Chicago Cubs: Hoyer hints at one free agent he maybe won’t try to re-sign

The Chicago Cubs did make a valiant effort at righting their sinking pitching ship at the trade deadline. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer went out and acquired Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, Ryan Zeferjahn, and Braxton Garrett at the deadline. They had also traded for David Peterson a bit earlier.

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Ultimately, it turned out to be too little, too late. The Cubs were sent packing after losing the first two games of the Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Actually, the deadline pick-ups contributed little to solving the Cubs’ pitching woes. The new arms were simply hole-fillers to get the team to the end of the season—although Zeferjahn did finish out the year with six straight scoreless innings after a rough start to his Cubs tenure.

Probably the biggest deadline disappointment, though, was Holmes—the sinker-based groundball specialist acquired along with outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the New York Mets for top-tier prospect Jefferson Rojas.

The hopes and realities of trading for Clay Holmes

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The Cubs were counting on the veteran righty to immediately move to the top of the beleaguered starting rotation and possibly be the dominant ace the team needed heading into the playoffs. And he certainly began his Cubs campaign looking just like the rotation stud they needed, posting a 1.55 ERA through his first five outings with Chicago.

Then, the wheels just sort of fell off the cart. He went 0-2 and delivered a horrid 8.24 ERA in his final four starts of the season, just as the Cubs were in the heat of a battle for Wild Card home field advantage. He never got to do anything in the postseason but warm up.

Holmes has a $12 million player’s option waiting on his decision. The prevailing thought is that he’ll reject that option and test the free agent market. Although now, after that horrid end-of-season—and the looming labor crisis and lockout awaiting 2027—there’s also the possibility that he may decide to stay put in hopes of turning things around with the Cubs’ elite infield defense for a run at 2028 free agency.

Hoyer speaks on Holmes disappointment

Hoyer, however, seems a bit soured on Holmes and more than a little puzzled as to why things ended as they did.

“We thought it was a perfect fit,” Hoyer recently told reporters. “He had a nice run in August for a while and he sort of tailed off, and how much of that was because he came back from injury, how much of that was just the length of the season? Obviously, he wasn’t pitching his best baseball towards the end.”

So, would the Cubs have Holmes back? Of course they would. In this current market, $12 million is a bargain for someone like Holmes, late-2026 warts and all. He’s still a tremendous fit for the team and its particular strengths.

But, from Hoyer’s words, there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance that he’ll be taking a stab at bringing the veteran back if he hits the open market.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-jed-hoyer-clay-holmes-free-agent/