Willi Castro among Cubs newcomers making an immediate impact

It will take another couple of days for every player the Cubs acquired at this week’s trade deadline to make an appearance for the team, but the impact of a few of the newcomers, Willi Castro in particular, has already been evident.

In Friday’s 1-0 win over the Orioles, Andrew Kittredge pitched a scoreless seventh inning, notching two strikeouts in the process, and in Saturday’s 4-3 loss, Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless eighth inning with a strikeout. And utilityman Castro left his mark on both sides of the ball on Saturday in his Cubs debut. Castro went 2-for-4 at the plate, reaching on a single to left in the second inning and a triple to right in the fourth, and scored both times he got on base. And Castro flashed the leather a little on defense, making a few impressive plays at second base.

The bullpen arms will be valuable in giving breaks to some of the relief pitchers, like Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar, and Ryan Brasier, who have been asked to shoulder a heavy load already this season. Brasier and Thielbar combined to allow the four runs in the eighth inning that erased a 3-0 Cubs lead, but both pitchers have been way more good than bad all season long, so the hope is that by adding guys like Kittredge and Rogers, manager Craig Counsell will have more options for late-inning matchups.

The biggest impact might come from the aforementioned Castro, however. He strengthens the bench considerably, not just because of what he can do at the plate, but perhaps even more so because of the defensive versatility that he provides. Castro started at second base Friday, but he has experience this season at every spot on the field but first base and catcher.

“[It’s] something that I really enjoy, playing all the positions,” Castro said. “As a player, I know it helps me a lot because it opens more doors for me.”

Castro has the most experience at second base and left field, and Counsell said he plans to lean into those two defensive spots in particular. Castro’s start at second on Saturday moved Nico Hoerner to shortstop and gave Dansby Swanson a chance to take a day off.

“Those are hard players to find,” Counsell said of Castro’s versatility. “There’s not many of those players out there.”

Counsell’s lineup consists of a few players who don’t take many days off, but the August schedule features a lot of games, so Castro will be important for spelling guys at a few different spots.

“His versatility has been well-covered, but that’s real, and that’s incredibly helpful for a group down the stretch,” Hoerner said. “Guys inevitably deal with little things and need days, and he is a quality starting player at a bunch of different places.”

Though the Cubs did not make all of the moves fans were hoping for at the trade deadline, the ones they did make should still improve the team. The question going forward will be whether they improved enough to handle the divisional dogfight they are in with the Brewers. After taking just one game out of three in Milwaukee earlier this week, the Cubs were a game behind in the NL Central, and dropping games like Saturday’s — one where they had the win in hand with a three-run lead going into the eighth inning — becomes even more damaging as the Brewers keep winning.

“You can stick to the process as much as you want, but every day is incredibly important at this level and where we’re at in the season,” Hoerner said. “There’s no beating around that. We’re obviously going to bring it tomorrow and do everything we can to win a series, but every win you leave on the table stings for sure.”

Since the start of June, the Cubs are just four games above .500, and in that same stretch, the Brewers have gone 18 games above .500. Milwaukee was even less active at the trade deadline, their only notable acquisition being catcher Danny Jansen, so they will have to depend on continuing a red-hot pace for over 50 more games. It’s not ideal for the Cubs to be playing from behind, but a division deficit that stays as narrow as it currently stands is one that can be erased rather quickly. Especially with five games against the Brewers at Wrigley coming up later this month.

The three players the Cubs traded for at the deadline — Castro, Rogers, and Kittredge — who have already made their Cubs debuts have each started off well. And the fourth player they added, Michael Soroka, is currently in the plans to start Monday’s game against the Reds. But with Jameson Taillon making a rehab start for Triple-A Iowa on Sunday, he will be returning to the Cubs rotation before long. That could bump Soroka into the bullpen, where he would likely shore things up among the relievers even further.

The Cubs will have offensive reinforcements coming as well; Miguel Amaya is continuing his rehab assignment with Iowa and is in Saturday and Sunday’s lineup. Counsell said the ideal timeline is for Amaya to return to the team next weekend when the Cubs are on the road in St. Louis. Because Amaya was moved to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man spot for Castro, bringing him back on the major league roster will require someone being moved off of the 40-man roster. That decision won’t come until Amaya is ready to return, Counsell said.

But otherwise, the group the Cubs have now is the one they will compete with until their season ends, whenever that is. There will be other roster shuffles between now and the end of September, but the most significant changes were the ones brought by Thursday’s trade deadline. And the newcomers are positive about what the 2025 Cubs can do.

“It feels great,” Castro said. “I know it’s a great winning team, and I see everybody going out there [and] picking everybody up. It’s a long way still. You have a lot of games left, and we’re going to do great.”