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Chicago Cubs Anxiously Waiting For Trade Market To Develop

By Jordan Campbell

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Jun 28, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler (24) celebrates after scoring on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Anthony Rizzo (44) during the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Cubs are currently suffering through a season-worse five-game losing streak. Despite their recent slump, the Cubs are still very much alive in terms of contending with a record of 39-35 on the season and the team is anxiously waiting for the trade market to develop in order to bring in reinforcements. 

The Chicago Cubs are still very much alive in the National League Wild Card race despite the team currently riding a season-high five-game losing streak.

Unlike previous seasons where the Cubs have been sellers, general manager Jed Hoyer and the team’s front office are looking to bring in reinforcements before the July 31 MLB Trade Deadline to assist the Cubs in their quest to make the post-season for the first time since the 2008 season.

Hoyer knows that the Cubs may have to get creative in their dealings as there are many teams that are not ready to declare themselves as Sellers.

“There’s a chance this is one of the tightest markets we’ve ever seen,” Hoyer said. “We’re going to have to be creative. A lot of teams will have to be creative, because there’s not going to be a lot of sellers. We keep on assuming that the next four or five weeks will shake some of that out, but it may not.”

The Cubs have been linked to several players on the trade market. New York Mets’ starting pitcher Jon Niese was the latest to be added to a list that already includes starting pitcher Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Philles, starting pitcher Scott Kazmir of the Oakland Athletics, and Athletics’ super-utility player Ben Zobrist.

Despite the Cubs being linked to those players, Hoyer knows that there is a chance that the team will be unable to make a deal.

“You never know how that’s going to work,” Hoyer said. “Some teams might claw themselves back into the race and decide not to sell. You have to think about it creatively. You have to think about what would happen if there weren’t deals to be made, because there may not be a lot of deals out there.”

The argument can be made that the Cubs’ injury returns will be greater than any deal the team could make. Set-up reliever Neil Ramirez was activated from the disabled list on Sunday and outfielder Jorge Soler is expected to be activated from the disabled within the next week.

Then, there are also promotions that the Cubs will make during the second half of the season. Relievers Rafael Soriano and C.J. Edwards are expected to be promoted at some point during the second half of the season and the same can be said about infielder Javier Baez and catcher Kyle Schwarber.

As Hoyer called it, the decision between trading or not trading is nothing more than a balancing act.

“It’s the same balancing act that we always go through,” Hoyer said. “This is a very important season. Every season that you’re in the race you have to take seriously, because you can’t always count on tomorrow. As much as we’re built for the future, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”

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“You don’t want to do anything that you’re going to look back on and say: That was hasty. But you never want to only look towards the future and ignore the fact that: Hey, this has been a really fun season with a lot of big positives. And can we improve some of the weaknesses we have to keep that going?”

An easy second half schedule would suggest that the Cubs will be in contention throughout the duration of the season but the parity in Major League Baseball will make it difficult for the team to find a trading partner that is a seller.

“We’re going to have to wait awhile to see how this trade market shakes out,” Hoyer said. “But there’s a chance it’s an extreme sellers’ market with so few teams selling. And only the next 25, 30 games will tell whether more teams end up in that sellers’ column.”

For now, the Cubs will look to break their current losing streak when they open a three-game series on the road against the New York Mets on Tuesday.

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