Chicago Cubs: It is time to consider selling before the deadline
The Chicago Cubs lost again. That is now their second loss in a row to the first-place Milwaukee Brewers and fifth loss in a row overall. After this unfortunate stretch, they are now 5.0 games behind the Brew Crew for first place in the National League Central Division.
It has been a tough stretch for them in a season where they have mostly impressed. We went into the season completely clueless in terms of expectations and now you see why. They are either really good or really bad depending on the week.
The Chicago Cubs have some tough decisions coming up as we approach the deadline.
Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant are all on expiring deals. Willson Contreras only has one year left. Those four guys have made up the core of this team in terms of position players for a long time and now they all have uncertain futures. Add pieces like Joc Pederson and Craig Kimbrel to the mix and you have a crop of players that could be traded.
It would be much easier to trade guys like Pederson or Kimbrel because neither of them has been part of the core or anything like that but they are still great players. In terms of the big four, all of them are World Series champions as well which makes them feel even more important to the organization.
The Cubs would be able to get quite a bit in return if they did sell off most of these guys and did it the right way. They are all mostly having really good individual years as well which makes it even harder to trade them in terms of the future but easier in terms of the return they can get. If they reach the trade deadline well out of the race, it would be somewhat foolish not to sell most of them.
They do have tickets to sell and a team to market so they may extend one or two of them but you never know. We saw them rebuild the right way in 2012 but Theo Epstein isn’t there anymore. Jed Hoyer is different and the economy of the team is apparently different as well. Based on the conversations that went on in the offseason, the Cubs sound ready to move on.
Chicago is a big market but the Cubs are acting like a small market team. They would be able to sign them (if the players wanted to stay) and add help around them but it doesn’t seem like they want to. It will be easier for them to sell if they are losing so you almost wonder if the front office is happy about what has happened over the last week.
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As constructed, the Cubs aren’t winning anything. With their rotation and inconsistent offense, they would not get past any of the elite NL West teams in the playoffs. The New York Mets, Washington Nationals, or Atlanta Braves are probably better as well. It is going to be interesting to see what they do but the “seller” idea seems to be the best idea as of right now.