Cubs To Acquire Braxton Garrett

Garrett, who’ll turn 29 on Wednesday, was the seventh overall pick in the 2016 draft. He had a breakout showing with Miami in 2022-23, tossing 247 2/3 frames with a 3.63 ERA, 23.8% strikeout  rate, 5.1% walk rate and 48.7% ground-ball rate. He’d fallen sharply on their prospect lists prior to that breakout but suddenly looked to be a late-blooming building block — until injury struck. Garrett suffered a UCL tear in 2024 that wiped out the bulk of that season and all of his 2025 campaign.

Though he’s healthy now, Garrett has received only two big league looks this season — none since May. That comes despite missed time for each of Max Meyer, Eury Pérez and Janson Junk. Garrett was hit hard in his two MLB appearances (seven runs, eight walks in 4 1/3 MLB frames) but has pitched well in Triple-A for most of the season. He’s run into a tough patch recently, serving up a combined 13 runs over his past two appearances, but Garrett still has a 2.90 ERA in 77 2/3 Triple-A frames this year. He’s fanned 26.4% of his opponents against a 9.2% walk rate.

That said, Garrett has been hit hard in his past two starts, yielding a combined 13 runs in that time. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported earlier in the day that part of the reason for Garrett’s extended Triple-A sojourn this season — despite several openings on the big league roster — was an aversion to some tweaks the team tried to get him to incorporate in spring training. Whether the Cubs want to see any changes before he gets a big league look remains unclear, but Garrett is a nice depth option for them all the same.

Garrett is controllable via arbitration for two more years. He’s being paid a reasonable $1.525MM in 2026. This is his final minor league option year, so the Cubs will need to carry him on the 2027 roster or else designate him for assignment. He’ll first get a couple months to prove he’s worthy of that spot. The Cubs recently cut Jameson Taillon loose. Cade Horton is out for the year. Justin Steele will only pitch out of the bullpen late this season — if he makes it back at all — after some setbacks in his rehab from last year’s UCL surgery. Right-handers Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera (Garrett’s former teammate in Miami) are both on the injured list as well.

For the moment, the Cubs’ rotation includes newly acquired Kevin Gausman, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad, David Peterson and Colin Rea. Garrett could head to Triple-A Iowa for now or could slot right into the rotation mix. Rea, Assad and Peterson have all worked in relief both this year and in seasons past. One or more of them could slide back into a relief role if the Cubs want to get Garrett an immediate look.

Long, 24, is in his second straight season of Triple-A work. He’s been better than average at the plate each year, but his results in 2025 were stronger than they’ve been in 2026. Last year saw Long rake at a .305/.404/.479 clip with 20 homers, a 13% walk rate and a 19.1% strikeout rate. This year, those numbers have dipped to .283/.364/.455 with a 10.6% walk rate and 21.2% strikeout rate. It’s still solid production with better-than-average rate stats, but this year’s output is unequivocally down.

Be that as it may, Long gives the Marlins an immediate option to log some games at first base. That’s been a position of need throughout the season, ever since another former Cub — Christopher Morel — proved to be an insufficient solution. Miami signed Morel to a one-year deal in the offseason with an eye toward deploying him at first base, but he never got going in the batter’s box before being designated for assignment.

Recently, the Marlins have been playing former outfielder Kyle Stowers at first base on the regular. Adding Long could push Stowers back to an outfield corner — if he’s still with the club past this afternoon’s deadline. Stowers has been discussed as a trade candidate, with the Astros known to be interested to some extent.

Baseball America ranked Long 16th among Cubs prospects last month, calling him a potential regular at first base whose power output is capped by a penchant for hitting the ball on the ground. Long makes plenty of hard contact and has the raw power to do more damage, if the Marlins can somehow get him to elevate the ball more regularly without sacrificing his bat-to-ball skills.

Beck, 26, is a towering 6’9″ righty the Cubs signed in minor league free agency last winter. He was a 22nd-round pick by the Mets back in 2019 but never made it out of A-ball in the Mets organization. The Cubs immediately dropped Beck into Double-A this season and were immediately rewarded for it. He pitched 59 2/3 innings there and held opponents to 19 runs (2.87 ERA) on 49 hits and 30 walks with a whopping 102 strikeouts. That’s a 39.2% strikeout rate against an 11.5% walk rate.

Beck hasn’t missed near as many bats or been nearly as effective on the whole through 15 innings since being promoted to Triple-A, but he’s not far from MLB readiness. BA ranked him 28th among Cubs prospects, calling him close to MLB-ready as a one-inning reliever whose velocity will play up in short bursts. Beck lacks a quality second pitch, but he has three potential secondary pitches with which the Marlins can work: a splitter, slider and curveball. If he can get even one of those to the point where it’s an average offering, Beck could have a future as a reliever in the Miami bullpen.