{"id":771865,"date":"2026-08-06T22:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T22:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/771865\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T22:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T22:00:31","slug":"column-how-will-craig-counsell-manage-chicago-cubs-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/771865\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: How will Craig Counsell manage Chicago Cubs rotation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs went from not having enough starting pitchers to maybe having too many<\/a>, a dilemma that can be a problem only if the pitchers don\u2019t buy in.<\/p>\n

The way things look in early August, manager Craig Counsell eventually will have to play a game of duck, duck, goose, choosing two or three starters for the best-of-three wild-card series and then three or four for the best-of-five division series if the Cubs advance.<\/p>\n

Of course, a lot can happen between now and October, so it\u2019s way too early for Counsell to speculate on a pecking order. But it\u2019s never too early for everyone else, so let\u2019s guess that Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman and Shota Imanaga get first dibs, with Clay Holmes added to the next round, and David Peterson and Edward Cabrera the odd men out.<\/p>\n

The only certainty is that players will have to put their egos aside in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Cubs pitcher Kevin Gausman heads to the dugout for a game against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on Aug. 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where it takes everybody,\u201d Gausman said Thursday morning in the home dugout before the Cubs beat his former team, the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2 in 11 innings at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pitched in the seventh inning (in Game 5) of the ALCS last year after starting the whole year. You get to the postseason and you\u2019ve got to do what you got to do. You\u2019re going to be asked to pitch in spots where maybe you haven\u2019t all year, but everybody is on board with that because the goal is winning the championship. Honestly, it\u2019s pretty easy to put yourself to the side when you\u2019re all going towards one goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Cubs pitcher Clay Holmes chats in the dugout in the sixth inning against the Dodgers at Wrigley Field on Aug. 4, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Gausman will make his Cubs debut Friday in Kansas City, Mo., followed by Holmes on Saturday and Boyd on Sunday. That will be seven different starters in seven days for the Cubs, though Colin Rea and Javier Assad have already been told they will be pitching out of the bullpen for now.<\/p>\n

The Cubs on Thursday called up another deadline acquisition in left-hander Braxton Garrett<\/a> and sent Tyler Ferguson to Triple-A Iowa. Garrett was a starter in Miami and figures to compete for a rotation job next year but will also move to the bullpen for the rest of the season. Gausman is a free agent after the season, and Holmes figures to decline his option in November to seek a long-term deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I feel, it kind of lengthens and deepens our group,\u201d pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of the additions. \u201cWe can talk about starters, we can talk about the bullpen guys. To me, they\u2019re all interchangeable and all interconnected in a sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have good starting pitching, it always lets you push good pitchers you trust like Colin Rea and Javy Assad to the bullpen. Then it gives you an opportunity to use those guys in higher leverage situations. It doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not going to start again this year. It\u2019s just where we are right now and how we\u2019re going to move the pieces around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upside is that Rea and Assad are stretched out and can throw multiple innings to save the other leverage guys: de facto closer Jacob Webb, Ryan Rolison and newcomer Ryan Zeferjahn<\/a>. Holmes was a closer with the New York Yankees from 2022-24 with 74 saves and a 2.85 ERA before becoming a starter with the Mets in 2025. He said he would do whatever the Cubs need, but Counsell said Holmes would remain a starter.<\/p>\n

Closer Daniel Palencia (right flexor strain) and Hoby Milner (appendectomy) began rehab stints at Iowa on Wednesday and should be added to the bullpen when they return soon. And the hope is Ben Brown<\/a> (neck) will be back this season, too, though he will start with a bullpen session Friday and is still several weeks away.<\/p>\n

Justin Steele<\/a>, currently working out in Arizona, also continues to climb back for a bullpen role. Hottovy said \u201cthere\u2019s definitely an opportunity to use him in two-inning stints later in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Brown and Steele should be starters in 2027, if healthy.<\/p>\n

Cabrera, the only certainty for the Cubs\u2019 2027 rotation, made his first rehab start from a hamstring injury<\/a> Wednesday at Iowa, throwing 55 pitches. He is a wild card in this game of rotation roulette and could be a valuable bullpen piece in October.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy answers reporters’ questions before a game against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on Aug. 6, 2026. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got an electric arm,\u201d Hottovy said of Cabrera. \u201cIt would be crazy not to think about him being able to come in a postseason game and throw at the back end 2-3 innings of the game. But it\u2019s important for him to start right now for sure. He looked really good (Wednesday) and is trending in the right direction. Our goal is to get him back as a starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow things end up at the end of the year? You know how the postseason goes. It\u2019s an all-hands-on-deck approach anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Jed Hoyer wanted to add veterans who know how to handle October, and Gausman and Holmes may be the keys to making a long run.<\/a> The Cubs begin a six-game trip to Kansas City and Washington, which will be a test ride for the new starters and the continuation of Counsell\u2019s seasonlong challenge of piecing together the pitching puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be nervous,\u201d Gausman said. \u201cAnytime you start out with a new team, obviously I want to start off well. It\u2019ll be fun. I\u2019m looking forward to playing with these guys and the defense behind me and just going out and being on the attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gausman chuckled over Hoyer referring to him as his \u201cwhite whale,\u201d<\/a> which would make Gausman the second whale to pitch for the Cubs after Rick \u201cthe Whale\u201d Reuschel.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years when I was in Baltimore early in my career, we were always linked to the Cubs for whatever reason,\u201d Gausman said. \u201cAnd it never happened. When I told my wife we were going to the Cubs, she said, \u2018It\u2019s about time.\u2019 Pretty cool that we\u2019re finally here, and in a place where they always liked you and always wanted you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs went from not having enough starting pitchers to maybe having too many, a dilemma that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,8218,138,24,4245,1712,576,161,29966,95298,94706,389,4,3449,6961],"class_list":["post-771865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-braxton-garrett","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-clay-holmes","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-cubs-rotation","tag-cubs-starting-pitchers","tag-cubs-trade-deadline","tag-kevin-gausman","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-trade-deadline","tag-tommy-hottovy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117050817159326833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771865","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=771865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}