Chicago Cubs reacquire former prospect in pitching desperation move

The Chicago Cubs once again suffered a pitching gut punch on Sunday when righty Jameson Taillon went down with a left hamstring injury in the second inning of his start against the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field. A likely drawn-out stint on the IL awaits.

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At this point, something like this barely registers with Cubs fans who have suffered through a seemingly unending run of pitching injuries that has hobbled the team and is starting to make lofty offseason expectations look like pure folly.

In the ongoing effort to keep adding arms as pitchers fall to injury, the Cubs have claimed right-handed pitcher Eduarniel Nuñez off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles.

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The hard-throwing 27-year-old came up through the Cubs’ farm system, but left via free agency in 2024 after mixed results through all tiers of the organization.

He was then picked up by the San Diego Padres organization where he was subsequently dealt to the Athletics as part of the Mason Miller trade in 2025. This year, he was traded from the A’s to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations before being DFA’d by the Orioles and reacquired by the Cubs.

In his limited major league play, he was a combined 1-0 with a 7.11 ERA with the Padres and A’s in 2025 over just ten appearances.

Nuñez is regarded as having high-velocity, electric stuff and has always produced a high strikeout rate. However, control has always been an issue. With an ugly 6.16 BB/9 rate throughout all levels of professional ball, the reliever from the Dominican Republic is a true wild card in every sense of the word. The Cubs are hoping they can be the ones to guide the young arm into reaching his full potential.

Grabbing at arms anywhere and everywhere

Chicago, at this point, is seemingly grasping at any possible arm they can grab to offset some of the pitching losses they have suffered this season.

The Cubs lost emerging ace Cade Horton for this season and beyond with an elbow injury in just his second start of 2026. Matthew Boyd is coming off his second stint on the IL. Edward Cabrera is also coming off the IL with a blister issue. Returning ace Justin Steele suffered a setback in his recovery from elbow surgery. Reliever Hunter Harvey remains on the IL, while other bullpen arms Daniel Palencia, Phil Maton, and Caleb Thielbar have also spent time on the shelf. Even top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins is out of commission. And now, of course, Taillon joins the list of the injured.

So far this season, amid the team’s injury struggles, the Cubs have continuously manned the waiver wires in search of depth arms. They’ve brought in Christian Roa, Luis Peralta, Liam Hendricks, Ty Blach, Doug Nikhazy, Andrew Wantz and now Nuñez. They also recently pulled off a minor trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for lefty Antoine Kelly.

This is in addition to the mass stockpiling of arms via minor league contracts in the offseason, a prescient move that brought in names such as Collin Snider, Kyle Wright, Vince Velasquez, Trent Thornton, Yacksel Rios, Charlie Barnes, Ryan Rolison, Tyler Beede, John Brigham, Tyler Ras, Gabe Klobosits, and Corbin Martin to the organization. Many of those pitchers have already appeared for the major league Cubs.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-reacquire-former-prospect-nunez-pitching-waivers-orioles/