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Currently down by one game in the NL Central, the Chicago Cubs were busy before Thursday's MLB trade deadline. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was busy, bringing in multiple players in the hours ahead of the deadline. Once the dust settled, Hoyer and Chicago has acquired utilityman Willi Castro, relievers Andrew Kitteridge and Taylor Rogers, as well as starting pitcher Michael Soroka. While the first three will likely debut for the Cubbies in the coming days, Soroka will have to wait until Monday for his turn according to Cubs beat writer Jesse Rogers on X (formerly Twitter).
“Mike Soroka will debut/start for the Cubs on Monday,” posted Rogers on the social media platform.
Soroka will hopefully help solidify a rotation that needs reinforcements. Lefty Justin Steele is out for the season. Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon are nursing injuries. Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd have pitched well, and highly touted rookie Cade Horton has held his own. Yet Soroka will provide much needed innings and help save the bullpen. As Chicago continues its push towards October, can Soroka and the new additions help improve the Cubs' odds?
Can Michael Soroka help bolster Cubs rotation?
Hoyer was in the midst of the final season in his contract, but the longtime executive recently received an extension. Now, the focus has to be on how to integrate these new players into the current roster. There is certainly room for them, and smaller trades like the ones Hoyer made before the MLB deadline have a funny way of making the biggest impacts.
It's been seen time and time again over the course of baseball history. So many trade deadline acquisitions have made waves in October. Look no further than the Cubs' 2016 World Series run, in which Hoyer and his predecessor, Theo Epstein, brought in closer Aroldis Chapman and reliever Mike Montgomery, which helped the team clinch their long-awaited title. Will the additions of Soroka, Rogers, Kitteridge and Castro help Chicago in a similar fashion? If they can, then Hoyer's deadline will have been a masterclass.
