{"id":123042,"date":"2025-08-06T07:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123042\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T07:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:38:10","slug":"chicago-cubs-trade-deadline-gamble-on-michael-soroka-not-paying-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123042\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs’ trade deadline gamble on Michael Soroka not paying off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Cubs\u00a0president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer understood the gamble the organization might be taking when they acquired right-hander Michael Soroka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Soroka, the only starting pitcher the Cubs traded for, has a lengthy injury history and experienced a significant decrease in velocity in the last four weeks with Washington, prompting the 28-year-old to undergo an MRI before his final Nationals start June 29 \u201cfor my peace of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soroka\u2019s first start in a Cubs uniform<\/a> certainly didn\u2019t play out as the front office envisioned when he was acquired less than one week ago.<\/p>\n

Soroka landed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday with a right shoulder strain after lasting just two innings in Monday\u2019s start. He experienced right shoulder discomfort on a second-inning fastball.<\/p>\n

Soroka has been diagnosed with a low-to-mid-grade shoulder strain, manager Craig Counsell said after Tuesday\u2019s 5-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Soroka will be shut down for 7-10 days and then be re-evaluated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, not terrible news,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n

The Cubs recalled right-hander Nate Pearson from Triple-A Iowa to take Soroka\u2019s roster spot.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t Soroka\u2019s first time dealing with a shoulder issue. He spent two months on the IL last year with the White Sox for the same injury. Soroka has also dealt with right shoulder inflammation twice before: in September 2023, which required an IL stint for the final month of his season in Atlanta, and during the 2018 season, which caused him to be sidelined most of the year.<\/p>\n

Hoyer said the Cubs knew Soroka\u2019s velocity had been trending down \u2014 going from a season-high 94.9 mph average on his four-seam fastball in his start on June 22 to as low as a 90.9 mph average on July 23 \u2014 and had talked through it extensively in the lead-up to trading two minor leaguers to the Nationals<\/a> for Soroka last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t gotten a full report yet, but obviously disappointed,\u201d Hoyer said Tuesday. \u201cWe did a lot of due diligence, a ton of research, and if it doesn\u2019t work out, that\u2019s on me. That\u2019s the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Michael Soroka \u2014 the lone starting pitcher Chicago Cubs acquired at deadline \u2014 headed to IL after his debut<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When factoring in the starting pitcher trade market and asking price, the Cubs felt Soroka, despite the velocity concerns, was a good bet to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly that risk profile was known, and we decided, given the asking price and given the fact that we felt like he was a notch above some of the other guys we were talking about in terms of talent and development opportunities, we thought it was the right risk,\u201d Hoyer said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, he came out of the game last night, and right now it\u2019s not looking like a good bet, but ultimately that\u2019s our job. We make bets on these things and that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s not going to help us the rest of the year. Still waiting on the medical stuff, but we\u2019ve got to adjust and then the next guy up to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the calculus in trading for Soroka was knowing the Cubs likely wouldn\u2019t need him in the rotation for the rest of the season with right-handers Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad currently on rehab assignment at Triple A and nearing a return. The Cubs more broadly viewed Soroka as an \u201cout getter,\u201d manager Craig Counsell\u2019s go-to description for a pitcher capable of being used in a variety of roles, including giving multiple innings out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n

The loss of Soroka for at least the next two weeks won\u2019t alter the Cubs\u2019 plans for progressing Taillon\u2019s and Assad\u2019s readiness to come off the IL, Hoyer said. They don\u2019t want to hurry either pitcher, and two off days within the next week allow the Cubs to adjust the rotation as needed in the meantime. Assad will make at least one more Triple-A start Wednesday while Taillon gets the ball Friday for Iowa. Right-hander Ben Brown, who allowed one run over four innings in relief of Soroka during Monday\u2019s 3-2 loss, will be a possible option to start if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys, we need to do the right thing by them,\u201d Hoyer said of Taillon and Assad. \u201cI think sometimes we think the deadline is close to the end of the season, we have two full months to play, and we need to make sure those guys come back and are ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 5, 2025 at 5:32 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs\u00a0president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer understood the gamble the organization might be taking when they acquired…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[5438,960,1271,1816,5386,1818,76040,5439,63313,21891,74573,1822,52993],"class_list":{"0":"post-123042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-ben-brown","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-craig-counsell","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-injured-list","15":"tag-jameson-taillon","16":"tag-javier-assad","17":"tag-jed-hoyer","18":"tag-michael-soroka","19":"tag-mlb-baseball","20":"tag-mlb-trade-deadline"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114980684297604718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}