{"id":669341,"date":"2026-04-08T00:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/669341\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:59:19","slug":"proposed-cubs-trade-sees-chicago-land-64-5-million-2-89-era-star-pitcher-to-act-as-emergency-replacement-due-to-cade-hortons-season-ending-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/669341\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Cubs trade sees Chicago land $64.5 million 2.89 ERA star pitcher to act as emergency replacement due to Cade Horton’s season-ending injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs<\/a> have had a rough start to the 2026 season, sitting in last place in the NL Central, with a record of 4-6. On top of that, their top two starting pitchers, Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton, are down with injury.<\/p>\n

While Boyd will return at some point, Horton was not so lucky, and will have to undergo season-ending surgery<\/a> on his UCL. With that in mind, FanSided\u2019s Jake Elman<\/a> proposes that the Cubs should get a replacement, and trade with the Colorado Rockies<\/a> for their ace, Kyle Freeland.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Proposed Cubs trade sees Chicago land former Rookie of the Year as replacement starter for injured Cade Horton<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt first glance, Freeland\u2019s experience might appeal to the Cubs and other contenders. With that said, he turns 33 in May and isn\u2019t your back-of-the-rotation workhorse, only averaging 145 innings from 2021 through 2025\u2026The best thing Freeland has working for him, though, is his control. He only averaged 2.4 walks per nine during that aforementioned five-year stretch, which on its own warrants a call. If the worst-case scenario is Freeland doesn\u2019t pan out, at least the Cubs could manipulate his playing time so he doesn\u2019t meet the 170 innings needed for his vesting option,\u201d Elman wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far this season Freeland has started strong, at least by Rockies standards. He\u2019s posted a 0-1 record, a 2.89 ERA, eight Ks, and a WHIP of 1.393 in nine and a third innings pitched.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Proposed Cubs signing sees Chicago land $61 million All-Star, former Cy Young candidate to replace injured Cade Horton<\/a><\/p>\n

On top of that, his contract<\/a> wouldn\u2019t hurt the Cubs too much. He only has two years left on his five-year, $64.5 million deal, and the second year is a conditional player option that only activates if he pitches 170+ innings this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With no suitable replacement on the roster, the Cubs need to make an external move. And at the moment, this is probably the best they can do trade-wise.<\/p>\n

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Diamondbacks receive trade update regarding Ketel Marte after superstar hit MLB milestone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs have had a rough start to the 2026 season, sitting in last place in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-669341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116366381067940684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669341","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=669341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}