Newly acquired Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kevin Gausman made his first comments for the Cubs since his trade from the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Cubs traded two prospects, outfielder Brett Bateman and infielder Ty Southisen, for the veteran SP Gausman, who is in the final season of his five-year, $110 million contract.
With Chicago primed for a postseason push, they acquired Gausman with the hopes he can help fortify the team’s rotation as they look to make a long playoff run, something that Gausman experienced last season with Toronto when he went all the way to Game 7 of the World Series, heartbreakingly losing in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kevin Gausman Reacts to Joining Cubs
Speaking to reporters in Chicago after officially joining the Cubs, Gausman shared his initial reaction to joining the historic franchise.
“When I told my wife it was the Cubs, she was like, ‘It’s about time.’ Because just in Baltimore for years, it seemed like it was kind of always a link to here. … Happy that I’m here finally,” Gausman said (via Sportsnet).
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer admitted that Chicago had been chasing Gausman for years, calling him a “white whale” for the ballclub, who were happy to finally acquire him in a trade.
Gausman, too, is excited about the trade, as he knows the Cubs have a legitimate chance of winning the World Series this year, something that he almost experienced in Toronto last year before coming up just short.
“Once you’re there, all you want to do is get back. So I’m really excited to hopefully get back there with this team,” Gausman said.
With the Cubs making several trade-deadline acquisitions, Gausman admitted that he is extra excited to join a franchise that is clearly going for it all this season.
“Being a part of a team when they can bring guys in and you know that they’re going for it, it’s almost like a shot of adrenaline and can kind of breathe some life into the team. It doesn’t seem like this team needs it, to be honest, but still excited to be here,” Gausman said.
Kevin Gausman’s Role in Chicago
While there were some rumblings that Gausman could stay on turn and make his Cubs debut against his old team, the Blue Jays, in a makeup game on Thursday at Wrigley Field, the team instead decided it was better for him to start on Friday against the Kansas City Royals on the road.
Gausman is, of course, going to be a part of Chicago’s rotation going forward, but Cubs manager Craig Counsell admitted that some of the team’s other pitchers may have to adjust their roles going forward as the team tries to navigate a loaded pitching staff, which is a good problem to have.
“I think we’re going to have guys pitch at doing things they maybe haven’t done in the past as much, and that may be a little, you know, different for them, and we may have to kind of be careful with how we manage them in those roles, but these things will figure themselves out. I also think that we have some competition kind of in the starting rotation right now, too,” Counsell said.
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