Desperate for healthy arms, Chicago gambles on the veteran southpaw's elite groundball rate to thrive behind a Gold Glove-caliber infield
The Chicago Cubs have solved their pitching problems for now.
The Cubs acquired veteran left-hander David Peterson from the New York Mets late on Wednesday night. In return, the North Siders have sent their No. 13 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline, Cole Mathis, back to New York.
This trade comes on the heels of the Cubs placing both Edward Cabrera and Ben Brown on the 15-day injured list. With Cabrera, Brown, Matthew Boyd (who is expected to be activated on Thursday), Jameson Taillon, Cade Horton, and Justin Steele all currently on the IL, the team just needs some fresh arms.
In comes Peterson, who is posting the worst numbers of his career in 2026.
The southpaw has a 6.09 ERA, 1.647 WHIP, and a 19.7% strikeout rate across 68 innings pitched. He has operated as a bulk reliever for a large chunk of the season and has struggled in any role the Mets have given him.
While this might seem like an unremarkable trade, acquiring Peterson could be a really sneaky move. This is a solid pickup for a Cubs rotation that needs all the help they can get at this point in the year.
Peterson has actually pitched better than his numbers suggest this season. Both his FIP (3.85) and expected FIP (4.05) are much lower than his actual ERA (6.04), and he’s throwing more first pitch strikes than ever before (64.6%).
Yes, Peterson’s numbers are poor this season.
Yes, there are concerns with him moving forward, considering he ranks in the bottom half of the league in expected batting average against (.269), whiff rate (22.2%), strikeout rate (19.7%), and hard-hit rate (42.2%).
However, Peterson should perform much better with the Cubs because of the type of pitcher he is.
The seven-year veteran is primarily a groundball pitcher. His 52.9% groundball rate currently ranks in the 89th percentile. He will now be pitching in front of an infield that contains Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, and Michael Busch.
Bregman is a former Gold Glove winner and has an 80th percentile Fielding Run Value. Swanson is a two-time Gold Glove winner and has a 97th percentile FRV. Hoerner has won two Gold Gloves in his career and has a 95th percentile FRV, and Busch could win his first this year since he leads all first basemen in Outs Above Average.
For comparison, the Mets infield for most of the season has been Mark Vientos (first base), Marcus Semien (second base), Bo Bichette (shortstop), and Brett Baty (third base). None of these four infielders has a positive FRV, and all of them rank in the bottom half of the league in that category.
The Cubs infield currently owns a combined +19 FRV, while the Mets infield has a combined -10 FRV. So, it's safe to say that the upgraded infield in Chicago will help Peterson tremendously.
Now, fans shouldn’t expect the 30-year-old to turn into this Cy Young-caliber pitcher. But he has the potential to be a quality starter for the Cubs while the team deals with some injuries to their rotation.
Peterson is more than capable of putting up solid numbers on the mound with the Cubs. He finished with a 2.90 ERA across 21 starts in 2024 and earned an All-Star selection last year following a strong first-half (3.06 ERA across 109 innings).
This season has just been a rough go-around for the southpaw. Maybe a change of scenery could help the former All-Star regain some consistency on the mound.
This was frankly a move the Cubs needed to make right now as they hold onto the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Peterson should find his way into the rotation almost immediately and start one of the games this weekend against the Brewers.
All in all, this was a nice move by the Cubs to take a gamble on a veteran pitcher.
