Chicago Cubs Rumors: Team has flexibility for trade deadline moves

The Chicago Cubs have been among the surprises of the National League this season as the regular season is currently in the month of June and the Cubs are tied with the Milwaukee Brewers at the top of the National League Central division.

The Chicago Cubs might have some flexibility with their payroll now.

Entering the season, the idea that the Cubs would be in first place at this point during the regular season would have been a surprise. After opening this past off-season with a trade of Yu Darvish that can be viewed as nothing more than a salary dump, the idea was that the Cubs’ success during the 2021 regular season would be determined by what general manager Jed Hoyer would be able to get for veterans such as Kris Bryant, Craig Kimbrel, and/or Javier Baez at the trade deadline.

Hoyer acknowledged over the weekend that if the current pace continues, the Cubs will not be sellers. Hoyer’s comments come on the heels of the general manager telling reporters last week that the team was ahead of schedule in regards to their financial projections.

In light of Hoyer’s comments, the question surfaced over what being “ahead of schedule” financially means in regards to the moves that the Cubs will be allowed to make at the trade deadline in July. Cubs’ president of business operations Crane Kenney spoke with the Mully and Haugh this morning on 670 The Score and provided clarity:

"“The currency everybody’s looking for at the deadline is talent,” Kenney said. “A lot of it will be what happens on the field, the other part will be what talent in our system are we prepared to part with and the third part will be economics.“The economics will probably not be a limiter. I think what happens between now and the end of the season at 100% (capacity) is we reduce our losses this year. So, we’ll still be in a loss position in terms of overall economics for this season, but certainly those losses will be a lot less than we originally had thought.“I don’t think cash will be the issue. There are so many other factors that go into it. We’ll see what happens between now and the middle of July.”"

The truth that was the Cubs’ financial outlook last November when the team traded Darvish is no longer the truth about what the Cubs’ financial outlook currently is. If faced with the same decision regarding Darvish now, it is likely that the team would have not traded their former ace to the San Diego Padres.

There are several factors that led to the change of financial reality for the Cubs. No bigger is the fact June 11 will be the first game in nearly two years that the Cubs will be allowed to operate Wrigley Field at 100 percent fan capacity. At the beginning of the season, the expectation was that the Cubs would not be allowed to have 100 percent capacity at Wrigley Field until either August or September.

The other factor is television contracts. Between the national television contracts that Major League Baseball is renewing this year and the Cubs’ owned, Marquee Network, which will finally be turning a profit for the organization within the next year, there will be an influx of cash for the Cubs over the course of the next 12 months.

Couple those factors with the fact that the Cubs’ core players such as Bryant, Baez, and Kimbrel have regressed back to their career averages, then it is no wonder why the Cubs’ direction at the trade deadline will be dictated, in large part, by their play on the field.

The onus is now on The Ricketts family. If the Cubs survive their difficult schedule for the month of June and are still at the top of the National League Central division entering July, then they will need to back up their words with action. Action that would be allowing Hoyer to buy at the deadline and add payroll. Action that would allow Hoyer to extend Bryant, Baez, and Anthony Rizzo. Actions that reiterate the fact that the Chicago Cubs are operating in a big market.