jed would have waited to get that Top 100 prospect on the waiver wire?
The only regrettable prospect traded away so far is Dylan Cease.
And maybe Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres.
Maybe Torres. It would have been nice to have Gleyber when Russell was suspended. That trade though allowed the Cubs to ride Chapman through the 2016 postseason (a little too hard, but it worked out in the end).
Eloy would have been blocked with Schwarber and Heyward and no DH until 2022. He was definitely the price for Quintana. It was too bad the Cubs had to include their top pitching prospect in the deal as well.
So they brought up Horton, So they could start Keller? Seriously? Please tell me Hoyer has had a brain scan lately. If they use Horton in relief, he probably isn’t used to coming out of the pen. they take Keller out of the pen because………? He was doing too well at that? Somebody explain it to me. Because I’m confused.
Horton following the opener Keller or debuting when the matchups favor him.
Yeah gotta be using Keller as the “opener” in an attempt to take some pressure off and maybe have Horton completely avoid Alonso, Soto, and Lindor. See how he does w the bottom 6 and maybe pull him after.
Not sure I agree w the strategy, this blew up in the Brewers face pretty hard against the Cubs. Dunno why Counsel would say, hmm, that looked like a great idea.
No
Unc, you are reaching for straws – with some of your arguments.
Bucket—mine was a direct question to Uncle–
Cease, Eloy, Torres–do NOT count for Hoyer—remember according to Uncle–everything is credited to Theo–nothing to Jed.
I’m still waiting , from Uncle, on a prospect that Jed traded away that is a plus plus major leaguer.
I think Hodge will be just fine as a closer.
Alright, let’s see what he’s got.
Can the Cubs take Assad off the 40 man since he’s on the 60 Day IL or because he’s on the IL can Cade use his spot? Or will the Cubs DFA someone?
He’s already off the 40 man.When you’re on the 60 day you don’t count against the 40 man. They might be able to move Morgan onto the 60 day and then he won’t count.
I didn’t know that. I’d much rather have Assad over Morgan when he’s healthy.
What they should do is bring up Shaw and Horton and get rid of Brujan or Lopez and send Hollowell back down. Let’s see what Jed does. Or even lose Merryweather. Flexen needs to stay to back up Horton and Thielbar is a 2nd LH for all the good that does. Rather keep Hollowell than Merryweather at this point.
Seems like Jerry is hit and miss so far this year. I’d rather go with Hollowell over Jerry as well.
I’d cut Pressly or Roberts, tbh. But I cant argue with Brujan or Lopez, either. Sadly we have a handful of players on our active and 40-man that shouldn’t be playing MLB.
By June/July Jed will swallow his pride and realize his job is on the line, and start getting rid of the nonsense on this roster and acquire a couple players to help w the playoff push. At least one late-inning reliever and maybe another bench piece.
They’re not gonna cut Pressly. Too much money on the line. Jed already got robbed for Tucker, And he got abused for Morgan, wasted money on Thielbar, Went over the Tax by like 3 million last year. Exactly how freakin bad do you have to be for Ricketts to fire this guy? He has a flunky there in Hawkins who can finish the year until the find a real POBO. Fingers crossed.
I thought Thielbar has looked pretty good thus far. The rest I agree. Tucker especially if they get nothing but this year out of him.
Too early to tell if Cam Smith or Matt Shaw will have the better career – or if either will even be average. I am fine with the Tucker trade if Jed retained a talented 3B. They have a deep farm. I would play Berti for a couple more weeks and hope that is enough time to get Matt Shaw straightened out. Cubs did a good job demoting PCA working with him to get him ready again and now the results are awesome. Jed mostly sucks but you have to give the FO credit for PCA and Carson Kelly.
This is like the mid 2015s resurgence for the cubs all over again
The only difference is those teams had good veteran pitchers and these cubs have imanaga and who? Healthy?
Shout out to Horton! Let’s see what ya got, kid!
Has he been blessed by Pope Leo XIV? The Pope is from Chicago and he’s a Cubs fan.
Let’s go Horton. Class of 2022 draft represent
bumbaclaaat
I never cease to be amazed by how invested the regular commenters are.
Don’t you guys have something better to do than argue with each other on mlbtr?
Regardless if Horton were to come out like a ball of fire which is unlikely, this team with no closer, middle relief and a 3rd sacker will still win their mediocre division quite handily but that’s where things end.
Look for that silver lining, Bruce. Gotta start somewhere.
Teams often ride good to great players on hot streaks to the World Series, while even great teams often have serious weaknesses.
A lack of productivity at 3B is irrelevant, given a lack of productivity somewhere always plagues WS winners.
Combinations such as 3 starters pitching well, 3 relievers pitching well, a 2 good hitters getting hot at the same time will do it, and often has, so the question is, do the Cubs have players good enough for their hot streaks to tilt a series against a good team?
That’s where they’re likeliest to die. Shota and… who? Boyd’s not likely to survive into the fall. Steele’s gone. With the pen, even if Pressly comes around, it looks thin.
The offense has the right ingredients, but probably isn’t enough given the state of pitching.
But 3B? The Dodgers have two guys hitting as poorly as Shaw—but have the horses elsewhere that the Cubs don’t.
Now is the time for hoyer to become aggressive to obtain Rafael devers for 3rd in exchange for a Caissie and alcantara who are blocked anyway and then move Shaw to 2nd next year after trading Horner.
Yes. And all this talk about Devers being a bad guy, bad teammate, and even a bad third baseman is Brett Taylor-esque equivocating nonsense. Go get him.
And here I didn’t think your takes could get any worse….
Manfred—if he didn’t troll on the Cubs stories he’d be totally unemployed. At least he thinks he working….leave him be.
@Bruce wulffThat’s moon-barking lunacy, comrade. Wildly overpaying to fill a replacement level position after just 38 games and block one of your top prospects is flatly deranged.
The Cubs won’t rise and fall by adding a bat for the next 8.75 years that will cost them $277 million.
If they’re going for a big addition, it should be a rotation-worthy starting pitcher and an excellent bullpen arm, which they can add for far less than the cost of a DH faking 3B who is on the cusp of a prolonged, extremely expensive decline phase.
Cubbies are overly due for a lengthy losing streak beginning this weekend with the Mets. Their max of 2 game losing streak largely due to hitting will be distant memory soon.
@Bruce: Yes, sad to say. And the idea that they’re going to beat the Marlins and White Sox just by showing up is wrong. In fact, the Fish and Sox both seem to be playing with a little more energy right now; the Cubs are sitting on their hands and waiting for Seiya Suzuki to start hitting again, which we know can be a long wait.
I continue not to understand why unbiased national observers were rating the Cubs so highly just a week or so ago. It just was never so. I suppose an echo-chamber effect was happening; one mlb.com chat host started touting the Cubs, then another, then everybody. But saying something doesn’t make it true.
And I guess the Cardinals mgmt. knew what it was doing this winter after all, didn’t it?
Cubbies beginning their descent when they don’t score 10+ runs a game, very mediocre to say the least.
Still prefer berti over baty because of Berti’s power
Ok,Sox fan in Cubs clothing.
How long can the cubs go with a sure out berti and Lopezat 3rd and the 40 year old turner and brujan let alone the holes in the pitching staff. Yep, obvious holes up and roster and our Jed hoyer time to get aggressive and make moves.