Who is Andrew Wantz?

Lost in the news of the DFA of Jameson Taillon is the news that the Cubs brought up Andrew Wantz to replace him. Of all the players the Cubs could have promoted to eat up some innings, Wantz would have been well down on my list. But I think he is someone they will probably give some innings to in non-leverage situations, and then DFA as soon as they add reinformements.

There were several other guys in Iowa the Cubs might have added:

• Jordan Wicks is still on the 40-man roster. But he is 0-8 in Iowa with a 7.41 ERA. I don’t see him sticking around in the organization after this season, which would be very disappointing for a former #1 draft pick.
• Corbin Martin showed some promise earlier in the season, although his 10.80 ERA in Chicago, and 5.64 ERA in Iowa would say otherwise.
• Jayden Murray is still around, and has a 2.45 ERA in 6 games in Iowa.
• Ty Blach actually pitched 3 scoreless innings in his brief stint in the majors. But he has a 6.32 ERA in Iowa.
• Jake Woodford went back to Iowa after being DFA’d.
• Luke Little is in AA, and is doing OK. But not well enough to be considered for a promotion to AAA, let alomg Chicago.
• Eduarnial Nunez is back healthy, and has a 2.57 ERA in 5 games. I would not be shocked if the Cubs gave him a chance at some point, but the upcoming roster crunch might prevent it.
• Antoine Kelly is a guy who seems to have earned a chance with a 1.47 ERA in 12 games with Iowa after being acquired in a trade from the Dodgers in June. He’s on the 40-man roster, so I’m not sure why he’s not been given a shot yet.

The Cubs picked up a few interesting veterans earlier this season, but it looks like none of them are still around:

• Drew Pomeranz was given a brief shot, but did not produce well enough in his 6 games, with a 7.94 ERA
• Liam Hendriks was released on July 17th
• Aaron Bummer was released in July and signed with the Royals to a minor league deal

So who did the Cubs choose? Andrew Wantz?

Wantz has mostly been a reliever, logging 91 appearances for the Angels from 2021-2024. He suffered an elbow injury in 2024 while with the Angels, and then pitched in only 12 games in 2025, all in the minors after signing with Tampa.

2026 has not been stellar, as he got in only one game with the Rays, and hat a 7.04 ERA in 18 minor league appearances. He’s done a bit better since the Cubs signed him to a minor league deal, with a 5.04 ERA over 7 games – 3 of which were starts.

Here is more on Wantz when the Cubs signed him from Dustin Riese at CubsHQ: https://www.cubshq.com/cubs-baseball/story/cubs-sign-veteran-reliever-andrew-wantz-25172