Cubs May Hold Key Trade Chip to Landing One of Angels' Best Starting Arms

The Cubs need a pitcher. The Angels want a catcher. Sometimes, it's just that easy!

As we inch closer and closer to the MLB trade deadline, the more we've learned about just how fruitful the market will be. Unlike one season ago, it appears as if there will be a slew of well-respected pitchers available for the Cubs to target. The big question that remains, however, is just how big of a splash the organization will attempt to make.

Will Jed Hoyer push all his chips in on a superstar like Tarik Skubal, or will the front office play it safe to avoid depleting their farm system any further? If one thing is for sure, the latter is a little more consistent with how the Cubs have operated in the past. But who's to say they can't find a happy medium this time around?

The Los Angeles Angels feel like that happy medium. The organization is expected to have two starting pitchers available over the next week-plus in Reid Detmer and Jose Soriano. While neither is necessarily considered on that elite tier, they have each put together a very encouraging breakout 2026.

Detmer has one of the league's nastiest sliders and could see even more success with his breaking balls pitching in front of Chicago's elite defense. As for Soriano, he's another pitcher with an extremely high groundball rate and a fastball that sits in the high-90s. He's cooled off since a red-hot start to 2026, but there is still a lot to like when it comes to his versatility.

Best of all, both Detmer and Soriano are under team control until 2029. The Cubs could target each with the expectation that they become a key part of the rotation for the long haul. And, hey, that sure doesn't feel like a bad idea after how this starting pitching squad has performed this year. It's clear the Cubs need to begin overhauling this group.

Acquiring Detmer or Soriano isn't going to come cheap by any means, especially considering their team control. But there is little doubt they will cost less than names like Skubal, Joe Ryan, or reliever Mason Miller.

The Cubs may also be able to easily beat out other interested parties thanks to one emerging prospect. A report from The Athletic this week reported that LA wants to get its hands on a young catcher. Would Owen Ayers fit the bill?

Owen Ayers Could Be Key Ingredient to Angels Trade

Knoxville Smokies’ Owen Ayers (6) at bat during the Minor League Baseball game against the Columbus Clingstones on July 1, 2026, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Thanks to the last couple of months, the Chicago Cubs may have the perfect trade chip for the Los Angeles Angels.

Owen Ayers has burst onto the scene this year, surging up to a Top 3 spot in the organization's prospect rankings, per MLB Pipeline. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Ayers got the call to Triple-A. He has since continued his strong 2026, slashing .286/.400/.333 with a .733 OPS over his first six games.

Ayers started the season in High-A ball, earning the Double-A promotion after only 11 games. He proceeded to light it up with the Tennessee Smokies, hitting .304 with a 1.008 OPS. He also had 70 hits over his 65 games with 48 RBIs.

Now appearing at three different levels this year, Ayers has proven that his meteoric rise isn't some kind of fluke. Does that mean he is ready for an everyday role in the Bigs? Not necessarily, but it makes him a fascinating catcher for the Angels to add to their system.

Indeed, if it's a young catcher they want, there truly might not be a better option on the market over the next week or so. This isn't to say the Cubs will happily move on from Ayers. The breakout has made him a far more difficult prospect to give up on. This is especially true when we consider that they could have a hole at catcher as soon as this offseason. Carson Kelly could walk, leaving Miguel Amaya and Moises Ballesteros as next in line for the platoon. Would the Cubs be comfortable with that?

Even if the answer is no, that may not be enough to strike down a deal. The Cubs are in win-now mode, and Ayers may be deemed a luxury at this point in time. No one expected this kind of surge for the 25-year-old, so the Cubs may very well be better off selling high.

At the end of the day, assuming the Angels are interested, pretty straightforward deals like this don't come around too often. As long as both sides can agree that Ayers is the foundation, it might not be all that challenging to figure out the rest and solve one of the Cubs' biggest holes.

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