Cubs land playoff vet Kevin Gausman in trade with Blue Jays

The Chicago Cubs acquired right-hander Kevin Gausman from the Toronto Blue Jays for Triple-A outfielder Brett Bateman and Class-A infielder Ty Southisene, the team announced Sunday night.

Gausman, 35, provides the Cubs a playoff-caliber starter they had been chasing ahead of the trade deadline.

An impending free agent who is 5-10 with a 4.38 ERA and 127 strikeouts this season, Gausman can be a ready-made October starter; he has a 3.83 ERA in 14 career playoff games. He has succeeded as a frontline right-handed pitcher thanks to a standout fastball/changeup combo, but his breaking ball has lagged well behind them.

He's in the last year of a five-year, $110 million deal, during which he was the fourth-best pitcher in baseball in that span, posting 20.1 WAR so far -- easily outperforming his contract. He has struggled more recently, compiling a 6.47 ERA over his past eight starts.

Ironically, the worst of those outings occurred at Wrigley Field, where Gausman lasted just two innings while giving up seven runs on seven hits and four walks June 19. In his last start with the Blue Jays on Saturday, he gave up just one run on nine hits in 5 innings.

The Cubs and Blue Jays play a makeup game at Wrigley Field on Thursday, and that could be Gausman's first outing with Chicago. Gausman joins Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga near the top of the Cubs' rotation, though recently acquired lefty David Peterson has also pitched well since arriving from the Mets.

Chicago is slowly getting healthier after a string of pitching injuries. The Cubs trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 6 games ahead of Monday's trade deadline.

Gausman, who is the career leader in strikeouts via the splitter (490) in the Statcast era, has thrown the third-most innings in baseball since 2021, making him a dependable starter. He has plenty of postseason experience, helping the Blue Jays to the World Series last year.

Bateman, 24, an eighth-round pick in 2023, was hitting .312 in 81 games for Triple-A Iowa. Southisene, 21, was a fourth-round pick in 2024 and was hitting .311 at two levels of Class-A this season and combined for 31 stolen bases.

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan contributed to this report.br/]