Crazy Cubs rotation depth could turn into a huge asset at the trade deadline

The days of bagging 200+ innings out of five starting pitchers and call it a season is a thing of the distant past at this point. Three pitchers in all of Major League Baseball eclipsed the 200-inning mark in 2025, a testament to just how much the game has changed over time.

It's now a world of constant load management, making starting rotation depth more critical than ever before. That's evident in how teams, including the Chicago Cubs, stockpile pitching - and why Jed Hoyer's assembled mix of arms is an encouraging sign heading into the 2026 campaign.

Seriously, the depth is crazy. Look at this list.

Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele (expected to return in the first half), Edward Cabrera, Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, Jaxon Wiggins, Ben Brown and Colin Rea.

That's 12 names for five spots. Of course, some come with questions: Steele's unknown return date, Brown's inconsistency at the big-league level, Cabrera's checkered injury history - it's an imperfect mix, but one that, at least in terms of depth, offers a ton of upside for a team looking to build on a 92-win season from a year ago.

Cubs could tap into rotation depth at the 2026 trade deadline

But let's assume for a moment that the Cubs hit late July and things are firing on all cylinders. It doesn't seem to matter whose name Craig Counsell pencils in to start on any given day; the results are there and the team has a chance to win. Both Imanaga and Taillon are on straight one-year deals, which at least makes me wonder if they could be dangled in trades this summer to address other needs on the roster.

Boyd can be controlled in 2027 via a $15 million mutual option and Rea via a $7.5 million club option. All this to say is this depth could wind up being valuable not just in the sense that the Cubs have backup plans to their backup plans in the rotation, but potential built-in trade chips if things fall the right way.

Does this mean they have to move off expiring contracts when the end goal is a deep October run? Absolutely not. But the option could at least be at their disposal - and that sort of flexibility could be very valuable to Hoyer and the Cubs' front office.