Tuesday, July 28, 2026 — six days until the August 3 Trade Deadline.
Crosstown rivalries usually play out in June interleague series. This year it may play out on Scott Harris’s counterpart’s phone line in Anaheim: sources have told Yahoo Sports that the White Sox are in on Reid Detmers, joining the Cubs in pursuit of the same Angels left-hander.
The Cubs’ Problem Got Worse on Monday
Chicago’s North Side rotation was already the team’s clear weakness. Then Jameson Taillon, back on July 20 from a hamstring strain and expected to stabilize things, allowed 11 runs across 8 1/3 innings in two starts and was designated for assignment Monday.
That leaves Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea and David Peterson, with Javier Assad the likeliest option to absorb Taillon’s turn. Edward Cabrera is due back at some point in August — though the Taillon experience is exactly why front offices refuse to build deadline plans around pitchers returning from the injured list.
The frustrating part for Cubs fans is that the rest of the roster is good. The offense and the defense both hold up against any contender in the National League. One playoff-caliber starter would change the shape of October for them.
Why Hoyer Might Not Go Big Anyway
Jed Hoyer has been consistent about how he thinks. The Cubs front office is famously reluctant to sacrifice long-term roster building for short-term gain, and Hoyer has said publicly that the club would be more open to a major splash if a first-round bye were realistically in play.
It isn’t. Chicago trails Milwaukee by six games in the NL Central, and the bye goes to the top two teams in each league. That math argues for restraint.
Per The Athletic, Hoyer is aiming for a starter who remains under club control beyond 2026 rather than paying a premium for a rental. If the Cubs do shop in the rental aisle, the likelier targets are lower-cost arms — Robbie Ray, Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes or Kevin Gausman — not Tarik Skubal.
Which Makes Detmers the Perfect Target
Detmers is controllable through 2028. He’s a legitimate mid-rotation starter on a team going nowhere. He costs prospect capital rather than payroll, and he helps in 2027 and 2028 as much as he helps this September.
There’s even a natural framework. The Athletic reported last week that the Angels want to acquire a young catcher — and the Cubs’ No. 3 prospect, Owen Ayers, fits that description exactly.
The complication is that this same logic is obvious to everyone, including the team playing 12 miles south.
The White Sox Are the Surprise of the Season
Chicago’s South Side club lost more than 100 games in each of the past three seasons. They currently sit in first place in the American League Central.
The turnaround has been built on a much-improved offense, but the pitching remains the soft spot — and it’s the reason Chris Getz is shopping. The White Sox haven’t ruled out a rental (they’re reportedly intrigued by Clay Holmes), but a controllable arm like Detmers makes far more sense for a team whose competitive window is only now opening.
That’s the crux of it. Both Chicago clubs want the same pitcher for the same reason: neither is treating 2026 as a one-year push, and Detmers fits a multi-year plan better than any rental could.
The Other Names on the Board
If Detmers goes to one side of town, the loser has options — but they’re thinning:
- José Soriano (Angels) — also controllable through 2028, and available in the same conversation. Anaheim is reportedly prioritizing its starters over Zach Neto in trade talks, which suggests real willingness to deal here.
- Emerson Hancock (Mariners) — controlled through 2030, and Seattle is actively listening on both Hancock and Luis Castillo. Industry sources told MLB.com there’s a growing possibility at least one of them moves before Monday.
- The rentals — Ray, Peralta, Holmes, Gausman. Cheaper in prospects, gone in November.
Six Days
The Angels hold the leverage here, which is not a sentence anyone has written about that franchise in years. Two motivated buyers in the same city, both with real prospect depth, both wanting control rather than a rental.
John Mozeliak’s job this week is simply to let them bid.
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