The Cubs are acquiring veteran left-hander Taylor Rogers from the Pirates, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Minor league outfielder Ivan Brethowr is going back to the Pirates in the deal, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rogers’ time with the Bucs will last just one day. He was acquired as a financial counterweight in yesterday’s Ke’Bryan Hayes trade with the Reds and, as an impending free agent, looked likely to be flipped elsewhere as soon as he was dealt to Pittsburgh.
The 34-year-old Rogers is an impending free agent earning $12MM in the final season of a three-year $33MM contract, though the Giants are paying half that salary under the terms of the offseason trade that shipped him to Cincinnati. Rogers never pitched in a game with the Pirates. In 33 innings with the Reds, he logged a 2.45 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate. Rogers has a track record as a closer and setup man but hasn’t been used frequently in high-leverage spots by the Reds this year.
Rogers gives the Cubs a third lefty alongside Drew Pomeranz and former Twins teammate Caleb Thielbar. He’s not likely to step into a late-innings role but will give manager Craig Counsell some matchup possibilities and an experienced arm to work the sixth and seventh innings ahead of closer Daniel Palencia and top setup option Brad Keller.
Rogers has had some unusual struggles against lefties this year but has typically had good success against righties and southpaw bats alike. He’ll also likely be happy to get out of Great American Ball Park, where he allowed all three of his home runs this season and posted a 3.44 ERA that’s more than double his 1.23 mark on the road.
Brethowr, 22, is listed at a hulking 6’6″ and 250 pounds. The Cubs selected him out of UC Santa Barbara with their seventh-round pick in the 2024 draft. He’s spent his first full season in High-A, slashing .221/.398/.312 with a massive 16.6% walk rate but an ugly 26.7% strikeout rate. Though Brethowr was known for his power in college — as you’d expect, given that frame — he’s hit only four home runs this season. He’s swiped 25 bags, however, and only been caught twice.
Baseball America didn’t rank Brethowr among the Cubs’ top 30 prospects. He’s a lower-minors lottery ticket who can effectively be counted alongside shortstop Sammy Stafura as the Pirates’ return for Hayes, who’ll spend four-plus seasons with the division-rival Reds and hope to get his career back on track in Cincinnati. The Bucs also shed all of the $36MM that Hayes was owed beyond the current season with this deal.
Pirates battling Twins to the wire!!
Damn I already ordered his jersey
Did they have time to even make one? Not even sure he was designated a number. Lmao 🤣
Cherington would have made more stupid trades but his cell phone ran out of power.
The Twins took the cake.
Talk about a tear down!
Triantos was scratched from AAA. Would be interesting if he’s involved.
More to come!! Pham! Heaney!
Pirates legend. Sorry to see you go but rooting for you.
Cubs still need a starter imo but this is a legit move.
That was a short stay in the Burgh.
Not trading Heaney. No one wants him?
IKF and Pham weren’t traded either
They will all be released before any performance bonuses are reached
Not exactly the last minute trade
I was hoping for..
Both Rogers twins get traded at the deadline.
One got traded twice, does that count for triplets?
Indeed.
Didn’t he already get traded
Rogers pit stop in Pittsburgh on his way to Chicago
Taylor Rogers is 34 and past his prime. Perfect Jed Hoyer acquisition!
The cubs are a pretty young team, though
Pirates Legend Taylor Rogers!
Hope they put out a full page ad thanking him
Nice add like it..still would of liked a starter
What a great deadline for the cubs and brewers, they really cared about getting better
Did the Pirates just do a salary dump? That means it didn’t cost too much to get him? Story is still breaking so we’ll know soon enough.
Nope got a legit prospect back.
Made sense from the start
Man the Cubs suck.
A lot of pawns no kings or queens at the trade deadline. Bring up Owen Cassie!
Smart move for PIT and CHC
Just another guy with no options. He’ll be DFA’d soon enough I would think. Pomeranz is gone I guess.
Cubs kept Caissie, Alcantara, Horton, Wiggins, Ballesteros… was a good day. Rogers is a decent add. Future looks bright, post-season looks probable.
I don’t get too excited about minor league players as most turn into suspects but Caissie seems like he may be the real deal and would have been a good headliner for Keller.
So with the three adds, you think Pomeranz, Hollowell and Kriske? Or Pressly maybe?
Pressly!
Ivan Brethowr (Aaron Judge doppelganger) is the return.
Cubs just drafted A Judge clone in Josiah Hartshorn. Over paid him to skip college. He’s a Home Run Derby champ and did it with an injury. Brethowr isn’t a major loss at this point.
Hartshorn 6-2, 220 lbs. Judge 6-7, 280 lbs. Not exactly a clone.
He’s HR Beast and a SH who supposedly is good from both sides. I can’t wait to see him. Especially since the 1st round pick is rehabbing his shoulder so he won’t play before the AFL if that. Plus he’s just a HS kid. Maybe still growing.
Prescribe him a heavy dose of Flintstone Vitamins like Sammy.
Just not the Dominican ones. No mas bueno.
Brethowr is a monster
He has been with 3/5 of the NL Central in the last 24 hours.
Well at least he is trying to address the bullpen unlike the previous 2 years..looks like Soroka is the new starter
Too bad the Mets couldn’t reunite the twins.
Damn brewers got a nice add with miller sadly
Ivan brethowr is the return 22 year old striking out 30% of the time
He’s a giant that can hit bombs. I doubt he’s anything special but pirates gave up nothing.
There’s no point wasting our breath about Hoyer’s incompetence, gutlessness, and foolishness. We can only look ahead.
I think the Brewers, Dodgers, Mets, Padres, and Phillies are going to finish with a better record than the Cubs. It was true before the deadline and it sure is true now.
So the Cubs’ only way into the postseason is via the last wild card spot. Can they do it?
Maybe. Obviously the Rockies, Nationals, and Pirates aren’t going to finish ahead of the Cubs. The Braves, Marlins, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and Giants *could* go on an unlikely run and finish ahead of the Cubs, but it seems unlikely in each case.
So it will come down to the Cubs or Reds for that last spot. Littell was a good pick-up for the Reds. The Cubs will be either 6 or 7 games ahead of them tomorrow morning, depending on the oucome of the Reds’ game against the Braves tonight. The Cubs will be somewhere between 3 and 9 games ahead of the Reds leading into their series at Wrigley Field next week. At the conclusion of that series, the Cubs will be somewhere between tied with the Reds and 12 games ahead of them. Obviously the extremes are unlikely, but it’s all about counting favorable and unfavorable outcomes from here on in.
I know some fans are pointing to the 5-game series against the Brewers as a crucial one, but I think the 4 games in Cincy Sept.18-21 will be decisive.
It’s going to get closer. But the Cubs SHOULD have the edge. We’ll see what happens.
Hoyer depends on the unlimited credulity of Cubs fans, but if the Cubs don’t make it, he will be about as popular as Matt Eberflus, and rightly so.
Curious to know what you all think. I suppose many of you think I’m being pessimistic. Maybe I am–but please tell me why you think so. If you think the Cubs’ personnel is clearly better than the Reds’, for instance, can you be specific? Or do you think the Cubs can still finish ahead of the Brewers? Expliquez, s’il vous plait.
No habla espanol.
Hoyer did just fine as far as I’m concerned. He didn’t move anything they couldn’t do without and filled holes that needed filling. I don’t often say this about him but he did fine. Now he has to fill the rotation from within, Which is what I’ve been asking for all along. If somebody gets hurt he’s got to dip into Iowa. There should be some interesting things going on next spring but for now they have enough to compete. They’ve been fighting for the best record all year and I don’t expect that to change. I’m just curious to see what happens tomorrow other than Moises on a bus to Iowa. Future intact, Holes filled, Nice job Jed, And I don’t say that often but I gotta call em like I see em.
LOL
I for one never thought the Cubs would over achieve as they have. They always seemed a year or two away with Jaxon Wiggins and Cassie waiting in the wings off the stage. That’s why the Tucker trade seemed so ill timed and foolish. It was an all in move made when Justin Steele was still projected for a healthy season and reliable input. After he went down that plan fractured and the only legitimate way to hoe a road towards the playoffs was to continue to go all in and blow up the future, by acquiring what would turn out to be rentals whom would require a huge overpay in prospects.
All in all Cassie may have also played himself into untouchable status, belieing whatever Jed may have publicly provided.
The ostensible starters would were available apparently never were and Jed balked at the price if they ever even had one.
Double talk everywhere and reading between the lines proved next to impossible.
I think Long and Alcantara were available but no deals presented themselves for them. As far as Cassie, Rojas, and Moises,etc..
They were never going to be flipped for rentals. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but I think Jed jumped the gun with Tucker and now, being stick with it, realized the cost to build around him for this year was too cost prohibitive.
@Kenny: Interesting take, thank you. It is vexing to me that Hoyer’s Cubs always seem sort of hamstrung by their roster. Other teams, like the Astros and Padres today, can make big changes to their core in a single day, while the Cubs don’t because, I dunno, it would inconvenience Ian Happ. I think Hoyer lacks trade pieces, but I think he lacks confidence too. I would like to see Caissie up and playing every day, but somehow there is no room for him.
I am glad they kept Wiggins but I don’t understand keeping Ballesteros, Alcantara and Caissie. They should have moved two of them for a sp. I guess Tuckers gone. Happ to the bench, Caissie to left and Ballesteros sliding to dh.
I’d have somehow gotten a better SP than Soroka.
So that’s it? Pirates traded a starter, a closer, middle relief lefty, a third baseman, and a utility guy and gained exactly zero MLB ready bats. And get to lose 3 guys to free agency at the end of the year. Somehow the lineup looks worse for next year. But hey they should have about $20M to fill 10 holes in the roster.
So much for Cherington’s claim that the trades would bring back major league ready players to improve the team this year and beyond
We got absolutely nothing from these trades that will improve their offense immediately and next year
I don’t think I have ever been this disappointed as a lifelong Pirate fan regarding trades made by the worst general manager in baseball
I think it’s been obvious that we cannot believe a word from Cherington but agree it’s a huge disappointment. I get Bednar. A 60 win team does not need a $6-8M closer (although they should have gotten a better return). But why trade Falter?
I told you they were lying. You guys ate it up though.
We ate it up because we did not think that even Cherington was that stupid to trade for the usual A level suspects.
If you think that he can develop these players even if they are developable then you are in a minority of one.
Bednar should get you a solid ML ready position player.
Trading Falter was just plain stupid and they got nothing back.
AI-Cherington supposedly just said that the Pirates did not make any trades that were salary dumps
The Hayes trade was clearly a salary dump.
The Bednar and especially the Falter trades were stupid trades as he could have traded Bednar at the end of the year and there was no reason to trade Falter.
I do not like liars.
Every team makes salary dump trades
You were right.
I gave him the benefit of doubt but not again.
Hey we still have Heaney, Pham and IKF
It’s almost a reason to celebrate
Paul- I find it hard to believe that he could not received at least the equivalent of what he got for Frazier and Ferguson for IKF and Pham.
He waited too long to trade all three.
Alan-It is easy to think that the Cubs may not make it,but they have the edge now.
They have as much chance of winning the division as not making the playoffs.
Just be thankful that you are not a Pirates fan,
Cubs fans get ready for Rogers blow up and Counsel to keep sending him out .
Naw the cubs will be fine they will make the playoffs..and i think they still have a good chance to win the divison..thats not the problem..the playoffs is when they are going be in trouble..i dont hate what they added..its just not enough to compete in the playoffs ..its a shame to cause if they would made one or two big splashes they would of had a legit chance to compete for a world series
Well give Cherington credit for getting warm bodies for Hayes and shedding all of his owe. Disappointed in the return for Bednar though – that was the best chance to pick up a big league hitter and he didn’t.
No chance of big league hitter. Pirates lied to fans.
Then they should have kept him.
Could this finally be the trade that turns the franchise around?
Yes.
Let’s hope so.
Maybe even Nutting now knows that Cherington does not know what he is doing and fires him as soon as possible.
An intelligent trained baboon can do better.
Nutting was right there and approved it. Nutting is the problem
Nutting does not care about minor trades nor should he.
He approved the Hayes and Bednar trades and is absolutely clueless on the players received.
Yes,Nutting is the problem because he is as clueless as Cherington is.
They fit together very well.
And I do not think that they lied but over estimated the values and then just wanted the salary dumps.
Other GM’s knew that they had suckers on the line.
But we cannot fire Nutting.
I would’ve really liked to see the Cubs get a front-of-rotation guy to replace Steele. Not having that extra one- or two-spot pitcher is gonna be a tough flaw to overcome in the post-season.
Hoyer seemed to go with an approach of adding extra insurance to the bottom of the rotation and relief corps, and it’s a useful approach for the regular season, but I want the Cubs thinking bigger than that.
To be fair, it was slim pickings in a seller’s market, and while I would’ve urged the Cubs to trade some decent prospects to find that starting pitcher, it sure seems like most teams were perfectly content to keep their ace starters unless they received an obscene wealth of an offer, and if that was what Hoyer was presented with, I”m okay with him holding back. Trade prospects, by all means, but don’t bankrupt the farm system, either.
I like the Castro pickup. It gives them the bench depth they were lacking with Turner (just too much on the downside; a couple years ago he would’ve been what they needed), Berti (not enough to give), and Brujan (not enough time to develop into someone who had something to give). I like that they’re being patient with Shaw, giving him time to develop, but now at least Castro will be a decent option to spell Shaw a bit, whereas with Turner/Brujan/Berti, it’s like, why bench Shaw for them?
Cubs have a solid team, and absent a plague of injuries, they are legit contenders for the post-season. Maybe a bit too streaky for my tastes, but some teams are like that, and probably most fans think that about their team. Hopefully they’ll come out the other side of the little offensive malaise that’s settled in, and they’ll need to, because the pitching has been out of this world, far better than they could have hoped for from Horton, Boyd, Rea, Palencia, and some mediocre middle relievers playing well above expectations and deserving of praise. But there’s gonna be some regression.
Taillon, Assad, and Hodge coming back should help, but none of them are the extra shutdown pitcher the Cubs needed. But, still, they’re more likely to make net positive contributions than not, and Hoyer hedged on that risk with the moves made at the deadline.
Being a Cubs fan is to never be free of despair and frustration and existential pain, but this year has been way more fun than most years, and the most since 2016. The team is in really good shape for the present season and future ones. Not many times I’ve been able to say that. Go, Cubs, go!
A Pirates. Reds couldn’t find a taker so traded him to make up for taking on Hayes salary. Pirates didn’t want him so found a taker and got a suspect.
A Chicago. He’s a good not great reliever who is affordable for a real team. Got him for free basically.
He is overpaid so the Pirates did not have to eat any money and he is a free agent at the end of this season so the Hayes salary dump was total.
This and the Frazier and Ferguson trades made sense.
Bednar trade would if all three young players are productive for the Pirates.
The Falter trade is mind boggling and makes one realize that they do not know what they are doing.