One of the themes of the offseason for the Cubs was building pitching depth. They built depth in the rotation by trading for Edward Cabrera and re-signing Shota Imanaga and Colin Rea, even with the return of Justin Steele expected this season. And after losing several bullpen arms, they restocked by re-signing Thielbar, signing Harvey, Maton, Milner and Webb, and getting some potentially viable non-roster relievers. And this was in addition to potential bullpen arms already in the system in Brown, Assad, Hodge, Wicks, Roberts, Hollowell, Rolison, Little and Riley Martin.
But I don’t think anyone expected that this depth would be tested so early in the season. Spring training took out Hodge and Wicks, and non-roster signee Trent Thornton appears to still be recovering from his Achilles injury from 2025.
And things have gotten worse after the season started. The big blow, obviously, was losing Cade Horton for the season with an elbow injury. But Matthew Boyd was also put on the IL with a strained bicep — although he should be back next week. This has required moving Colin Rea into the rotation to replace Horton and bringing up Javier Assad to replace Rea.
The bullpen is where things have truly gotten crazy. Two of the new signings who were supposed to be possible setup men, Phil Maton and Hunter Harvey are both on the IL. And one of the players brought up to replace them, Ethan Roberts, had an unfortunate incident involving a medicine ball and a vent: https://www.mlb.com/news/ethan-roberts-placed-on-injured-list-with-finger-injury. Another potential replacement, Gavin Hollowell, is on the minor league IL with an elbow injury. Jack Neely, who was DFA’d at the end of Spring, is also on the Minor League IL. And the Cubs top pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, has been shut down for the time being.
It had gotten so bad, that an name I hadn’t even considered, non-roster lefty Charlie Barnes, got a call-up, taking the 40-man roster spot that was opened when Dylan Carlson was DFA’d. Barnes didn’t last long, giving up 3 runs in 3 innings in a mop-up appearance before going back to Iowa. I would not be shocked to see him DFA’s in the next few weeks to make room for another non-roster reliever.
With Roberts injured and Barnes sent down, we saw Ryan Rolison and Luke Little come back to the majors. Both are interesting guys, and along with Riley Martin, who was the first pitcher brought up as an injury replacement, we could be seeing a lot of them this year as additional lefties out of the pen.
Here is a timeline of the moves:
| Date | Player Out | Player in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4/5/26 | Cade Horton | Riley Martin | Rea added to rotarion |
| 4/6/26 | Matthew Boyd | Javier Assad | |
| 4/10/26 | Phil Maton | Ethan Roberts | |
| 4/12/26 | Hunter Harvey | Charlie Barnes | Barnes takes Carlson’s 40-man spot |
| 4/13/26 | Charlie Barnes | Ryan Rolison | |
| 4/13/26 | Ethan Roberts | Luke Little |
Shockingly, the Cubs now have 5 left-handed relievers, which is the most I can ever remember them having. It allowed them to use Martin as an opener yesterday, which came in handy against a Phillies team with Schwarber and Harper near the top of the lineup.
Little is the guy I’m hoping can figure things out, especially with his control. He has a high-90s fastball, but his walk rate is astronomical. Could he get it together, a la Daniel Palencia? Maybe. But he might be another Dillon Maples.
Rolison is also interesting, but not someone we are depending on.
There are a few more names in AAA we could see. none are on the 40-man roster, so they would have to be a corresponding move, such as a DFA of Barnes or Ben Cowles, whose slash line in Iowa is an paltry .158/.319/.237.
A few of the more high profile non-roster signings who might be considered are Collin Snider (6.59 ERA in 5 games), Corbin Martin (4.50 ERA in only 2 games due to injury) and Vince Velasquez (4.38 ERA in 3 games).
There is also the possibility that the front office is looking for a player currently on another roster who could be picked up on waivers or via a minor trade, similar to what we saw with Drew Pomeranz and Tom Cosgrove last season.
The shaky start for the Cubs in 2026 has certainly not been helped by all these pitcher injuries. Hopefully T.S. Eliot was right, and April IS the cruelest month, with fewer arm injuries and IL stints for Cubs’ pitchers as the season continues.
Cubs in 7 
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