The Cubs’ 4-2 loss to the Brewers Friday dropped Chicago to a 38-45 document and a .458 profitable share that tops solely the Marlins and Rockies amongst all Nationwide League groups. With a 17-31 mark of their final 48 video games, the Cubs haven’t performed good baseball for the higher a part of two months, resulting in a lot hypothesis in regards to the staff’s plans heading into the July 30 commerce deadline.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer addressed this matter and lots of others when talking with reporters (together with The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers) earlier than Friday’s recreation, saying, “I don’t suppose it’s time but for that full dialog” on condition that the deadline continues to be a month out. Nevertheless, Hoyer admitted that “we’ve backed ourselves right into a little bit of a nook,” and issues want to show round shortly.
“We have now to play properly this month,” Hoyer mentioned. “I believe you must be a realist whenever you get to that time….It’s important to make one of the best selections for the group based mostly on the hand you’re dealt that 12 months. We’ll see what that’s.”
It was simply final season that the Cubs had been 45-51 on July 20 earlier than rattling off an eight-game profitable streak that satisfied Hoyer to make strikes to bolster the roster on the deadline somewhat than promote. Jeimer Candelario was acquired in a commerce with the Nationals and helped Chicago submit a scoring 18-9 document in August 2023, although a late-season fade left the staff simply in need of a playoff berth.
If the Cubs get on observe with one other large win streak or preserve dropping at this tempo, Hoyer’s deadline determination might be comparatively straightforward. Given the staff’s win-now mode and the investments made within the roster, it may also be truthful to say that the Cubs might be extra vulnerable to including on the deadline in the event that they’re even close to the .500 mark however nonetheless inside hanging distance within the wild card race. (Even now, Chicago is simply 5 video games out of the final NL wild-card berth.)
Turning to how the Wrigleyville squad may method promoting, their identical roster-building endeavors additionally result in a scarcity of apparent commerce candidates. As Rogers notes, many of the Cubs’ roster is beneath longer-term management through contracts or gamers beneath arbitration management. Whereas Chicago hasn’t performed properly, the Cubs blowing issues up and having a hearth sale of their core merely isn’t life like, so any deadline promoting would absolutely be made to contend in 2025.
Hector Neris and Kyle Hendricks are free brokers this winter, and Neris’ observe document would result in some curiosity from bullpen-needy groups, although he and Hendricks have struggled for a lot of the season. Cody Bellinger can change into a free agent if he opts out of the final two years and $52.5M of his present contract, although his first rate however unspectacular play creates some doubt as as to whether or not an opt-out would result in Bellinger lastly touchdown a big-ticket multi-year contract. This identical grey space relating to Bellinger’s standing as a rental or a potential longer-term piece would impression his potential standing as a commerce candidate by the deadline.
The Cubs opted to maintain Bellinger ultimately 12 months’s commerce deadline, although it may very well be a distinct story this 12 months, barring one other July surge. “Groups just like the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have lately had a noticeable scouting presence across the” Cubs, in accordance with The Athletic’s Will Sammon, Katie Woo, Patrick Mooney, and Ken Rosenthal, and Bellinger has lengthy been linked to the Yankees on the rumor mill. The 37-45 Rangers are in even worse form than the Cubs, however the defending World Collection champs are one other staff who may pivot to promoting if they’ll begin profitable in July.
Till the deadline nears, all Hoyer and his entrance workplace can do is hope their struggling lineup and bullpen, particularly, carry out higher. Hoyer’s disappointment was clear, as he mentioned, “Once you take a look at the place we’ve carried out this 12 months with a staff that’s stronger [on paper], it’s lesser. Is that irritating to me? Completely. If it’s irritating to me, I’ve to think about it’s irritating to the followers.”
