Chicago Cubs linked to familiar name as one-year rotation fill-in

It’s pretty a pretty bizarre reality facing a team when every one of its starting pitchers will likely be gone in the offseason.

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That’s the situation facing the Chicago Cubs as they begin to work on putting together their 2027 pitching staff. The team’s entire end-of-season starting rotation—Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, David Petersion—is eligible for free agency and likely to pitching for other teams next season.

The remaining starters on the Cubs’ roster—Justin Steele, Ben Brown, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera—are buried under mounds of question marks and doubts due to injury and/or inconsistency.

All of this puts Chicago and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer under extreme pressure to build a strong, stable starting rotation to support a talented nucleus of position players looking to make a real postseason run within their window of opportunity.

With a lot of money coming off the books, the team will have the budget to acquire some quality arms out of the free agent talent pool.

Realistically, though, the Cubs’ need for pitching is so great that they won’t be able to fill all their roster holes from free agency. They’ll have to also pick up some talent via trade.

One possible trade target, recently mentioned by Matt Johnson of Sportsnaut, is also a familiar one—Mackenzie Gore.

MacKenzie Gore to the Cubs?

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The lefty starter was frequently linked to the Cubs via rumor at the 2025 trade deadline when he was still pitching for the Washington Nationals. Prior to the 2026 season, the 27-year-old signed a one-year free agent contract with the Texas Rangers and the Cubs talk was put on the back burner.

Despite a disappointing 2026, in which he posted a 4.58 ERA over 34 starts, Gore could still be on the list of Cubs targets in this time of pitching need. He’s only under contract through this season, so trading for him would be a one-year deal. But with a reasonable price tag attached to him—expected to be somewhere between $8-9 million after arbitration—he might be a savvy pickup if the asking price is right.

Per Johnson:

“The Texas Rangers roster is one of the oldest in MLB, and they clearly aren’t close enough to get back into contention, especially if payroll is going to be reduced. Instead, we’d keep an eye on MacKenzie Gore being traded for the second winter in a row. Gore, age 27, is under contract through 2027 and is coming off a season where he registered a 4.58 ERA with a 23.2 percent strikeout rate across 34 starts. He very much fits what the Chicago Cubs would be looking for in a starting pitcher. Chicago has also shown a tendency for prioritizing short-term additions with only one full season of control, with Gore probably preferred given the Cubs’ weaker farm system.”

A good fit?

Gore isn’t the front-of-rotation stud the Cubs need, but he certainly fits the bill of a sturdy No. 4 or No. 5 starter on a team looking to make a postseason run, even though his reputation as a flyball pitcher coming to Wrigley might give Chicago some pause.

However, at this point, no possibilities can be discarded.

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