Exploring the Chicago Cubs as sellers at the deadline—who goes, who stays?

The Chicago Cubs are a disappointment so far this season. There’s just no sugarcoating it.

Expectations were high as the regular season approached. The team had acquired free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, the man of their dreams over the last couple years. They finally pulled the trigger on the Edward Cabrera trade with the Miami Marlins. They also rebuilt their depleted bullpen with four veteran free agent acquisitions.

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Add to that returning ace Justin Steele, plus a team that seemed swimming in depth all around, and, well, things looked really good. There was even some World Series chatter swirling around.

Then, the season started.

Cubs are collapsing in real time

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Emerging ace Cade Horton went down with a season-ending elbow injury in just his second start. Matthew Boyd has been hurt more than healthy so far. Cabrera was lost for a couple weeks with a blister issue. The bullpen was brutalized by injury early in the season. Steele suffered a setback in his recovery and his return is now much further down the road.

Maybe worst of all, the offense as a whole has been a big disappointment.

The Cubs now sit in fourth place in the NL Central Division, just two games above .500 with a 5-18 record in their last twenty-three games, dangerously close to falling into a deeper funk that pulls them out of contention entirely.

And what would happen if they DID fall out of contention by the trade deadline? Previously thought to be big-time buyers at the August 3 deadline, they may turn out to be sellers instead.

But what would a Cubs team selling at the deadline actually be selling?

The Cubs as sellers at the trade deadline

That’s a really good question because there don’t appear to be many big, tradeable assets on the roster right now.

The team finds a lot of its veteran core eligible for free agency at the end of this season. Guys like Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Carson Kelly, Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner, and Jacob Webb, among others, could all be gone next season and, therefore, could conceivably be moved.

Honestly, though, who would trade for most of these players as they are now? And what would the Cubs even be able to get for them?

Happ and Suzuki could have some value, but neither is a tide-changer and both have “no trade” clauses. The Cubs should be talking extension with Kelly, not trade. And as for Boyd, Imanaga, and Taillon? Unless they turn things around, dramatically, what could they even bring in via trade? Probably, next to nothing. The Cubs have a team option on Webb at an affordable $1.5 million price, so it’s not likely they’d offer him up for what they could realistically get in return.

Chicago also isn’t going to touch their core remaining talent because they are most definitely not in full rebuild mode after signing Bregman and extending Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner.

The ugly truth may be that the Cubs are stuck with who they have and with where they find themselves to be on August 3. If they’re still deep in the race at the deadline, deals might get made and things should get fun. If they’re out of contention by then, it’s going to be a long, sad road to the end of the season.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-sellers-trade-deadline-happ-boyd-suzuki-kelly/