Former Cubs prospect lost in Michael Busch trade could have a Dodgers’ role in 2027

In hindsight, the Chicago Cubs' trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for Michael Busch worked out well for both sides. While Busch had a down year in 2026, especially in the power department, he's still locked in as the team's everyday first baseman through 2029, with the potential to be one of the best bats in the lineup, as shown in his breakout 2025 season with a 140 wRC+.

Zyhir Hope, meanwhile, broke out in a big way in LA's system, ranking 26th overall in baseball by MLB Pipeline this offseason and becoming one of the main pieces of the Tarik Skubal trade.

The Jackson Ferris side of the deal, however, hasn't been as clearly positive. Hopes were high in 2022 when the Cubs drafted him in the second round out of high school after picking up Cade Horton. Despite all the fear of trading away the lefty ranked as one of their best pitching prospects, though, he hasn't entirely thrived in the Dodgers' system. He currently ranks 17th overall for the team after struggling to a 5.12 ERA and 4.47 FIP in a full season at Triple-A Oklahoma.

Still, Ferris is only 22 years old, so it'd be foolish to count him out yet. Moreover, his current situation may find him in the big leagues next year. He'll be Rule 5 eligible, meaning the Dodgers are virtually guaranteed to add him to their 40-man roster to protect him. Second, he finished out the 2026 season on a high note, appearing in six games from mid-August on and tossing 36 innings of 1.00 ERA baseball.

MLB's Sonja Chen specifically pegged Ferris as a potential big-league contributor in her Dodgers' Beat newsletter alongside top prospects Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota, though potentially not as a starter. LA still has a wealth of options, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki all expected to make the rotation, and one of Justin Wrobleski, Emmet Sheehan, and Gavin Stone all competing for the final spot. Shohei Ohtani is also bound to return to the mound at some point, and they're among the likeliest contenders to re-sign Skubal.

While it would be a change for Ferris, who's only ever been a starter, it's easy to see his upside as a bullpen arm. His groundball rate was an elite 55 percent last year in Triple-A. In those final six games, his strikeout rate also soared to 35 percent.

Cubs could've used Jackson Ferris, but that trade isn't the problem

Ferris could've believably factored in for this year's Cubs team, considering just how many holes they have to fill in free agency. Their 2027 rotation, as it stands, is barren, with Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera, Ben Brown, Braxton Garrett, and Javier Assad as the currently projected group. With or without the young lefty, they'd still need to make a ton of moves, but it would've helped nonetheless to have another starting pitching prospect on the way.

The Cubs have developed barely any pitching in the nearly three years since trading Ferris, outside of his draftmate Cade Horton. Only Jaxon Wiggins is particularly close to making a big-league impact, and he has a ton of questions as well. Recent draftee Cade Townsend is far off from arriving in the Friendly Confines, and they've lacked any game-changing developmental wins.

The price of that lack of development will be felt this offseason when the Cubs have to pay a premium to rebuild the rotation. The longer it takes to right the pipeline, the longer they'll keep sinking their money into the rotation, and the more painful the cost of trading the few quality pitching prospects they do have in deals for players like Busch will be.

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