As Cubs drop Royals series, improving the pitching staff remains trade deadline priority

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs came into the season expecting right-hander Colin Rea to factor into the rotation in some capacity.

The 35-year-old had 76 career big league starts before joining the Cubs, and the organization expected that experience to be valuable as they tried to build a pitching staff with depth and multi-inning options. Injuries to multiple starting pitchers, though, has meant relying more heavily on Rea in a starter role.

Rea is 66 innings away from eclipsing his career high after allowing six runs (five earned) over five innings in the Cubs’ 8-4 loss Wednesday to drop the series against the Kansas Royals. On a day the wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field, the Royals tagged Rea for three two-run home runs.

“I thought Colin pitched well, I mean, the home run in the first is a legit homer,” manager Craig Counsell said. “The error (on Seiya Suzuki’s dropped fly ball) gave them an extra run there. And then the other two homers … it’s tough to blame the pitcher, and they did a good job of pulling the ball in the air. It was a day where you were rewarded for putting the ball in the air. And they did that part of the game certainly better than us.”

Rea set his career mark last year with the Milwaukee Brewers when he tossed 167 2/3 innings in 32 games (27 starts). His 17 starts this year are tied with Jameson Taillon for second-most on the Cubs behind Matthew Boyd’s 20, and that doesn’t include his outing June 5 at the Washington Nationals when he pitched 5 1/3 innings following an opener.

Rea has been essentially league average this year, entering Wednesday’s start with a 101 ERA+. But relying on him as much as the Cubs have highlights their need to acquire another proven starter. Rea, right-hander Ben Brown and rookie Cade Horton are responsible for 41.2% of the Cubs’ starts this year. The Cubs have also used an opener six times.

“I don’t think it’s something you overthink, or anything,” Rea said of pitchers stepping up amid injuries this year. “It’s just go out there, do your job, each man coming in every single day, trying to find ways to get better.”

If the Cubs keep trending in the right direction and make the postseason — they are currently tied for the second-best record in MLB and sit one game back of the Brewers in the National League Central — adding another quality starter who can slot into a playoff series with Boyd and Shota Imanaga would make them a serious World Series threat.

The Cubs have a couple of different paths they potentially can take when looking to upgrade the rotation. They could attempt to trade for one of the top controllable starters — such as the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Ryan or the Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore — which would require a step cost in prospect capital, almost certainly multiple top-100 prospects from the Cubs’ system. Miami Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera is also an intriguing starter who wouldn’t be a free agent until 2029. But he’s less proven and has health concerns. He pitched well against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

The Cubs did not have any scouts in attendance at Cabrera’s start Tuesday in Miami, sources told the Chicago Tribune. But the organization does not tend to deploy its scouts for in-person looks at the pro level.

Perhaps the Cubs address the rotation and bullpen within the same trade. Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller and reliever David Bednar are an intriguing mix, though those pitchers don’t necessarily possess big upside. The Cubs have shown they can identify ways to get the most out of pitchers, their current bullpen featuring good examples with Brad Keller, Chris Flexen and Drew Pomeranz. But whoever the Cubs acquire, it likely won’t be a pitcher who will need those kinds of significant tweaks to get them back on track.

“The developmental one in terms of making big changes with players is a little harder because there’s just not a lot of time left in the season,” Counsell said. “So the Brad Keller example, that to me is more of a longer term.”

Whatever path the Cubs ultimately settle on, they are clear buyers, which is a distinct difference from the previous two years when the team had to fight to prove to the front office it should not, at the very least, blow up the roster as they attempted to dig out of a hole in the standings.

With a week to go until the July 31 trade deadline, the pitching staff is the most obvious area to improve a roster that can win the division and make a deep postseason run.

“We’ve done a great job of putting ourselves in a position where we’ve proved to a lot of people that we have a really good foundation, and now it’s up to the front office and the research and development group, scouting group, to find ways to continue to help raise our floor,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Tribune on Wednesday. “We know what we can do as a team. You know what the ceiling of this team can be, but you want to make sure that you continue to find ways to support the pillars because we still have a lot of season left, and we’re still going to need a lot of contributors.”