Is Kyle Gibson worth a look for the Cubs?

Daniel Kucin - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 20 hours ago

When the Cubs lost both Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga for the foreseeable future, you knew that, at some point, this organization was going to have to make a move for a starter. Given the way the trade market works, if the Cubs want to swing for one of the better starters in the game, don't expect anything significant to happen until the all-star break or even post-break.

For the most part, the Cubs have been able to survive without their two best arms, but things are trending in the wrong direction as of late, with Matthew Boyd and Colin Rea both starting to come back to earth. You also have the constant struggles of Ben Brown, whose ERA has risen to over 6.5 on the season, as his days in the rotation are now numbered.

Brown is the one who is concerning the most, as the Cubs can't afford to send him out there every fifth day for him to allow six-plus runs in every start. As good as their offense has been to make up for that, you can't expect them to keep scoring at this rate all season, and should they cool off, there could be some rough weeks to come if their pitching can't fix itself.

Unless the Cubs are willing to give up an arm and a leg for guys like Sandy Alcantara and some of the other big-name starters, you could see the Cubs look at more of a short-term fix for the time being and then push to make their splash in July. One player to keep an eye on was mentioned as a possible fit for the Cubs this offseason, but he signed a one-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles instead.

Now, two months later, the Orioles are going through a horrendous season, and after struggling to find his way, the 37-year-old Kyle Gibson has been released by Baltimore and is now a free agent option. Gibson may not be an exciting name, but for $3.5 million, the former All-Star can't be any worse than what Brown has been as of late and would fit nicely into the back of this rotation for the time being.

Gibson has always been a reliable starter who is basically a .500 pitcher for his career. As a team, you always want guys who are better than just average, but one thing Gibson has done well most of his career is eat innings. That is something Rea has struggled to do at times, as well as Brown, so to have a pitcher in the back of the rotation able to give you consistent innings could be huge to give the bullpen some much-needed rest.

Pitching for the Cardinals last season, Gibson continued his trend of being an innings-eater as he made 30 starts and tossed 170 innings in those starts. He achieved that while posting a 4.24 ERA, which is all you can ask for from a back-of-the-rotation arm. However, much like the entirety of the Orioles' season, things went south quickly for Gibson to the point where Baltimore made the decision to release him instead of seeing if he could turn things around.

To illustrate the severity of Gibson's struggles, the right-hander made four starts this season, accumulating only 12 1/3 innings. During that time, he has posted a 0-3 record with an ERA of 16.78. You heard that right, an ERA of 16.78, as he is allowing nearly two runs per inning pitched. Several reasons could be pointed to as contributing to his struggles, with the primary reason being that he was a late signing and didn't sign with the Orioles until mid-March.

That set him nearly a month behind everyone, and he knew it would take him a while to get up to speed, which is why the Orioles elected to put him in the Minors to start the season, as they needed him to be game-ready before tossing him in their rotation. Across three Minor League starts, his overall numbers were solid as he posted a 1-1 record with a 3.75 ERA. He walked two and struck out 13 across 12 innings, which is all the Orioles needed to see before calling him up.

Despite his success in the Minors to begin the season, it never translated with the Orioles, as he has gotten off to the worst start of his career. His age could be a reason for that, as Father Time may have caught up to him quicker than expected. You also have to look at his pure stuff and his inability to put pitchers away like he used to.

It's okay to pitch contact now and then, but you can't live that way. Gibson is finding that out the hard way this season. Even if Brown has the better stuff, the bigger upside, and more potential, you can't keep trotting him out there if he continues to struggle the way he has. Adding Gibson would be another one of those reclamation project moves that would cost the Cubs nothing.

They could sign him on the cheap, send him to Iowa to work on some tweaks and go from there in terms of their plan. Should he continue to struggle in Iowa, you can cut ties with him without hurting your organization. However, should he show improvements and make some adjustments, the Cubs could then move Brown to the bullpen for a bit to strengthen that area of their team, while seeing if Gibson could be a more consistent option in the back of their rotation.