{"id":600616,"date":"2026-03-01T23:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600616\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T23:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:18:29","slug":"cubs-claim-ben-cowles-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600616\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Claim Ben Cowles &#8211; MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Cubs have brought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=cowles000ben&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-01_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ben Cowles<\/a> back to Wrigleyville, as the team announced that the infielder has been claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays.\u00a0 In a corresponding move, right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/millesh01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-01_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Shelby Miller<\/a> was moved to Chicago\u2019s 60-day injured list.\u00a0 Miller underwent UCL and flexor surgery last October and will miss the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>Miller\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2026\/02\/cubs-sign-shelby-miller.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">two-year, $2.5MM deal<\/a> with the Cubs was officially announced on February 15, and Cowles was designated for assignment to create roster space.\u00a0 The Jays claimed Cowles off the waiver wire, but the infielder now quickly finds himself back in the Cubs organization.\u00a0 There hadn\u2019t been any indication that Toronto had DFA\u2019ed Cowles, but the Blue Jays needed to open up a spot on their 40-man roster now that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scherma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-01_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Max Scherzer<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2026\/02\/blue-jays-to-re-sign-max-scherzer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">returning<\/a> to the team.<\/p>\n<p>A tenth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2021 draft, Cowles first came to Chicago at the 2024 trade deadline, when Cowles was one of two prospects dealt to the Cubs for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leitema02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-01_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mark Leiter Jr.<\/a>\u00a0 Cowles was DFA\u2019ed last September and claimed off waivers by the White Sox, but the Cubs brought Cowles back from their local rivals in January on another waiver claim.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout all of these comings and goings, Cowles has yet to make his Major League debut.\u00a0 The 26-year-old posted decent numbers in the lower minors but has hit only .235\/.299\/.368 over 536 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.\u00a0 The lack of offense has surely contributed to Cowles\u2019 apparent status as 40th-man type, though he has speed (70 steals in 92 attempts in the minors) and has plenty of experience as a shortstop, second, and third baseman, plus a couple of cameo appearances in the outfield.<\/p>\n<p>It wouldn\u2019t be a shock to see Cowles again land in DFA limbo the next time the Cubs need to create a 40-man opening, but the team clearly sees some value in the infielder\u2019s skillset.\u00a0 Whether this translates into any time on the active roster remains to be seen, as Cowles might only get considered for a call-up if an injury arises to an infield regular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs have brought Ben Cowles back to Wrigleyville, as the team announced that the infielder has been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,16984,4,849],"class_list":["post-600616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-ben-cowles","tag-mlb","tag-shelby-miller"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116156478700273026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}