Clay Holmes loses to Royals in Cubs debut

After nearly three months off, Holmes will make his return and his Cubs debut in a start tonight against the Royals.

Chicago manager Craig Counsell confirmed that Holmes will not require any additional minor league rehab starts. The tandem of trade deadline acquisitions will get the ball later this week when the Cubs head to Kansas City for a three-game series that gets underway on Friday.

Holmes shores up Chicago’s starting rotation depth issues, joining veteran Kevin Gausman as the club’s big-time trade deadline moves. The 33-year-old impending free agent is on the cusp of returning to the majors after fracturing his fibula back in mid-May. He’s looked sharp in a pair of recent minor league rehab starts and should be ready to make his Chicago debut later this week.

This is a big one. Chicago came into the trade deadline desperately seeking starting pitching help and they’ve seemingly came away with Holmes in addition to veteran Kevin Gausman. They paid a steep price to land the impending free agent as Rojas is one of their better infield prospects. The emergence of Pedro Ramírez as an everyday option at the highest level seems to be what made him expendable. Holmes looked sharp in a pair of recent minor league rehab outings and should step into Chicago’s new-look rotation by mid-August, if not sooner. Taylor feels like a throw-in, but he’s been sizzling-hot at the dish lately and provides the Cubs with a lefty-mashing bench option for the home stretch.

All of those teams besides the D-backs have already acquired starters in deadline deals, but Holmes comes with the added bonus of potentially being very valuable out of the pen in October if he isn’t needed as a starter. A deal should happen.

Of course they are. Holmes is a command-first pitcher with a deep pitch mix who can attack all quadrants of the strike zone with different speeds and shapes. Oh, and he can eat innings. He’s the perfect fit for the Brewers. Holmes pitched 5 1/3 innings for High-A Brooklyn on Sunday to stay stretched out, and he looks ready to return from the 60-day injured list after fracturing his fibula on a comebacker early this season. If Holmes were to join the Brewers, that would likely push Shane Drohan or Brandon Sproat out of the rotation.

That rehab outing is conditional on whether he’s traded before then. Holmes is presumably ready to jump back into a contending team’s rotation for the final two months. However, that’s only if he’s dealt, which he acknowledged is pretty likely. He also divulged that there haven’t been any contract extension talks with the Mets. The odds seem extremely high that he’s on the move prior to Monday’s deadline, but it’s never a guarantee. The 33-year-old is coming off a fractured fibula that put him on the injured list back in mid-May.

Peralta and Holmes are almost assuredly being dealt this week, and the Cubs are looking to add starting pitching. As Passan notes, the Cubs also have “plenty of bats available” that could interest the Mets, like Matt Shaw and Pedro Ramirez in the big leagues, or Owen Ayers and Jefferson Rojas in the minors. It remains to be seen if the teams can make anything work, but the pieces seem to be there.

Murray notes that the White Sox, Dodgers, Rays, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Phillies were among teams in attendance for Holmes’ minor league rehab start for Low-A St. Lucie earlier this week. The 33-year-old, who is coming off a fractured fibula that put him on the shelf back in mid-May, tossed four scoreless innings while sitting in the low-to-mid 90’s with his fastball. There are a plethora of teams looking to upgrade their rotations at next week’s trade deadline and Holmes would make a ton of sense as a fallback option for clubs that miss out on the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes.

There were scouts from multiple teams in attendance, according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Holmes hit 94 mph on his fastball and struck out four while scattering three hits and a pair of walks during the 59-pitch outing. The 33-year-old should be an attractive trade target for contending teams searching for rotation help at next week’s trade deadline. He’ll likely make his next start in the majors, either with the Mets or somewhere else, later this week.