Projected Cubs rotation and trade grades after landing Kevin Gausman

The Toronto Blue Jays have fallen woefully short in their AL pennant defense this season, and now the Chicago Cubs are taking full advantage of that at the MLB Trade Deadline. On Sunday night, the Cubs and Blue Jays agreed to a trade that will send veteran right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman to Chicago while Toronto will receive two prospects in return as part of the deal. Ken Rosenthal and Mitch Bannon of The Athletic were the first to report the deal.

Chicago's need for more pitching has been evident for a while at this point as they've suffered one injury after another in their rotation. And though it was uncertain if Gausman would be traded, he made sense for the Cubs as a veteran addition. But let's dive into the deal with a projected Cubs rotation and grades for both teams in the trade.

What the Cubs rotation will look like after acquiring Kevin Gausman

With the way things currently stand for the Cubs amid a bevy of injuries, Gausman figures to take either David Peterson or Colin Rea's spot in the rotation. Both have been middling this season in the Chicago rotation, so it's really a pick-your-pony type of situation for Craig Counsell and Co. It's also not entirely out of the question that the club could look to move to a six-man rotation at some point as well.

However, the big thing that the Windy City faithful are waiting for is better health. When you look at this projected Cubs rotation, it's more about the names missing from it due to the string of terrible injury luck they've endured. They're still wihtout Ben Brown, Edward Cabrera and Justin Steele — and that's before you also consider that Cade Horton underwent Tommy John surgery as well.

The results from Gausman this season say that he's not going to be the force that those guys could be if they were healthy. However, adding a veteran presence like him (who just went to the World Series last year, no less) makes a ton of sense as Chicago continues to try and secure their playoff spot in the National League.

Grading the Cubs-Blue Jays trade for Kevin Gausman

Cubs trade grade: B+

Let's not pretend that the Cubs went out and pulled off Version 2.0 of the Skubal trade to keep up with the Dodgers by trading for Gausman. In fact, it would be reasonable to say that Chicago shouldn't be done on the starting pitching market before the trade deadline.

At the same time, this was the type of the move that the Cubs needed to make given the litany of pitching injuries they've suffered throughout this season. They needed depth and they needed veterans to occupy that role — someone capable of consistently eating innings and saving the bullpen so that their relief staff doesn't wear down.

Furthermore, despite the fact that many would say Gausman hasn't necessarily lived up to his reputation this season, he's still pitched to a 4.38 ERA with a 1.288 WHIP. Not only will that be helpful for the Cubs rotation in its current state of affairs, but there's an argument to be made that those numbers could improve with a change of scenery to a winning team.

Even better for the Cubs, they didn't have to give up a ton for a rental to make this deal happen. It'll be held against them if they're not able to add more before the deadline, but this was definitely a good start for Chicago.

Blue Jays trade grade: B

There are going to be certain Blue Jays fans unhappy with this trade because, well, Kevin Gausman has been a face of the franchise for nearly a half-decade at this point in his career. Having said that, if we remove the sentimentality from the equation, then this was overall a good deal for Toronto to make at this point.

For starters, I'm always going to support a team recognizing its position and not acting in denial of it. Toronto is a far cry from a playoff team this season, despite their preseason expectations. Gausman is in the final year of his contract with the Blue Jays. It stands to reason for the Jays to essentially (or at least partially) punt on going for it the rest of this season and to get something in return for Gausman rather than risk losing him for nothing.

While we're not talking about high-end prospects, the Blue Jays need to replenish their farm system as this roster gets older and the organization needs to be looking to the future. Bateman is at Triple-A already and could potentially be in the mix for next year's outfield, while Southisene is a flier on a High-A player who has been a breakout offensive prospect this year.

All in all, it's not franchise-changing for the Blue Jays, but it was a smart move and they didn't trade Gausman for nothing.

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