After Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Brewers, the Cubs are now 38-45 overall with a.458 winning percentage, good for second place in the National League after the Marlins and Rockies. The Cubs haven’t played well for the better part of two months, going 17-31 in their last 48 games. This has caused a lot of rumours regarding the team’s intentions going into the July 30 trade deadline.
In an interview with reporters prior to Friday’s game, including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic and Jesse Rogers of ESPN, President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer covered a wide range of topics, stating, “I don’t think it’s time yet for that full conversation,” considering that there is still one month until the deadline.Hoyer acknowledged that “we’ve backed ourselves into a bit of a corner,” therefore things must change swiftly.
This month, we have to play well, according to Hoyer. When you reach that point, I believe you have to be a realist.Considering the cards that year, you have to decide what’s best for the organisation. We’ll find out what that is.
The Cubs were 45-51 on July 20 of last season before going on an eight-game winning streak, which persuaded Hoyer to make roster additions rather than trades before the deadline.
After being acquired by Chicago in a trade with the Nationals, Jeimer Candelario helped the team to an 18-9 record in August 2023, but a late-season slump prevented the team from making the playoffs.
It will be comparatively straightforward for Hoyer to decide whether to make a trade deadline move if the Cubs continue to lose or embark on another lengthy winning streak. It may also be reasonable to argue that the Cubs will be more likely to add at the deadline if they’re even close to the.500 level but still in the running for a wild card, given the team’s win-now mentality and the roster investments made. Chicago is currently only five games away from the last NL wild-card spot.)
Considering the Wrigleyville team’s potential strategy for selling, its roster-building efforts also result in a dearth of clear trade targets. As Rogers points out, contracts or players subject to arbitration control have longer-term control over the majority of the Cubs roster. Even though Chicago hasn’t performed well, it isn’t realistic to think that the Cubs will blow things up and have a fire sale of their core, thus any deadline selling would undoubtedly be done in order to compete in 2025. This winter, Hector Neris and Kyle Hendricks will be free agents. Despite their struggles for the majority of the season, Neris’s track record should draw some interest from teams in need of a bullpen.
If Cody Bellinger chooses to opt out of the final two years and $52.5 million of his current contract, he will become a free agent. However, given his mediocre but consistent play, it’s unclear whether or not Bellinger will ultimately be able to get a lucrative multi-year contract as a result of his opt-out. By the deadline, Bellinger’s potential status as a trade prospect would be impacted by the same ambiguity around his status as a rental or a potential longer-term asset.
At last year’s trade deadline, the Cubs decided to hold onto Bellinger; however, unless there is another July surge, things might be different this year.
The Athletic’s Will Sammon, Katie Woo, Patrick Mooney, and Ken Rosenthal report that “teams like the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have recently had a noticeable scouting presence around the” Cubs. Bellinger has long been connected to the Yankees in the rumour mill. Although the Cubs are in better situation than the 37-45 Rangers, the defending World Series champions are another team that may decide to sell if they can turn things around in July.
All Hoyer and his front office can do until the deadline draws closer is hope that their underperforming lineup—and especially their bullpen—perform better. “When you look at where we’ve performed this year with a team that is stronger [on paper], it’s lesser,” Hoyer stated, expressing his obvious unhappiness. Does that irritate me? Indeed. I have to assume that the supporters are equally frustrated as I am.
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