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Cade Horton

N.L. Notes: Horton, Chourio, Bader

By Darragh McDonald | October 6, 2025 at 5:05pm CDT

Cubs right-hander Cade Horton is potentially making some progress. According to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, he will throw off a mound this week as the club decides whether or not to include him on the NLCS roster, if they advance that far.

Horton debuted this year and hit the ground running. He logged 118 innings for the Cubs with a 2.67 earned run average. Unfortunately, his season ended on a sour note. Horton suffered a rib fracture in September and it was immediately apparent that he would miss at least one playoff series. The Cubs survived the Wild Card round without him but he still wasn’t on the roster for their NLDS matchup against the Brewers.

The Chicago rotation is feeling thin at the moment, composed of Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon. Boyd just got rocked by the Brewers on Saturday. He was charged with six runs, only two of them being earned, as he failed to get out of the first inning. The Cubs went on to lose 9-3. Imanaga and Taillon were both decent this year but both had subpar strikeout rates. If the Cubs can hang on for a best-of-seven NLCS, getting Horton in there to take some pressure of those guys could be a difference maker.

Mooney also adds that the Cubs expect Horton to earn a full year of service time, which is understandable. As a top prospect who was promoted late enough that he wasn’t slated to get a full service year, he can earn that full year retroactively by finishing top two in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting. Horton and Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin are considered the frontrunners for that award, so Horton will likely get that full service year. That would put him on track to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.

Some other injury updates from around the league…

  • Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio is in tonight’s lineup, batting leadoff against the Cubs. Chourio left the first game due to some right hamstring tightness. A subsequent MRI led to results which Pat Murphy described as “inconclusive,” adding that it’s “not a serious hamstring strain.” That implied that Chourio did indeed strain his hamstring, though the club is apparently comfortable running him out there tonight. Murphy said today, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that Chourio is not 100% and they’ll take him out of the game if it appears necessary.
  • Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader was removed from his club’s first NLDS game against the Dodgers due to a groin injury. He’s not in tonight’s Game Two lineup but he could be available to pinch hit. Manager Rob Thomson passed the new on to reporters, including Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bader is an excellent defender and he hit .305/.361/.463 after being acquired from the Twins at the deadline, so the Phillies will obviously want him back in there as soon as possible. The Phils have Otto Kemp, Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos in the lineup tonight from left to right. Max Kepler is also in the mix, though he’s probably not starting tonight since lefty Blake Snell is on the bump for the Dodgers.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

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Cubs, Brewers Announce NLDS Rosters

By Mark Polishuk | October 4, 2025 at 11:57am CDT

The NL Division Series between the Cubs and Brewers gets started today, with Matthew Boyd facing Freddy Peralta in the Game 1 pitching matchup.  Here are the full 26-man rosters for both teams in the clash of NL Central rivals…

Cubs catchers: Moises Ballesteros, Carson Kelly, Reese McGuire
Infielders: Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson, Justin Turner
Outfielders: Kevin Alcantara, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker
Utilityman: Willi Castro
Left-handed pitchers: Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar
Right-handed pitchers: Aaron Civale, Ben Brown, Brad Keller, Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Michael Soroka, Jameson Taillon

Brewers catchers: William Contreras, Danny Jansen
Infielders: Jake Bauers, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, Andrew Vaughn
Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, Sal Frelick, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins, Christian Yelich
Left-handed pitchers: Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, Jared Koenig, Jose Quintana
Right-handed pitchers: Grant Anderson, Nick Mears, Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, Abner Uribe

The Cubs are going with almost the exact roster of 14 position players and 12 pitchers that were used in their wild card series victory over the Padres, except Brown will take the place of left-hander Taylor Rogers.  Manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and other reporters that Chicago opted for Brown over Rogers and Javier Assad due to Brown’s strikeout ability, and on how Brown projects to match up against the Brewers.  This leaves Pomeranz and Thielbar as the only left-handed relievers to be mixed and matched against Milwaukee’s left-handed bats.

The Brew Crew’s first roster of the postseason doesn’t contain too many surprises, as there was already an expectation that the team would use Misiorowski and Gasser as a pair of intriguing rookies out of the bullpen.  Milwaukee is also deploying an alignment of 14 position players and 12 pitchers, but one position player that didn’t make the cut was Rhys Hoskins.  This is also not a shock given how Hoskins has been essentially supplanted by Vaughn as the first-choice option at first base.  A thumb sprain and a bone bruise cost Hoskins over two months of the season, and after returning from the injured list in September, Hoskins received only sparing playing time.

A pair of prominent injured pitchers weren’t included on either team’s NLDS roster.  Counsell said Cade Horton won’t be involved in the series even as an injury replacement, which isn’t surprising since Horton (who is recovering from a rib fracture) wouldn’t be eligible to be activated from the 15-day IL until Game 5.  Brewers manager Pat Murphy told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and other reporters yesterday that Brandon Woodruff might still be available to pitch later in the postseason if the Crew advances deeper into October, but the veteran right’s lat strain will keep him out of the Division Series.

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Cade Horton To Miss At Least One Playoff Series Due To Rib Fracture

By Mark Polishuk | September 27, 2025 at 12:53pm CDT

The Cubs will be without one of their top starters for at least the first round of the playoffs, as Cade Horton has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 25) due to a non-displaced right rib fracture.  Left-hander Jordan Wicks was called up to take Horton’s roster spot for the final two games of Chicago’s regular season.

Horton made an early exit from his last start on Tuesday due to back soreness, and a follow-up MRI revealed an unspecified issue in his ribcage, as manager Craig Counsell told reporters earlier this week.  Horton threw in the outfield yesterday and was slated to throw a bullpen session today, yet those positive signs have now been abruptly overshadowed by the news of the IL placement.

In the best-case scenario, Horton is now out of action until at least Game 5 of the NLDS, should the Cubs make it that deep into the second playoff round.  Given that narrow window for activation, it doesn’t seem likely that the Cubs would include him on an NLDS roster, so a more realistic scenario would see Horton return as part of the NLCS roster if he can get healthy.

Of course, Chicago’s chances at such a deep postseason run will be a lot more difficult without the rookie who has emerged as a key rotation piece.  Horton figures to get plenty of NL Rookie of the Year votes in the wake of a debut season that has seen the right-hander post a 2.67 ERA over his first 118 innings in the bigs.  A 4.26 SIERA reflects Horton’s underwhelming 20.4% strikeout rate and the good fortune he has enjoyed in the both of both a 78.3% strand rate and a .258 BABIP, but Horton’s 6.9% walk rate is very solid.

There’s also the fact that Horton (the seventh overall pick of the 2022 draft) was getting better as he gained more experience.  He posted a 4.45 ERA across his first 56 2/3 innings, but then delivered just a 1.03 ERA over his next 12 starts and 61 1/3 frames.  This was seemingly a good omen for Horton and the Cubs as the playoffs loomed, as the rookie had locked up a spot in Chicago’s postseason rotation.

The Cubs should have enough starting pitching options to get by, even if their depth chart has now been shortened.  Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, and either Colin Rea or Jameson Taillon will be the starters for the best-of-three Wild Card Series, and that quartet should line up as the rotation for the remainder of the postseason.  Javier Assad is also in line to be at least a multi-inning reliever in October, and Counsell has indicated that he’ll use his entire pitching staff to navigate the playoffs, perhaps outside of traditional starter/reliever roles.

With two games left in the regular season, the Cubs are two games ahead of the Padres for the top NL wild card slot.  Unless the Cubs go 0-2 and the Padres go 2-0 the rest of the way, their NLWCS will be played in Chicago, with Game 1 set for Tuesday.

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Cubs Hoping To Reinstate Kyle Tucker On Friday; Daniel Palencia Reinstated Today

By Darragh McDonald | September 24, 2025 at 6:12pm CDT

The Cubs are hoping to have outfielder Kyle Tucker back in the lineup on Friday. “I think we’re trending towards that,” manager Craig Counsell said today, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Tucker is on the 10-day injured list and would need to be officially reinstated, which would require a corresponding active roster move.

Tucker is one of the better players in the league, when healthy. That qualifier has become more significant in recent years. He hardly missed any time from 2020 through 2023. Last year, a fractured shin limited him to just 78 games.

Here in 2025, he has played far more, though it appears some minor injuries have been impacting his production. He was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right hand in June, though that issue didn’t become publicly known until August. He had a huge .284/.395/.524 slash line through June 1st when he jammed his finger sliding into a base. His production continued to be strong in the initial wake of that injury, as he hit .311/.404/.578 in June. But it seemed to catch up to him in July, as he hit .218/.380/.295 that month and .244/.346/.389 in August.

After appearing in just two September games, a left calf strain put him out of action. He wasn’t immediately placed on the IL, as the club seemingly held out hope of him quickly bouncing back. That didn’t come to pass, so he hit the shelf September 9th, retroactive to September 6th. It was hoped that he could make a fairly quick return but that also hasn’t come to pass, as the issue has now lingered for about three weeks in total.

The Cubs have already clinched a playoff spot but won’t be able to secure a first-round bye since the Brewers have the Central sewn up. That means the Cubs will be playing in the Wild Card round, which begins on Tuesday. Ideally, Tucker can indeed be activated on Friday, which would give him three contests to get reacquainted with major league game speed before the playoffs begin.

Given his talents, Tucker’s return will be very important for the Cubs as they look to engineer a deep playoff run. It’s also incredibly important for him personally, since he’s an impending free agent. From 2020 through 2023, he slashed .277/.350/.516 for a 136 wRC+ with 77 stolen bases and strong outfield grades. Last year, even though he missed time with the shin fracture, he had an even better .289/.408/.585 line and 179 wRC+.

He seemed to be trending towards a massive contract this winter, with some even suggesting he could top $500MM on a deal of a decade or longer. This year’s nagging injuries have cut into his momentum. His season-long line of .270/.381/.472 still translates to a strong 139 wRC+ but, as mentioned earlier, he was better before getting banged up. Quickly getting back on track and cranking out a few timely hits under the bright lights of the postseason would surely help ease any sudden doubts that teams may have about making a long commitment to him.

Elsewhere on the Cubs’ roster, the pitching staff is getting a boost. Right-hander Daniel Palencia has been reinstated from the IL today, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, with left-hander Jordan Wicks optioned out in a corresponding move.

Palencia hit the IL a couple of weeks back due to a shoulder strain. Prior to that, he was having a breakout season and took over the closer’s role in the process. He currently has 51 innings pitched on the year with a flat earned run average of 3.00. He has struck out 28.1% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 7.6% clip, recording 22 saves in the process.

Getting him back just before the playoffs is a nice bump for the playoffs but the pitching staff could also lose a notable member. Righty Cade Horton, who departed his most recent start due to back tightness, is set to undergo an MRI. Counsell relayed that update on 670 The Score, per Bruce Levine.

Horton has had an excellent debut this year with a 2.67 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 42.3% ground ball rate. If healthy, he would be in the mix for playoff starts alongside Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. A notable injury would obviously take that off the table and lead to Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Colin Rea jumping up the depth chart.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

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Poll: NL Rookie Of The Year Check-In

By Nick Deeds | August 28, 2025 at 1:37pm CDT

Within the last few years, the Rookie of the Year award has grown to have more meaning than it had in the past. Changes in the most recent collective bargaining agreement allow the award to bestow a full year of MLB service time on the top two finishers, even if they would have otherwise entered the offseason with less than that. Beyond that, any player who was a top-100 prospect on a pair of prominent preseason lists (Baseball America, MLB.com, ESPN) can net his club an extra pick by winning the award if he breaks camp with his club or was called up less than two weeks into the season. That’s raised the stakes on the two Rookie of the Year races, but who will ultimately come out on top?

Here’s a look at this year’s candidates in the National League, listen in alphabetical order by last name:

Drake Baldwin, C, Braves

The 24-year-old Baldwin is having a banner rookie season for Atlanta after an injury suffered by Sean Murphy during Spring Training opened up the Opening Day catcher job. Baldwin took the reins and never looked back. Through 96 games, he’s hitting .276/.347/.454 with a wRC+ of 126. He’s smacked 14 homers in 337 plate appearances, but more impressive is Baldwin’s plate discipline. The youngster is striking out just 16% of the time while walking at a solid 8.9% clip. That production has been enough to get the lion’s share of time behind the plate in spite of Murphy’s status as a former All-Star and Gold Glove award winner on a hefty contract. If there’s an issue with Baldwin’s profile, it’s that he’s a merely pedestrian defender behind the plate. Scouts expected him to be no more than average behind the plate, and so far the metrics have played that out as he has -1 Catching Runs this year according to Statcast. Baldwin and Murphy are now splitting the workload between catcher and DH, so Baldwin should see regular at-bats down the stretch. If he wins the award, he’ll net the Braves a PPI pick.

Isaac Collins, OF, Brewers

Collins celebrated his 28th birthday last month, making him by far the oldest player on this list. He’s been a game changer for an excellent Brewers club in left field, however, with a .270/.368/.421 (125 wRC+) slash line in 109 games. Collins has chipped in 28 extra-base hits and 15 steals and drawn walks at an excellent 12.3% clip. That penchant for drawing walks fuels an on-base percentage that sits just barely outside the top 20 among hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this year. Collins’ age and lack of a premium defensive position could hold him back in the eyes of some voters, but the switch-hitter does have one big thing going for him: he’s doing his best work now. Since the All-Star break, Collins has hit .288/.377/.475 with a wRC+ of 139.

Cade Horton, RHP, Cubs

The Cubs’ first rounder in the 2022 draft, Horton came up to fill out the rotation in a pinch back in May and has generally looked the part of a quality big league starter. He’s pitched to a 2.88 ERA and 3.71 FIP in 93 2/3 innings of work. That’s by far the best ERA among all rookie pitchers with at least 80 innings, and he’s been on the shortlist for the best pitcher in baseball since the All-Star break with a microscopic 0.49 ERA, a 2.61 FIP, and 24.8% strikeout rate. Horton’s season-long strikeout rate of just 20.1% isn’t all that impressive, and his relatively limited innings may hurt him with some voters. Even so, the 24-year-old should get plenty of attention with the way he’s pitched in the second half so far, and a big final month could further cement his case. Horton was a consensus top-100 prospect prior to the season but wasn’t called up early enough to net the Cubs a pick based on this year’s Rookie of the Year voting (though he could still garner them a pick with a top-3 Cy Young finish before reaching arbitration).

Chad Patrick, RHP, Brewers

Patrick might be overlooked by some voters who could be attracted to the strong second half numbers of Collins and Horton. Even so, he’s a legitimate contender for the award. Patrick’s 105 innings across 21 appearances (20 starts) lead NL rookies. He’s posted a 3.60 ERA with a nearly identical 3.68 FIP while striking out 23.9% of his opponents. Perhaps the biggest flaw in Patrick’s case is that the Brewers optioned him to Triple-A for just over a month. He didn’t pitch in the majors between July 5 and Aug. 19. He’s also worn down as the season has gone on, with a 5.09 ERA and 4.45 FIP in his last seven starts. Patrick will need to turn things around in September if he’s going to make a play for the award, but a strong start to his big league career in April and May could be enough to keep him in the conversation.

Other Options

That aforementioned quartet appear to be the likeliest candidates for the award, but they aren’t the only names to consider. Playing time will be a factor for Miami’s Jakob Marsee, but if the 24-year-old can keep hitting the way he has in 26 games since his Aug. 1 recall (.356/.422/.667, 195 wRC+), his otherworldly performance will get some attention anyway. Teammate Agustin Ramirez leads NL rookies in home runs (18) and plate appearances (463), but he’s posted awful defensive marks behind the plate and is sitting on a .287 on-base percentage (.228/.287/.424 overall). Brewers righty Jacob Misiorowski was the talk of the game after his first few starts, but he spent two weeks on the injured list after being clipped by a comebacker and has been tagged for 13 earned runs in his past 14 1/3 innings (four starts). He’s only at 43 2/3 innings on the season, too, which hurts his candidacy.

Hyeseong Kim has been an above-average hitter for the Dodgers and contributed defensive versatility, but he’s been on the injured list for a month and is unlikely to get enough playing time to merit consideration. Nationals righty Brad Lord is in the midst of a solid season as a swingman, but a 5.47 ERA in August does him no favors. Third basemen Caleb Durbin and Matt Shaw have both had decent enough years but are sure to be overshadowed by their teammates when it comes to balloting.

Who do MLBTR readers think will ultimately come out on top in the NL’s Rookie of the Year balloting? Have your say in the poll below:

Who will win NL Rookie of the Year?
Drake Baldwin 45.56% (2,241 votes)
Cade Horton 25.68% (1,263 votes)
Isaac Collins 20.25% (996 votes)
Someone Else 7.32% (360 votes)
Chad Patrick 1.20% (59 votes)
Total Votes: 4,919
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Atlanta Braves Chicago Cubs MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Milwaukee Brewers Cade Horton Chad Patrick Drake Baldwin Isaac Collins

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Cubs Promote Cade Horton

By Anthony Franco and Darragh McDonald | May 10, 2025 at 3:40pm CDT

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.

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Poll: Should The Cubs Call Up Cade Horton?

By Nick Deeds | May 6, 2025 at 8:39pm CDT

When Justin Steele went under the knife for UCL revision surgery last month, ending his 2025 season early, the pressure of carrying the load at the front of the Cubs’ rotation went from being shared between two All-Star southpaws to falling entirely on the shoulders of Shota Imanaga. Imanaga’s first eight starts of the year have generally gone quite well, as he’s pitched to a 2.82 ERA despite his peripherals regressing significantly (4.52 FIP, 4.69 SIERA) relative to last year’s dominant rookie campaign.

Unfortunately, his own season was at least temporarily derailed yesterday when Chicago placed him on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Fortunately, the Cubs and Imanaga appear to view the strain as a fairly mild one. Manager Craig Counsell suggested during his postgame interview yesterday (h/t Marquee Sports Network) that the outcome was “pretty good news” and that it was at least possible that Imanaga wouldn’t take much longer than a minimum stay on the shelf to recover. Even so, another starter will be needed to join Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Ben Brown, and Colin Rea in the rotation.

Perhaps the Cubs need look no further than the hurler at Triple-A who was already on the same schedule as Imanaga prior to the injury. Top pitching prospect Cade Horton, selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, has been nothing short of dominant so far this year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Horton has made six starts for the club’s Iowa affiliate this year and has posted a sparkling 1.24 ERA in that time with a strikeout rate of 30.6%. It’s the sort of dominance that will naturally lead to fans calling for a big league debut, and those calls have only grown louder in the aftermath of Imanaga’s injury. It’s hard to argue any pitcher currently on the big league roster has a higher ceiling than Horton, who sports a mid-90s fastball that touches 98 and a plus slider as part of a strong four-pitch mix.

For his part, Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times) that Horton is “an option” to replace Imanaga in the rotation. With that being said, Counsell also noted that veteran right-hander Chris Flexen remains stretched out after recently having his contract selected from Triple-A ahead of a uniform opt-out opportunity in his contract on May 1. Flexen threw 54 pitches in three scoreless relief innings last week and sported a 1.16 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate in 23 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A before his contract was selected. A veteran of eight MLB seasons who also briefly pitched for the KBO League’s Doosan Bears, Flexen has generally been a roughly average swingman since he returned from South Korea with a 4.56 ERA (90 ERA+) in 582 2/3 innings of work.

His numbers fell off substantially over the past two years, but it’s hard to deny that he’s looked impressive since joining Chicago on a minor league deal. Still, there’s no question that Horton is the more talented pitcher with much higher upside. Horton seems likely to have a very successful career with the Cubs in the coming years, but there are other considerations that could tip the scale towards Flexen. The Cubs’ bullpen, which ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.37 ERA, has already been stretched somewhat by short starts from Rea and Brown this year. Horton would add another hurler who can’t be expected to pitch deep into games to the rotation mix, seeing as he’s maxed out at just 78 pitches this year. Flexen, meanwhile, has maxed out at 95 pitches and pitched into the sixth inning in three of his four full-length starts with Iowa.

Horton’s injury woes over the years, from Tommy John surgery in college to a subscapularis strain that cost him most of his 2024 season, have left the Cubs in a position where they’ll need to carefully manage the talented right-hander’s innings this year. For a team with postseason aspirations, it’s fair to wonder if calling him up in early May is the right call when his electric arm may be needed come October. On the other hand, however, it’s worth noting that Horton did not throw a single pitch after May 29 last year. Health for a pitcher is never guaranteed, so it’s possible the Cubs would be best off simply calling up Horton now while he’s pitching well and figuring out how to manage his innings later by either shutting him down at some point this year or moving him to the bullpen.

How do MLBTR readers think the Cubs should handle the vacancy in their rotation while Imanaga is out of commission? Should they turn to the high-upside prospect knocking on the door of the big leagues while he’s healthy and pitching well, or instead opt to use Flexen in order to manage Horton’s innings and preserve the bullpen? Have your say in the poll below:

Who Should Fill In For Shota Imanaga?
Cade Horton 70.18% (2,342 votes)
Chris Flexen 23.04% (769 votes)
someone else 6.77% (226 votes)
Total Votes: 3,337
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Cubs Planning To Add Starting Pitcher In Offseason

By Darragh McDonald | September 23, 2024 at 2:03pm CDT

The Cubs are planning to add an established starting pitcher to their rotation this winter, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. The club has Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad in four spots. Per Mooney’s report, adding one more name into that mix would push guys like Ben Brown, Cade Horton, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski down the depth chart.

“In one sense, you feel like you’re in a solid position because we have a number of young pitchers (who) have had success in the big leagues,” Manager Craig Counsell is quoted as saying in the piece. “Now with all of them, there’s been injuries. And it’s not a big sample as of yet. But that’s also kind of the nature of pitching. It’s the nature of young pitching. So we’re in a good spot in terms of that area of depth. But as we saw this year, it disappeared quickly.”

The quartet of Imanaga, Steele, Taillon and Assad have been the club’s best starters this year, both in terms of quality and quantity. Each of that group has an ERA of 3.41 or lower at the moment and all of them have tossed between 130 and 175 innings on the season thus far.

But as Counsell alluded to, there were also some challenges. Steele made a couple of trips to the injured list, one for a left hamstring strain and another for left elbow tendinitis. The Cubs had picked up a $16.5MM club option to bring back Kyle Hendricks but that ultimately proved to be a misstep. Hendricks struggled badly enough to get moved to the bullpen. He eventually retook a rotation spot but has a 6.28 ERA for the year overall. Wicks is currently on the IL for the third time this year, having gone on the shelf for a left forearm strain and then two separate stints for right oblique strains. Brown hasn’t pitched since June due to a stress reaction in his neck. Horton last pitched in May, getting shut down with a subscapularis strain and suffering a setback while trying to return the mound.

An argument could be made for rolling into 2025 with the same front four, letting the group of Wicks, Brown, Horton and Wesneski fight for the fifth spot. But with so many issues in 2024, adding some more security makes plenty of sense. None of those four are fully established. Wesneski is the only one with more than 81 big league innings pitched, and his 186 frames have been split between the bullpen and rotation. Wicks, Brown and Wesneski all still have options, meaning they could be stretched out in Triple-A if not needed on the big league staff. Horton isn’t yet on the 40-man and doesn’t need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until December of 2025.

The Cubs also might not have much else on their winter to-do list. Even if Cody Bellinger eventually opts out, the outfield will still have Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman, with Alexander Canario, Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara and Brennen Davis at Triple-A. The infield has Isaac Paredes, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch, with Matt Shaw knocking on the door. Miguel Amaya has shown some progress at the plate and Christian Bethancourt can be retained for next year if the Cubs believe in his recent performance. Moises Ballesteros will also be pushing for a job soon.

The bullpen arguably should be a focus but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had made it clear he would prefer to not to make free agent splashes there. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, since Hoyer was hired in November of 2020, the club hasn’t given a multi-year deal to any reliever. And of the one-year deals they have given out, the only guy to get more than $5MM was Héctor Neris, who got $9MM.

Unless a change is coming in terms of the approach to bullpen construction, starting pitching is a logical target with the position player group in strong shape. And there should be some powder dry for reinforcements. The club went narrowly over the $237MM competitive balance tax this year, with RosterResource currently pegging their number a bit over $238MM. Next year’s tally is only at $126MM right now. Arbitration raises for guys like Paredes and Steele will certainly add to that number and it will grow significantly if Bellinger decides to stay, but there will still be room for a notable contract.

Hoyer hasn’t played at the top of the market in terms of starting pitching but has given out some mid-market deals. As shown in the MLBTR Contract Tracker again,  Imanaga, Taillon and Marcus Stroman have each received guaranteed between $53MM and $71MM, the largest guarantees the Cubs have given to starting pitchers in the Hoyer era.

This winter’s starting pitching class will be topped by guys like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Jack Flaherty and Blake Snell, assuming Snell stays healthy and opts out of his deal. Signing any of those guys would likely require the Cubs to go to a new level of spending, getting into nine-figure territory. If they want to stay in that Stroman/Taillon/Imanaga tier, they’d probably be debating names like Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta and others. Hall-of-Fame-bound veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander will be limited to short-term deals since they are both in their 40s and coming off injury-plagued years in 2024.

The trade market will be another option for the Cubs. The White Sox didn’t end up flipping Garrett Crochet at the deadline but could perhaps make him available again in the winter. The Marlins lost almost all their rotation options to injury this year but it’s possible to see them considering deals as the group gets healthier for 2025. Somewhat similarly, the Rays seem to have an abundance of rotation options with Jeffrey Springs, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen returned from long absences, with Shane McClanahan to join them next year. Other possibilities will surely emerge as the winter goes on.

It will be an interesting offseason for the Cubs. Their signing of Swanson heading into 2023 seemed to signal a wish to return to contention after a couple of rebuilding years. They had a solid but unspectacular year in 2023, winning 83 games. They may top that here in 2024, currently at 80-76, but will miss the postseason again. Pressure figures to be high for a club that hasn’t made the postseason in a full campaign since 2018, but a lot of good elements are in place and a few finishing touches could perhaps get them over the hump in 2025.

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Chicago Cubs Ben Brown Cade Horton Hayden Wesneski Jameson Taillon Javier Assad Jordan Wicks Justin Steele Shota Imanaga

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NL Central Notes: McLain, Horton, Jones

By Mark Polishuk | August 11, 2024 at 6:24pm CDT

After finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, Matt McLain’s sophomore season has thus far been a wash, as a shoulder surgery in March has kept him off the field.  McLain was set to begin a minor rehab assignment tomorrow but those plans have now been put on hold, Reds manager David Bell told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer and other reporters.  McLain suffered a stress reaction in his ribcage area last week and was assigned a shutdown period of 3-7 days, which has now stretched to beyond the intended start date of the rehab assignment.

As recently as Thursday, McLain “was having some progress and feeling better,” as Bell relayed about a text message sent to him from the infielder.  The short timeframe of the initial shutdown period would seem to suggest that the rib injury isn’t as serious as it might sound, yet basically any setback at this point adds extra doubt about McLain’s ability to return to action before the 2024 season is over.  He’ll need a pretty lengthy rehab period to get fully ramped up after his layoff, so even if McLain is able to start playing relatively soon, his return to the majors looks like it’ll be in September at the earliest.  The 57-61 Reds are on the outskirts of an NL wild card race that is still relatively compact at the moment, so the team will need all the help it can get (including whatever McLain can provide) if Cincinnati has a shot of leapfrogging the field and snagging a playoff berth.

More from the NL Central…

  • Cade Horton also suffered a setback in his rehab from the subscapularis strain that has kept the Cubs pitching prospect off the mound since late May, Cubs president of operations Jed Hoyer told the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro.  As a result, Horton’s 2024 campaign is likely over, as Hoyer said the right-hander probably wouldn’t start throwing again until after the minor league season is finished.  Selected seventh overall in the 2022 draft, Horton is considered one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, though his first taste of Triple-A action resulted in an ugly 7.50 ERA over 18 innings (five starts).  Between the shoulder strain, this latest setback, and a Tommy John surgery in his college days, Horton has already had to deal with a lot of injury concerns, and his MLB debut will now have to wait until 2025 at the earliest.
  • In the first start of his minor league rehab assignment, Jared Jones threw 47 pitches over 2 2/3 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis last Thursday.  Pirates GM Ben Cherington said during his weekly radio show today (hat tip to Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that the plan is for Jones to having another rehab outing on Wednesday with a higher pitch count, and the Bucs will decide from there whether or not Jones could be ready to return from the 15-day injured list.  Jones suffered a Grade 2 strain in his right lat during his last MLB start on July 3, thus necessitating a lengthy IL stint.  Somewhat overshadowed by the Paul Skenes phenomenon, Jones has had a big rookie year of his own, posting a 3.56 ERA over his first 91 big league innings and emerging as another key building block of the Pittsburgh rotation.
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Cubs Prospect Cade Horton Shut Down With Subscapularis Strain

By Darragh McDonald | June 5, 2024 at 3:15pm CDT

Cubs pitching prospect Cade Horton has a moderate subscapularis strain, reports Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X. The righty will be shut down for three to four weeks and then will have to build back up at that point.

Horton, 22, is one of the best pitching prospects in the sport and may have been trending towards a major league debut this summer, but the odds of that have clearly been reduced by this injury. Selected seventh overall in the 2022 draft, Horton tore through three levels of the minors last year. He tossed 88 1/3 innings between Single-A, High-A and Double-A with a 2.65 earned run average. He struck out 33.5% of batters faced in the process while limiting walks to a 7.7% clip.

Based on that strong professional debut, he was a consensus top 50 prospect coming into 2024. Baseball America gave him the #25 slot, FanGraphs put him at #18 and ESPN at #30, while Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #49.

Here in 2024, he went back to Double-A but carved up opponents in four starts. He tossed 16 1/3 innings in those, only allowing two earned runs. He struck out 18 batters and gave out just two walks.

He was then promoted to Triple-A in May while the major league rotation was dealing with a few issues. Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks and Kyle Hendricks were all on the injured list at that time, with Hendricks also struggling badly prior to his IL stint.

With Horton charging into Triple-A and the major league rotation treading water, the stars seemed to be aligning for him to be pitching at Wrigley in short order. But his first five Triple-A starts didn’t go well, with 15 earned runs allowed in 18 innings. It’s possible that the injury started to creep on him and impacted his results, as his 13.6% walk rate demonstrated an uncharacteristic lack of control.

Regardless of when the injury started bugging him, the poor Triple-A results and this shutdown will obviously erase any momentum towards a major league debut for the time being. Since he’s going to be shut down for most of June, he’ll likely need the majority of July to build back up. That aligns roughly with the July 30 trade deadline, which will be an interesting situation to monitor for Cubs fans.

The club performed well in April but struggled in May, currently sitting on a 30-31 record. That’s good enough to hold the final Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment but there are seven clubs within four games of catching Cubs, making it a fairly tenuous position.

Assuming the club hangs around the postseason picture, they could look for starting pitching reinforcements in the coming weeks, though the rotation is in decent enough shape at the moment. Steele has since returned from the injured list while Ben Brown has stepped up and staked a claim to a rotation spot with a 3.33 ERA on the year. Between those two, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon, no one in the rotation has an ERA higher than Steele’s 4.10. Wicks is also rehabbing and could be a candidate to rejoin the group in the coming weeks.

Taking all that together, the path for Horton to get to the big leagues is currently much tougher to see than it was just one month ago. Regardless, the Cubs will be hoping to get him back on track in the weeks to come as the need for another starter can pop up at any time. It would also be good to get him some more innings for the long term, as he only has 34 1/3 so far this year with the Cubs undoubtedly hoping for something close to a full starter’s workload next season. He had Tommy John surgery in 2021 and is still working on getting fully stretched out for the long run.

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