{"id":800330,"date":"2026-08-03T02:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800330\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T02:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:03:09","slug":"cubs-acquire-kevin-gausman-from-blue-jays-to-strengthen-rotation-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800330\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs acquire Kevin Gausman from Blue Jays to strengthen rotation: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Cubs agreed to acquire veteran starter Kevin Gausman from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, adding postseason experience to their rotation, team and league sources told The Athletic. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized, indicate that the Blue Jays will receive two prospects, outfielder Brett Bateman and infielder Ty Southisene.<\/p>\n

While Gausman, 35, isn\u2019t having his best season, the right-hander has quietly been one of the best starters in baseball over the last five years. Since Gausman joined the Blue Jays in 2022, only Dylan Cease and Zack Wheeler have more strikeouts than him. Gausman posted an ERA under 3.90 for five straight seasons before 2026 while making at least 31 starts each year.<\/p>\n

Flashing a fastball-and-splitter combination, along with the occasional slider, Gausman rarely walks batters and has the strikeout stuff needed to flourish in the playoffs. In Toronto\u2019s 2025 postseason run, Gausman posted a 2.93 ERA in six appearances and was given the ball in some of the Jays\u2019 biggest October games.<\/p>\n

The Cubs have focused on adding pitching this summer, and in Gausman they\u2019re getting an experienced performer who they believe has a lot left in the tank. At his peak, Gausman was garnering Cy Young votes as one of the top pitchers in the game. This season, though, he has a 4.38 ERA for a Blue Jays team that has underachieved after beginning the season with extremely high expectations.<\/p>\n

But the Cubs believe there\u2019s something to be excited about when you look past Gausman\u2019s ERA. He isn\u2019t the guy who posted a 29.8 percent strikeout rate from 2020 to 2023; otherwise, it would have cost significantly more than Bateman and Southisene to acquire him. Both are quality prospects, but the Cubs are deep in position-player prospects, and they leveraged that depth to get a solid piece for their playoff push.<\/p>\n

Beyond Gausman\u2019s ERA, the Cubs believe he has performed similarly to his 2024 and 2025 seasons, when he put up a 3.71 ERA over 371 combined innings with a 22.9 percent strikeout rate and 6.9 percent walk rate. This season, he has a 23.5 percent strikeout rate and a 6.7 percent walk rate while sticking with the three-pitch mix \u2014 four-seam fastball, gyro slider and splitter \u2014 that has always made him stand out.<\/p>\n

Gausman\u2019s velocity hasn\u2019t deteriorated significantly, and his batted-ball numbers don\u2019t look scary. He also showed the ability to rise to the moment in the postseason last October. Cubs team president Jed Hoyer remembers passing on Justin Verlander<\/a> in 2017, then learning from that mistake and trusting Cole Hamels to find his best self in Chicago in 2018. This is a bet on a veteran performing up to his underlying numbers as he enters a playoff race with a talented team that plays in a packed park filled with die-hard fans.<\/p>\n

Gausman would be added to a rotation that has a 4.25 ERA on the season but has been on a bit of a roll lately. Since June 1, they\u2019re fifth in baseball with a 3.71 ERA, and since July 1, their 3.38 ERA ranks second. Currently, the Cubs have Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, David Peterson, Javier Assad and Colin Rea in their rotation. Once Gausman joins the team, it\u2019s likely that Rea or Assad will move to the bullpen. Edward Cabrera, who will make his second rehab start this week, should be back by mid-August.<\/p>\n

Still, the Cubs don\u2019t appear to be done adding to their rotation. A starter under control beyond 2026 would be ideal, but the Cubs came into these final hours before the deadline hoping to come away with multiple arms, and they don\u2019t believe their work is done.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline. The Chicago Cubs agreed to acquire veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,363,99,364],"class_list":["post-800330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}