Cubs Reportedly Still Eyeing Marlins Lefty Jesús Luzardo, Veteran Reliever Kirby Yates
The Cubs weren’t able to make much progress on the Cody Bellinger-to-the-Yankees trade that felt like a foregone conclusion last Friday. While it’s still very much in play if Brian Cashman can set his ego aside for five minutes, there seems to have been a shift in the likelihood of Bellinger being moved. That could make it more likely for the Cubs to trade Seiya Suzuki, though they’d have to get a bigger haul given his contract and control. There also doesn’t seem to be as obvious a fit as with Bellinger and the Bronx.
What’s tough about the Suzuki situation is that he wasn’t just moved to DH on a whim. Dude was straight-up biffing routine plays at an alarming level for any outfielder not named Adam Dunn or Matt Holliday, and the miscues were even worse because Suzuki was supposed to be a Gold Glove-caliber player. Though he did have three defensive runs saved in 2024, Suzuki’s -3 outs above average tied him for 19th among 27 right fielders with at least 500 innings last season.
For the sake of reference, Kyle Tucker had 7 DRS and 1 OAA over 22.1 fewer innings. There are far worse defensive right fielders out there — Nick Castellanos finished last with -11 DRS and -18 OAA — but not many teams are going to see much of an improvement with Suzuki in the field on a regular basis. His bat is what most covet, but the Cubs are in that same boat because they can’t easily replace his offense.
I’ll have more on that coming up in a separate piece, so let’s get back to the point of this one. Jed Hoyer has been clear that he needs to do a better job of putting together a bullpen that doesn’t take 2-3 months to coalesce. As such, the Cubs may even be willing to stretch for a multiyear reliever deal or maybe just one that stretches into eight figures.
“I think a guy like Kirby Yates, who’s a veteran pitcher, has some age on him but has really come back from injury a couple years ago is being looked at by four or five teams out there,” Bruce Levine told Mully & Haugh on 670 The Score Monday morning. “I think the Cubs are one of them for sure. Can they make this happen? Hoyer told us one thing that we had to keep our eye on as reporters that were in Dallas at the Winter Meetings, he said, ‘We’re making trades first.’
We’ve known that to be the case for a while now, especially as exploding rates for pitchers have teams seeking deals for controllable arms rather than paying through the nose. That’s no different from how Hoyer always seems to handle the offseason, waiting for the market to come to him rather than the other way around. Their 11th-hour pre-lockout signing of Marcus Stroman was a notable exception, and we could add Matthew Boyd to that mix as well.
As Levine first reported over the weekend, the Cubs are now interested in another lefty with questionable health. This time, however, it would come at the cost of prospects in exchange for a 27-year-old who has two years of control remaining and is projected to earn just $6 million next season via the arbitration process.
“They’re looking at Jesús Luzardo of the Marlins right now,” Levine said. “Young pitcher, another left-hander. Might have a whole left-handed rotation, but who cares if they get people out. Again, young players coming back. What avenue is there for young players to get into this lineup other than Shaw at third base starting this year? Where is Triantos, where is Caissie, where is Alcántara?
“Where are the spots for these guys? Are they too young and too good to be sitting on the Cubs bench? If that’s the case and they’re going for it like it appears they are, one or two of those guys might be traded before the start of next year.”
I’m all in favor of the Cubs dealing from prospect depth to acquire proven big leaguers, but Levine’s making it sound like they should make gross overpays just because it’ll be tough to find room for these guys. Owen Caissie, for instance, would be too much to give up for Luzardo. Triantos could be a different story because he’s positionally redundant with Matt Shaw and is a bat-first guy without much power. With projected 35-grade game power and 45-grade raw power, Triantos is going to have to reach the promise of a 60-grade hit tool in order to carve out a regular spot.
Shaw has nearly as good a hit tool with 60s in both game and raw power, plus 60-grade speed. Unless the Cubs end up moving Nico Hoerner, it’s looking more and more like Triantos is pretty thoroughly blocked. Again, though, that alone is no reason to overpay for a guy whose bad back limited him to a 5.00 ERA over 66.2 innings last season. But perhaps the Cubs feel Luzardo is still the guy who had a 3.48 ERA with 328 strikeouts and 90 walks across 50 starts in the two previous seasons.
I’m a little concerned about the idea of a rotation with four southpaws who all pitch to standard splits, but I also trust the bright minds in the Cubs organization to find a way to make it work. If this is legit and they are comfortable with the idea of adding Luzardo, I have to imagine they’re also willing to revisit the idea of a six-man or modified rotation. Boyd and Luzardo have combined for just three seasons with 170+ innings and I don’t believe it’s safe to assume nearly that much work from either of them in 2025.
They say Jesús is the reason for the season, but I’m still side-eyeing this move even if my skepticism isn’t quite as high as it was 24 hours ago. Hoyer’s got plenty of irons in the fire, though, and I’d imagine he wants to make good on one or two of them before the weekend comes back around. Stay tuned.