This recently released All-Star could be Cubs' backup plan for struggling Ben Brown

Sunday's come-from-behind, series-clinching win over the Cincinnati Reds was powered by one of the best offenses in baseball, but young Chicago Cubs right-hander Ben Brown again struggled, raising questions about his long-term role on the pitching staff.

Brown allowed eight earned runs on seven hits, two walks, a wild pitch and four strikeouts, raising his ERA on the year to an unsightly 6.39. Thankfully, the bullpen locked down the Reds from that point on, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless frames as the bats chipped away before pulling ahead for good with a four-run top of the eighth.

As you can see, his last three starts, as a whole, haven't been great - but really, it's been his last two that have ballooned his numbers. Fourteen earned runs allowed in nine innings isn't going to get the job done - but with the Cubs' diminished rotation depth, options are scarce and we could soon see Jed Hoyer follow the blueprint he's executed so well in shoring up the bullpen over the years and find an arm of the scrap heap.

There's no downside to the Cubs taking a flyer on Kyle Gibson

The free-falling Baltimore Orioles released right-hander Kyle Gibson last week and the 37-year-old could be intrigued by joining the Cubs. A former All-Star, Gibson was essentially a league-average starter for the Cardinals in 2024, making 30 starts and falling just shy of 170 innings, working to a 4.24 ERA. He joined the Orioles on a one-year, $5.25 million deal this winter but things went sideways quickly in Baltimore.

He got a late start to the season after not signing till late March, but once he joined the Baltimore rotation, he nearly allowed two runs per inning pitched in four starts (10.54 FIP/2.919 WHIP). Chicago needs to add to the pitching staff and we saw them take a veteran in a similar situation recently, picking up Kenta Maeda, but that hasn't panned out at Triple-A Iowa (9 ER, 11 H, 5 2/3 IP in two starts).

There will be more impactful moves to come, but as Hoyer has pointed out, those types of trades typically don't occur in May. Bringing in Gibson and seeing if they can make some tweaks at Iowa and get him back on track is a no-risk move - and one that gives the 37-year-old a chance to play for a legitimate contender late in his MLB career.