Cubs continue to bolster rotation, net Clay Holmes in swap with Mets

A day after strengthening their rotation with a two-time All Star in Kevin Gausman, the Cubs added another arm on trade-deadline day, landing Clay Holmes in a deal with the Mets.

Holmes, like Gausman, was seen as one of the better pitchers on the trade block this summer. The 33-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched since May, sidelined with a fractured fibula. He’s made three minor league rehab starts in the last week and a half as he works his way back to a big league mound.

Before the injury, Holmes had a stellar 2.39 ERA in nine starts. He was strong for the Mets last season, too, with a 3.53 ERA in 31 outings, 30 of them starts.

He was twice an All-Star as a reliever, in 2022 and 2024, when he pitched for the Yankees. He logged 165⅔ innings in his first season as a big league starter last year.

Holmes steps into a Cubs rotation that looks much different than it did just 24 hours earlier. The additions of Gausman and Holmes to a group that already includes lefties Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, both performing very well at this point in the season, figure to give them a wealth of options heading toward October.

The Cubs also boast lefty David Peterson, another trade acquisition from the Mets who has been quite effective in all but one of his starts since arriving, and will soon get righty Edward Cabrera back from a lengthy stay on the injured list. Righties Javier Assad and Colin Rea have been positive contributors as fill-ins during an injury-heavy campaign, and they figure to provide value as depth options.

This team knows how valuable that depth can be, stretched to its limits this season and fresh off depth issues helping them to an earlier-than-hoped playoff exit last fall. The Cubs acquired righty Braxton Garrett from the Marlins as part of their trade-deadline activity, sending him to the minors as yet another depth piece.

Landing Holmes — and outfielder Tyrone Taylor — came at a cost, as the Cubs parted with infield prospect Jefferson Rojas to make the deal happen. Rojas, playing at Double-A Knoxville, was ranked as the team’s No. 2 prospect and the No. 63 prospect in baseball overall.

After balking at the high cost of pitching at last year’s deadline, team president Jed Hoyer showed no such conservatism this time around, trading away six of the organization’s top 30 prospects — and young slugger Moises Ballesteros — in a flurry of deadline deals.