Chicago Cubs pegged as aggressive buyers at trade deadline

The Chicago Cubs, just about a month ago, were in a deep and ugly dive. Not only had they fallen out of first place in the NL Central Division during their extended losing streak, they also found themselves just outside of even a wild card spot.

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But fortunes have definitely changed. And despite a pitching staff seemingly held together by Scotch tape, sticky gum, and hopes and wishes, the team has fought its way back to prominence. Over the last nineteen games, they are 15-4. They now hold the top wild card spot in the National League and are looking to put some distance between themselves and fellow NL Central wild card rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Needless to say, this turnaround now puts greater importance on the team’s moves by the August 3 trade deadline.

The need for pitching

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It’s certainly no secret what Chicago needs as they move into the final stretch of the season and, hopefully, into a deep postseason run. They need pitching. Specifically, they need reliable starters to replace the several rotation pieces currently hobbled or flat-out eliminated from the Cubs plans by injury. They could also use some added stability in a bullpen that has also been decimated by injury.

The team has already added several waiver wire arms to beef up the pitching staff and they even pulled off an early trade with the Mets for veteran starter David Peterson.

Mike Phillips of Fansided recently talked about this great need of theirs, as he urged the Cubs to be aggressive buyers at the deadline to fill it:

“With most of their position player group locked up long-term, the Cubs know they need to add to make a push at making up their five game deficit to the Brewers in the NL Central. Injuries have decimated the starting rotation, forcing Chicago to make an early buy to try and resuscitate David Peterson’s career.

Peterson stands to benefit from improved defense behind him, but that can’t be the only add the Cubs make for their rotation. There is no reason that the Cubs don’t walk away from this deadline with one of the top potential starters on the board, a group that includes Tarik Skubal, Freddy Peralta and Joe Ryan, to compete for a title.”

A month to go

But there’s still a whole month to go before the deadline and, with the divisional races as tight as they currently are, nobody’s even quite sure yet who will be buying or selling.

Jed Hoyer and the front office will also have to decide just how much they’re willing to spend in terms of prospect capital to acquire the pitching they’d like to add. A smart move—if they do end up being aggressive buyers—is to go after pitchers still with years of team control rather than 3-month rentals. At the end of this season, the Cubs could very well lose Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, and Shota Imanaga (among several others) to free agency and it would be a huge plus to acquire a pitcher who could be plugged into the rotation next year as well as for the pennant race this season.

One thing is certain, though—the Cubs need pitching help if they hope to make the playoffs and have a chance at doing something in postseason play. Time will tell what approach they take.

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