Chicago has used 24 pitchers this year, and 11 of them were not even on the Opening Day roster. This shows exactly how badly their pitching depth is wiped out. With nine pitchers currently on the IL and three out for the whole year, the staff is shrinking every day. Just days after holding first place in the National League Central, the Cubs face big questions. They have fallen to third place after losing eight of their last 10 games, and team president Jed Hoyer is now trying to calm fans down.

The Chicago Cubs have had a 10-game winning streak twice this season already. They were the top team in MLB earlier this month. But now they have slipped to 8th after losing four consecutive games twice in the last couple of weeks. While their offense is somewhat holding up, the pitching staff is shrinking every day. 

The Cubs have already lost Cade Horton to Tommy John surgery and Justin Steele to UCL repair. While Horton is out for the season, Steele won’t be back before the All-Star break. On top of that, SP Matthew Boyd is undergoing left knee meniscus surgery, and they can’t expect him to be back until late June or early July. That’s why many fans and even analysts have suggested that the Cubs should look for a trade option to find a good starter. 

However, the President of Baseball Operations doesn’t see it that way. 

“It’s the nature of how the sport is covered that people feel like you can always go out and get replacements externally,” Hoyer said. “We’ve had some of those discussions. But the reality is to go out and get someone who’s pitching well early in the season, it’s just not realistic.”

He admitted that the front office did consider some buy-low opportunities. But it is “unbelievably unusual.” Most teams that want to trade a good pitcher would eventually wait for the deadline and let the price go higher. 

He explained the tough situation this Wednesday on the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show. The Cubs have two choices: trade for a struggling starter or pay way too much for a good one. Plus, even if they can afford the price, waiting till August (trade deadline) isn’t really going to help them improve the current scenario. The NL Central is the most competitive one this season. And the Brewers and the Cardinals are already ahead with fewer wins. Milwaukee has already outshone the Cubs in the ongoing series, and is up 2-0 with one game remaining. 

That’s why Hoyer is emphasizing a different solution. He wants to move forward and get good replacements, but probably not through a trade. 

“Sometimes those are external, but early in the season, those are usually internal,” Jed Hoyer added. “You have to hope that through the struggles and through the replacements, you can find a couple of guys that can fit and help you.”

Leaning toward a patchwork solution isn’t the most ideal leadership action. But more importantly, that might be a very thin option. 

Cubs may be running out of internal pitching answers

Chicago currently has 9 pitchers on the IL. 3 of them are out for the season, and 3 of them won’t rejoin before mid-season. The Cubs are running on fumes with 5 starting pitchers and are waiting for Jordan Wicks to complete his rehab assignment by early June. This means one more injury might flip the entire season for them. But the current injury list isn’t the only concern right now. 

The Cubs may have already exhausted their internal options. They have been going through a series of injuries from the beginning of the season. And Chicago has used 24 pitchers so far in 2026. And of these 24, 11 were not on the Opening Day roster. The franchise cannot even call up replacements from the minors. 

Jaxon Wiggins was their top prospect, but he is currently suffering from elbow soreness. And given his past injuries (TJ and shoulder fatigue), the front office doesn’t want to rush him. The next best option was Ben Brown, and he is already on the team. But Brown is struggling with a 5.08 ERA. 

The Cubs even tried to stretch out reliever Javier Assad. But he wasn’t able to fit in the role, and Chicago has finally optioned him to Triple-A to improve his pitch count. 

Given the current situation, the likelihood of finding a solution internally is not very high either. But Jed Hoyer knows that landing an external solution is more difficult. That’s why he still believes finding an internal replacement is their only option for now.

The Cubs will host the Brewers once again on Wednesday and try to regain some momentum while the front office keeps searching for answers.