{"id":978685,"date":"2026-08-03T21:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978685\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T21:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:40:18","slug":"cubs-to-acquire-clay-holmes-tyrone-taylor-from-mets-for-jefferson-rojas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978685\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs To Acquire Clay Holmes, Tyrone Taylor From Mets For Jefferson Rojas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cubs are acquiring pitcher Clay Holmes<\/a><\/strong> and outfielder Tyrone Taylor<\/a><\/strong> from the Mets for infield prospect Jefferson Rojas<\/a><\/strong>, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post<\/a>.\u00a0 Heyman notes that the deal is pending medical review.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Holmes, 33, pitched to a sterling 2.39 ERA for the Mets across nine starts before suffering a fractured fibula from a Spencer Jones<\/a><\/strong> line drive in mid-May.\u00a0 The veteran sinkerballer inked a three-year, $38MM pact with the Mets in December 2024, though he has the ability to opt out of the $12MM he\u2019s owed in 2027.<\/p>\n

Holmes seized the opportunity to return to rotation work upon signing with the Mets, authoring a successful 2025 season in which he posted a 3.53 ERA in 165 2\/3 frames.\u00a0 Assuming a capable return from his fibula fracture, Holmes will surely exercise that opt-out.\u00a0 He\u2019s made a trio of rehab starts thus far.<\/p>\n

In throwing a sinker more than half the time, Holmes\u2019 55.8% groundball rate since 2025 ranks fifth among qualified starters.\u00a0 He\u2019s not particularly adept at missing bats or limiting walks, but he naturally limits the longball and posts low barrel rates.<\/p>\n

Holmes should certainly benefit from his new infield defense, in which Dansby Swanson<\/a><\/strong>, Nico Hoerner<\/a><\/strong>, Alex Bregman<\/a><\/strong>, and Michael Busch<\/a><\/strong> are above-average defenders to various degrees.\u00a0 Francisco Lindor<\/a><\/strong> remains a strong defender, but Holmes wasn\u2019t getting quite that level of support from Mark Vientos<\/a><\/strong>, Marcus Semien<\/a><\/strong>, Bo Bichette<\/a><\/strong>, and Brett Baty<\/a><\/strong> in New York.<\/p>\n

With a pitching staff decimated by injuries this year, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has racked up key additions in the last few days.\u00a0 Holmes and yesterday\u2019s pickup<\/a> Kevin Gausman<\/a><\/strong> are both rentals who will slot in toward the front of the team\u2019s rotation alongside Shota Imanaga<\/a><\/strong> and Matthew Boyd<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Offseason pickup Edward Cabrera<\/a><\/strong> is working his way back from a hamstring injury, and Ben Brown<\/a><\/strong> may yet return from a stress reaction in his neck.\u00a0 While Cade Horton<\/a><\/strong> is out for the season, Justin Steele<\/a><\/strong> may return in a relief role.\u00a0 David Peterson<\/a><\/strong> and Colin Rea<\/a><\/strong> provide added depth. Braxton Garrett<\/a><\/strong>, also acquired today, may snag some starts as well.<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 rotation is not exactly fearsome, but the reinforcements will be welcome.\u00a0 At 6.5 games out in the NL Central, the Cubs are unlikely to run down the Brewers but do hold a strong chance of maintaining a wild card spot.\u00a0 Hoyer also made a major bullpen addition today, acquiring<\/a> strikeout artist Ryan Zeferjahn<\/a><\/strong> from the Angels.<\/p>\n

The Cubs also pick up Taylor, a 32-year-old right-handed hitter who\u2019s been with the Mets since 2024.\u00a0 The speedy Taylor can handle all three outfield positions and has shown above-average defensive chops prior to this year.\u00a0 He\u2019s surged to an unexpected 117 wRC+ in 159 plate appearances in 2026, largely on the strength of 10 home runs.\u00a0 Taylor has hit southpaws well this year, though it\u2019s only been 77 PA.\u00a0 Ian Happ<\/a><\/strong> has been particularly bad against lefties on the season, so perhaps Taylor will steal a few at-bats there.\u00a0 Both outfielders will be eligible for free agency after the season, as will Seiya Suzuki<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Rojas, the Mets add a 55-grade prospect, per MLB Pipeline<\/a>.\u00a0 Baseball America gave Rojas the same grade prior to the season, noting the infielder\u2019s \u201cabove-average hitting ability.\u00a0 Rojas can play third base, shortstop, and second base acceptably.\u00a0 At 21 years old, Rojas has started to figure out Double-A, posting a decent 114 wRC+ in 390 PA this year.<\/p>\n

Hoyer has not been shy in dishing out quality prospects and young players of late, shedding Rojas, Moises Ballesteros<\/a><\/strong>, Jonathon Long<\/a><\/strong>, Mason McGwire<\/a><\/strong>, Jace Beck<\/a><\/strong>, Brett Bateman<\/a><\/strong>, and Ty Southisene<\/a><\/strong> in deals for Gausman, Holmes, Taylor, Zeferjahn, and Garrett.\u00a0 The Cubs matched up with the Mets back in June as well, sending them Cole Mathis<\/a><\/strong> for Peterson.<\/p>\n

Amid an extremely disappointing season, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has dealt Holmes, Freddy Peralta<\/a><\/strong>, Luke Weaver<\/a><\/strong>, Brooks Raley<\/a><\/strong>, Huascar Brazoban<\/a><\/strong>, and Peterson for prospects.\u00a0 And he\u2019s likely not done yet, with less than forty minutes remaining until the trade deadline at the time of this writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs are acquiring pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the Mets for infield prospect Jefferson…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":978686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[20404,62,69662,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-978685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-clay-holmes","tag-sports","tag-tyrone-taylor","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117033751605435658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978685","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=978685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}