3 Cubs whose roles just changed coming off a crazy trade deadline

Jed Hoyer needed to reshape the Chicago Cubs pitching staff at the trade deadline and that's exactly what he did, adding Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman to the rotation, taking a flyer on former first-round pick Braxton Garrett and adding a potentially elite bullpen piece in Ryan Zeferjahn.

Veteran outfielder Tyrone Taylor also joins the mix, coming to Chicago in the same deal that netted Holmes, giving manager Craig Counsell a fourth outfielder who has absolutely lit up left-handed pitching. So while my first thought was 'nice knowing you, Justin Dean' - here are three other Cubs whose roles just shifted pretty dramatically.

3 Cubs players who will fill new roles after a chaotic MLB trade deadline

Colin Rea

Since the start of the 2025 season, Colin Rea has been forced into the rotation - and he's responded by throwing more innings during that span than any other Cubs pitcher. That's a testament to his efforts as well as a damning indictment of the Chicago starting rotation over the last two years, but at long last, it seems like he'll finally go back to the role he was signed to fill: long reliever/swingman.

It hasn't always been pretty for the right-hander this year (-0.1 bWAR, 4.78 FIP), but he's eaten innings and that's been critical to the team weathering a storm of injuries. Rea has been brilliant at Wrigley and struggled on the road, but now Counsell should be able to put him in better spots to succeed and perhaps form a nice tandem with Justin Steele, who will be watched closely, when he returns.

Javier Assad

Rea and Javier Assad offer a similar tale and with the additions of Gausman and Holmes, not to mention David Peterson, who's been brilliant apart from one bad start since joining the Cubs, and there just aren't enough starts to go around. Unlike Rea, though, Assad has options remaining and could be stashed at Iowa for rotation depth.

The right-hander carries a 3.75 ERA in 18 appearances (9 starts) spanning 69 2/3 innings. For years, he's outperformed expected metrics and that once again has been the case in 2026 (4.57 xERA, 4.82 FIP). He won't ever be among the Cubs' statistical leaders, but Assad has done anything and everything asked of him - and done it all pretty well.

Jacob Webb

While Hunter Harvey and Phil Maton have been complete busts, one of the lower-profile bullpen additions from last offseason, Jacob Webb, has been a godsend. The right-hander has become a consistent late-inning presence for Counsell but with the addition of Zeferjahn, he'll slide down the pecking order - even further so when Daniel Palencia returns from the IL.

That doesn't mean Webb won't get key outs for the Cubs. He absolutely will. But we'll probably see less of him the eighth and ninth and more in high-leverage spots in the sixth and seventh as Chicago looks to shorten ballgames and dial in the pitching staff as the regular season winds down and October draws nearer.

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