Chicago Cubs urged to get aggressive in pursuit of Angels’ Reid Detmers

The Chicago Cubs got at least one of the potential missing pieces to their puzzle on Sunday when they acquired veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman from the Toronto Blue Jays for a pair of prospects (OF Brett Bateman and IF Ty Southisene).

More News: Chicago Cubs reportedly focused on one particular young pitcher at deadline

The 35-year-old Gausman, who is eligible for free agency at the end of this season, will slide into the rotation and is expected to provide some much-needed stability to a staff that has been stressed and strained by injury all season. He’ll also bring some serious postseason experience with him.

But nobody is expecting Gausman to be the only Cubs addition made by the August 3, 5 pm CT MLB trade deadline.

Buzz is everywhere, and rumors abound regarding Cubs president Jed Hoyer’s plans for a deadline-day haul. But with Kevin Gausman, Tarik Skubal, Luis Castillo, Freddy Peralta, and, most recently, Jose Soriano all off the market, the available options are beginning to look increasingly slim. Hoyer’s reported focus on acquiring a starting pitcher with years of team control just adds to the difficulty of bringing another starting pitcher to Chicago.

One major target remains

More News: Chicago Cubs have disappointing backup plan for trade deadline, per report

One name still out there is the Angels’ Reid Detmers.

The 27-year-old southpaw has been pegged as a perfect fit for the Cubs for awhile now, both for his ability to generate swings and misses and due to the fact that he’s working under a very affordable contract through the 2028 season. This season, he’s posted a less-than-spectacular a 3-7 record with a 4.03 ERA for the last place Angels, but his FIP—which may be a truer measure of how well he’s actually pitching—is 3.35.

The Angels, however, are reportedly asking for a very hefty return for the young arm. In the case of the Cubs, it’s been reported that they want a package that includes fast-rising catching prospect Owen Ayers, who the team values greatly and sees as potentially MLB-ready next season.

But Detmers could be, by all accounts, a building block player and a real asset heading into a 2027 campaign where Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga might be lost to free agency and Cade Horton and Justin Steele could be non-factors due to injury.

This year vs. Last year

One can’t help but draw a connection between this trade deadline and last year’s when Hoyer and the Cubs played things conservatively and didn’t take the risk to land a needed high-end starting pitcher. In the end, it could be argued that they’re inability to get what they needed at the deadline was a major factor in the team stalling in the second round of the playoffs.

Jake Misener of Cubbies Crib is nudging Hoyer towards pulling the trigger on the Detmers trade:

“Layer in the fact we don’t really know what (if anything) Chicago will get from Cade Horton and Justin Steele and it’s clear that a starter that comes with multiple years of control is a must if we’re to call the 2026 MLB trade deadline a success. Detmers profiles well and could be a huge get for this team, and show that Hoyer learned his lesson from settling, rather than getting aggressive last time around.”

Later this afternoon, we’ll know how this drama plays out.

The post Chicago Cubs urged to get aggressive in pursuit of Angels’ Reid Detmers appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-reid-detmers-angels-trade-deadline-hoyer/