The Cubs acquired left-hander David Peterson from the Mets Thursday, a first major move as injuries push the team into rotation-level thinness. Team president Jed Hoyer said he had been discussing the deal for six weeks before injuries to Edward Cabrera and Be
New York — David Peterson might not be the pitcher who singlehandedly fixes what’s gone wrong for the Cubs’ staff.
But in the span of a few days, the left-hander has become the front office’s clearest attempt to plug a hole that now feels big enough to swallow a whole rotation.
The Cubs acquired Peterson in a trade with the Mets on Thursday. The team expects him to be “next man up,” with his first start coming during the Cubs’ series with the division-leading Brewers this weekend.
Team president Jed Hoyer said he’d been in conversations with the Mets about Peterson for six weeks. with this week’s injuries to right-handers Edward Cabrera and Ben Brown accelerating the timeline. Peterson, an All Star last year, has struggled this season and left the Mets with a 6.09 ERA. Still, Hoyer pointed to a pathway to better outcomes tied to the way Peterson prevents hard contact.
“He’s been a really good pitcher in the big leagues. He throws strikes. He keeps the ball on the ground, which is something we haven’t done particularly well,” Hoyer said before Thursday’s series finale in Queens. “And with our defense, it felt like a pitcher where there was upside there.
“We do field ground balls really well, and he’s really good at that. Hopefully, we can help him that way.”
In other words, the hope in Chicago is not just that Peterson can arrive and compete, but that his ground-ball approach—he carries a 51.1% ground-ball rate—can mesh with the Cubs’ defensive strength to change what the team sees on batted balls.
Yet even if Peterson helps immediately, Hoyer made clear this is only part of a larger problem.
Cabrera and Brown are both expected to be down weeks. Their absences join a growing list that already includes righties Jameson Taillon and Cade Horton and lefty Justin Steele on the shelf. Hoyer described the strain bluntly.
“We kind of have a rotation on the IL right now,” he said. “Guys are going to have to step up. It was nice to get Peterson, but there’s going to be more challenges ahead. We have to be prepared with that. talking about small trades. waiver-wire [pick-ups]. released players. just looking everywhere we can for reinforcements.
“We can certainly overcome it. I think we will overcome it. But we’re going to have to do some things differently than we imagined.”
The timing matters here. A late-June trade isn’t the typical strategy for teams that prefer to wait until the trade deadline nears. The Cubs chose the opposite pace, getting Peterson at the cost of sending 2024 second-rounder Cole Mathis to the Mets.
The front office also moved outside the trade window earlier in the week. Wednesday, the team added righty Bryse Wilson on a waiver claim. Wilson posted a 6.69 ERA with the White Sox last season, and he could be asked to fill a variety of pitching roles with the Cubs short on options.
Cubs skipper Craig Counsell, who managed Wilson with the Brewers, said the right-hander fits the kind of moment he’s walking into.
“He’s just a ‘I’ll do whatever I need to do, do whatever it takes’ type of competitor. And that’s kind of the situation that he’s walking into,” Counsell said. “He excels in situations like that. … He’s not going to be overwhelmed by anything.”
The question that hangs over every innings-eating decision now is the same one Cubs fans hear when the bullpen door swings open too often: can Chicago keep opponents from turning pitching shortages into runs?
With the team’s choices shrinking, Hoyer said the Cubs will lean on internal answers as well. Brown has posted the best pitching numbers on the team this season. and righty Javier Assad has been an effective run-preventer. Colin Rea has not been as dependable as he was a season ago. and the possibility of shifting him back to the bullpen is now off the table now that lefty Matthew Boyd is finally off the IL.
That leaves the minors and the waiver wire, but Hoyer suggested the margin for waiting is gone. He said the Cubs have had conversations about prospects in the minor leagues they haven’t called up yet, while refusing to name specific players.
“We’ve had some conversations about guys in the minors we haven’t called up,” Hoyer said. “I don’t want to name names on guys that could end up being next, but certainly, my guess is we’re going to be forced to use close to a record number of pitchers by the end of the year.”
Cubs David Peterson Mets Jed Hoyer Craig Counsell Brewers pitching injuries Edward Cabrera Ben Brown Bryse Wilson Matthew Boyd Jameson Taillon Cade Horton Justin Steele