Chicago Cubs stars insist the trade deadline is no big deal

The main topic of conversation right now when it comes to the Chicago Cubs is the trade deadline.

Specifically, the talk is all about how the Cubs can improve their pitching staff, which has been besieged with injury almost from day one of the season.

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It’s, really, kind of an unavoidable storyline. Losing the arms they have in both the rotation and the bullpen in such an unprecedented mass wave of injury is a big deal. Still being thirteen games above .500 and atop the NL Wild Card standings despite these injuries is borderline miraculous.

And then there’s the baseball common sense reality that teams with patchwork pitching staffs, like the one the Cubs are fielding right now, tend to not go very far in the postseason.

So, yeah, logic would dictate that the Cubs need to pick up a decent pitching haul prior to the August 3 MLB trade deadline. The headlines and fan banter will reflect this in the last week before that deadline.

Just don’t tell the Cubs themselves that they’re staring down a do-or-die urgency on August 3.

Good enough already?

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“The players that we have in this clubhouse right now,” pitcher Matthew Boyd recently told reporters, “we believe are good enough to win the World Series. It doesn’t really matter what everybody else says. We’re good enough to win the division. We plan to. If the front office adds, it’ll be welcome because that means we’re going to get better…

[But] if nothing did happen, we believe that the jerseys that are in here, and the jerseys that will be added from the injured list, are good enough to go where we want to go.”

Boyd’s recent performances have certainly bolstered the internal confidence that all the Cubs need is the Cubs already on the roster. Since coming back from surgery to repair a damaged meniscus on June 25, the veteran lefty is 4-0 with 2.31 ERA in six starts.

PCA chimes in

Burgeoning superstar center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong would be another reason the team could feel confident “as is.” The 24-year-old, amid a year that is starting to scream “MVP,” is echoing Boyd’s confidence in the team sans deadline pickup, although, like Boyd, he’d welcome any addition that makes the team even better.

“If we go get pieces, that’s only going to help us,” Crow-Armstrong told media. “The way that we’re playing, and what we’re capable of in this current clubhouse, there’s a lot of big things that we can achieve with this group.

“Whatever the front office does, I assume it will probably just help our cause. I’m excited to welcome anybody that finds themselves in a Cub uniform. But for now, and until the deadline, I love what we got. And I love what we’re doing.”

Despite the self-confidence, the truth is that this team does need some significant pitching help and that a deep run in the playoffs is unlikely without it.

But with the trade market much tighter than expected and only limited prospect capital at their disposal, the Cubs just may need to settle for a lesser deadline haul and a greater push from their confident stars.

The post Chicago Cubs stars insist the trade deadline is no big deal appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-trade-deadline-plans-matthew-biyd-pete-crow-armstrong/