The Los Angeles Angels' trade with the Texas Rangers on Wednesday may have done more than move Logan O'Hoppe and Chase Silseth for Angel Arredondo. It may have also nudged the Chicago Cubs closer to a deadline pursuit of Reid Detmers, one of the most talked-about names on the market.
Jed Hoyer is still looking for help for a rotation that needs another arm, and Detmers fits the kind of pitcher Chicago has been tied to recently: controllable, young enough to matter beyond this season and capable of missing bats. The Cubs were trying to avoid more colossal meltdowns as they saw in St. Louis on Wednesday night, which only sharpened the need for a starter who can steady things now.
That is why Detmers keeps coming up. He is under arbitration control through 2028, and that kind of team control is the first thing clubs pay for when the deadline gets close. He also misses bats, which matters because a starter who can finish innings and avoid the kind of blowups that wreck a game is exactly what Chicago has been searching for.
The Angels' own trade adds another layer. If they were willing to move O'Hoppe and Silseth in a deal widely labeled a bust, that does not automatically mean they will part with Detmers. But it does raise the possibility that Los Angeles will ask for a bigger return on its other controllable pieces, and that changes the price Chicago has to consider.
That price may be steep. An asking cost of two top-100 prospects for Detmers is not being ruled out, which tells you how the market views him. The Cubs like the fit, but fit alone does not solve the math. If Hoyer decides Detmers is the arm to chase, he will have to decide whether the rotation upgrade is worth paying at that level.
Jose Soriano is in the same conversation, and for good reason. He is also controllable through 2028, brings high velocity and wipeout breaking stuff from the right side, and owns a well-above-average groundball rate. The difference is control: there are more concerns there, which makes Detmers the cleaner target if Chicago is weighing upside against risk.
For now, the question is less whether the Cubs want help than which kind of help they are willing to buy. The Angels have made it clear they can move pieces, and the deadline market has already made Detmers expensive. If Chicago pushes, it will be because Hoyer believes the cost of standing pat is higher than the cost of paying up.
