That’s how the Cubs do it these days. No press release. No fanfare. Just Drew Pomeranz showing up in a Des Moines uniform on a Tuesday night, tossing a scoreless inning, and the baseball world going — wait, when did that happen? Chicago signed him late last week and didn’t even bother telling anyone. At this point, the Cubs’ front office is basically running a halfway house for pitchers, and honestly, given the injury carnage they’re dealing with, nobody can blame them.
The Man, The Myth, The Medical File
Let’s be real about who Drew Pomeranz is at this stage of his career. He’s 37 years old. He’s had flexor surgery. He’s had an elbow cleanup procedure. He pitched a grand total of 19.1 innings across three entire seasons from 2022 to 2024. The man’s arm has more mileage on it than a cross-country Greyhound bus.
But then 2025 happened. Back in Chicago, Pomeranz quietly put together one of the more remarkable comeback seasons you’ll see — 49.2 innings, a 2.17 ERA, a 28.1% strikeout rate, and a walk rate that actually made sense. For a pitcher who’d basically been written off entirely, it was extraordinary. Good enough to earn a one-year, $4 million deal with the Angels in the offseason.
And then 2026 happened. Anaheim wasn’t kind. A 5.01 ERA across 23.1 innings, strikeout numbers cratering to 14.8%, walk rate climbing to 11.1%. The Angels designated him for assignment and cut him loose without much hesitation. The comeback had apparently come and gone.
Or had it?
The Cubs’ Injury List Reads Like a Hospital Ward
To understand why Chicago went back to Pomeranz, you need to understand the scale of their pitching disaster this season. Cade Horton — season over. Justin Steele — if he comes back at all, it’ll be as a late-season reliever. Edward Cabrera, Ben Brown, and Jameson Taillon — all shelved. In the bullpen, Porter Hodge went down for Tommy John surgery back in April, and Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Riley Martin, and closer Daniel Palencia are all currently unavailable.
That’s not an injury list. That’s a catastrophe. Craig Counsell has been forced to patch his bullpen together with tape and prayers, leaning on Jacob Webb, Caleb Thielbar, and Ryan Rolison in high-leverage situations — three names that would make most Cubs fans instinctively reach for a paper bag to breathe into.
When your bullpen depth chart reads like a list of guys you found on the street, you call Drew Pomeranz. Simple as that.
So What Are the Cubs Actually Getting?
Right now? A 37-year-old pitcher working his way back at Triple-A Iowa. Last night’s outing — one scoreless inning, a walk, two strikeouts — tells you precisely nothing about where he actually is. One inning is a sample size so small it barely qualifies as information.
But here’s the thing about Pomeranz that makes this worth watching. When he’s healthy and commanding his stuff, he’s genuinely useful. Last year proved that. The Cubs know exactly what they have because they watched him do it firsthand in 2025. This isn’t a blind gamble on an unknown quantity — it’s a calculated bet on a known commodity who had a bad few months in Anaheim and now has something to prove.
If he strings together two or three strong appearances in Des Moines, that bullpen door swings open faster than you’d think. Because right now, Craig Counsell would start his grandmother if she could locate the strike zone consistently.
The Bigger Picture — Deadline Pressure Is Building
Pomeranz is the band-aid. The real story happening simultaneously is Chicago’s aggressive pursuit of pitching solutions before August 3rd. Jed Hoyer has already made his priorities clear to opposing front offices — starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching. The Peterson trade from the Mets was just the opening move. Freddy Peralta remains the dream target. More deals are coming.
The Cubs sit at 40-37 — alive, competitive, and genuinely dangerous when Pete Crow-Armstrong is doing what Pete Crow-Armstrong is currently doing. But you can’t go deep into October running out patchwork arms every fifth day and hoping nobody notices.
Pomeranz is depth insurance while Hoyer works the phones. Nothing more, nothing less.
Hot take to close: Drew Pomeranz probably doesn’t factor into Chicago’s playoff push in any meaningful way. But the fact that the Cubs signed him without announcing it, stuck him in Iowa, and are quietly monitoring tells you everything about how desperate the pitching situation has become. When you’re signing 37-year-old reclamation projects on the hush, the deadline can’t come soon enough. Jed Hoyer better have something real cooking — because band-aids only hold for so long. 🔥
