MLB insider made Jefferson Rojas' 2026 trade deadline Cubs future crystal clear

Although less than a week remains until the trade deadline, teams widely appear to be in a holding pattern. There's a real lack of meaningful rumors so far connecting the Chicago Cubs, or any organization for that matter, to specific moves. That's reflective of a tight league, where so many teams are still hanging around in the Wild Card race and decisions about whether to buy or sell are still actively being made. Nonetheless, everyone knows exactly what market Jed Hoyer will be shopping in and what names are likeliest to move.

Landing a starter is of the utmost priority to give this Cubs team a real chance in the postseason, and all signs are pointing to the front office getting more aggressive than in years past. Over on Threads, Jeff Passan recently responded to a question with the assertion that just about everything is on the table to make a deal happen, save for giving up Josiah Hartshorn. Big league pieces like Matt Shaw and Pedro Ramirez will be available for the right player, as will virtually all other prospects from #2 down. It's specifically that #2, Jefferson Rojas, that has been a common answer for who the Cubs' biggest trade chip is.

Back in April, when the team's need for more pitching was becoming apparent with an avalanche of injuries, including Cade Horton going under the knife for Tommy John surgery, Rojas was pegged as the likeliest player to be dealt from the farm. Cut to Tuesday, and the sentiment is the same. MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo were asked about the Top-100 prospects whom they felt would be likely to move by the deadline on August 3. One of Callis' four answers was Rojas for obvious reasons.

For starters, he had some praise for the young shortstop's bat amidst an impressive 2026 campaign in Double-A Knoxville. At only 21, he's currently hitting .272/.338/.467 with a 116 wRC+, all while cutting his strikeout rate to 15.9% and launching a career-high 15 home runs. The age, combined with the massive upside and advanced skills, is why he's ranked 64th overall on MLB Pipeline's prospect list. The problem for the Cubs, though, is that he's an infielder who is likely to be up within the next year or two. As has been mentioned and Callis reiterated, the long-term contracts of Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, and Alex Bregman, which run through 2029 at least, leave no room for him to get regular major league starts.

Rojas was Callis's third pick in his and Mayo's "draft" of prospects likely to move. Preceding him were former Cubs farmhand turned breakout Dodgers minor leaguer Zyhir Hope and Brewers outfielder Josh Adamczewski, while another LA outfielder, Charles Davalan, rounded out his list. Mayo, meanwhile, had no Chicago names picked, but did mention more names from the Dodgers, Yankees, Mariners, and Guardians.

Jim Callis' Jefferson Rojas mention suggests an aggressive Cubs trade deadline

To have Rojas come to mind for an MLB insider for such an exercise suggests even more confidence that the Cubs will make a splash. Callis, for his part, sees the infielder being a potential key piece in a Joe Ryan or Reid Detmers trade. As the #2 overall prospect in the system, he's not a player to be moved for a rental or a reliever (aside from a Mason Miller package), but a legitimately impactful move for now and the future. Rojas is simply valued too highly, even if he's a bit locked out in the Cubs farm system.

A strong year on the farm has given Hoyer a solid selection of prospects that could be pulled from for a competitive package to land a controllable starter. With the Angels seeking young catching help, their #3 prospect, Owen Ayers, would make sense in a deal to get one of Detmers or Jose Soriano. They also have a wealth of young outfielders with Ethan Conrad, Kane Kepley, and Kevin Alcantara, aside from Hartshorn, as well as a couple of rising arms in Kaleb Wing and Brooks Caple accompanying Jaxon Wiggins. That's without mentioning infielders who'll have trouble finding a permanent home in Chicago, like the recently promoted James Triantos.

The pieces are there to make this year's deadline one of the most impressive in recent memory on the North Side. Prices may be high with the shortage of pure sellers, but when experts are so aggressively talking about big moves, the players are expecting said moves, and the front office's actions, namely designating Jameson Taillon for assignment, are signaling impactful additions, it seems like Hoyer and Carter Hawkins won't be talking about 2032 this time.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow