A Dark Horse for 2026 Redemption with the Cubs

I’m not going to overstate the importance of signing 33-year-old Vince Velasquez. The likeliest outcome for the right-handed pitcher is that sticks around at Triple-A and maybe comes up once to fill in for an injured pitcher and then gets DFA’d shortly after. But that’s what makes Velasquez a dark horse to actually have redemption in 2026 with the Cubs. No, I don’t think he’ll be Brad Keller 2.0, but there’s enough there with Velasquez to believe that he can give the 2026 Cubs some quality innings.

Once a highly-ranked prospect for the Houston Astros, Velasquez is mostly known for his time with the Philadelphia Phillies. The right-hander was traded to the Phillies after the 2015 season and was part of their pitching staff for the next six seasons before he was eventually released in 2021. Velasquez always showed flashes of how good he could be, most notably a 16-strikeout, complete game shutout in his second career start with the Phillies, but that was a decade ago and unfortunately the arm talent has always matched the results.

In parts of nine MLB seasons Velasquez has posted a 4.88 ERA in 191 total games. That includes 144 starts. Nearly 800 career innings in the majors and he’s only had one season with an ERA below four, which actually came in his most recent year pitching in the big leagues.

Again, I’m not saying the Cubs should expect Velasquez to give them any value in 2026, but maybe he can give them a bulk of quality innings similar to what Chris Flexen did last year. First, you’re probably wondering what the hell happened to Velasquez and why he hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2023.

Well, let’s begin with the positives. The right-handed pitcher recorded a 3.86 ERA with the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2023 season, but then he blew out his elbow after April and was shut down for the rest of the year. Prior to the injury Velasquez had 37 strikeouts in 37.1 innings, was pretty good in six April starts, (3.06 ERA, 23.4 K% in 32.1 IP) but any chance of a comeback year was cut short for him.

The good news in trying to project him in 2026, is that Velasquez has already pitched in a full season since needing to repair the UCL in his right elbow. Velasquez spent the 2025 season at Triple-A in the Cleveland Guardians organization and then made 11 appearances in the KBO with the Lotte Giants.

It’s tough to say what happened in South Korea because Velasquez did perform well at Triple-A, where he recorded a 3.42 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 81.2 innings before a disastrous 35 innings with the Lotte Giants. In the KBO, Velasquez had an 8.23 ERA and allowed a .320 opponent batting average.

Maybe he had trouble adjusting to a new type of ball or whatever other reason, but Velasquez has proven to be healthy again, he does have some recent success in MLB, albeit in a limited sample size and given the Cubs’ history with under the radar minor league signings Velasquez can give this team a boost.

No, not as a starting pitcher or even a lock down reliever, but as we saw in 2025 with Flexen, sometimes it’s nice to just give the rest of your bullpen a breather. Flexen made 21 appearances with the Cubs last season and 20 of those outings came as a reliever. As a relief pitcher Flexen posted a 2.72 ERA and more importantly 12 of his 20 games out of the bullpen Flexen recorded at least six outs.

Flexen was a starting pitcher for most of his MLB career, but he was able to contribute as a long reliever for the Cubs, mostly in mop-up duty. Maybe not the most important innings, but Flexen got the job done, ate up innings and saved other pitcher’s arms for a few months. Velasquez can do the same.

He doesn’t have a lot of experience as a reliever, but back in 2022, Velasquez recorded a 4.25 ERA in 36 innings of work once the White Sox moved him to the bullpen. The righty made 18 relief appearances, 11 of which he logged at least two innings, and out of 17 earned runs that he allowed five of them came in one outing. In Velasquez’s other 17 relief outings with the White Sox he had a 3.38 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 32 innings, while allowing only one home run.

The Cubs had 22 pitchers who had at least 10 IP last year and 17 of them were out there for at least 20 innings. Injuries are going to happen and you’ll need guys like Velasquez to step in at a moment’s notice to fill in and while he may ultimately be nowhere near as important as 15 other guys, he can another Flexen type and that’s pretty damn good for taking a flyer on a guy who hasn’t pitched in MLB in three years.