Chicago Cubs fans awaken from a nightmare trade deadline fail, theories abound

But when 5 p.m. hit and the deadline had passed, not a single top-of-rotation pitcher had been added, not a single high-leverage reliever had been acquired. The team’s trade deadline haul consisted of swing man Michael Soroka, relievers Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers, and IF/OF Willi Castro– all rentals (Kittredge has a $9 million team option).

A bewildered Cubs fandom was left speechless. Well, not entirely speechless.

Sam Olbur, self-described life-long fan and co-host of the Locked on Cubs podcast, pretty much summed up the fans’ collective frustration:

“To not get a frontline starter here and, to be honest, to not even get a legitimate back-end reliever. I mean, you are now relying to win a division championship against the best team in all the land.

You now need Palencia to be great the rest of the year. You have no margin for error there. Okay. You need Keller to continue to be great. And then, starting pitching-wise, it’s going to be Boyd who his last start, he didn’t look the same. I mean, this is a guy that has not thrown tons of innings at all. You’re going to be asking him to be your ace leading into October alongside Imanaga, Horton, Soroka, Taillon, Assad. I mean, this is one word and one word only– unserious.”

High price vs. conservative Cubs mindset

The Cubs were said to be targeting high-end starters with years of team control, but were obviously unable to pull the trigger on any such acquisition. Actually, none of those pitchers– Mitch Keller, Joe Ryan, Mackenzie Gore, Edward Cabrera, Sandy Alcantara– were moved on Thursday. Reportedly, the asking price was immense, with one unverified media report claiming that a team was asking for Matt Shaw, pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins, and others in return for their frontline starter.

But, still, there WERE quality starters to be had and the Cubs got none. Rentals Merrill Kelly, Charlie Morton, and Adrian Houser, for example, were all moved– and moved in deals that seemed to be affordable for the Cubs. The same goes for the whole slew of quality relievers traded on Thursday. None seemed out of the Cubs’ reach– if they had wanted to actually reach out.

“I thought today, for the Chicago Cubs, was a disaster…an absolute disaster,” analyst David Kaplan commented on his Rekap podcast late Thursday afternoon. “I cannot be more disappointed that a team that has the second best record in the National League, a team that is one game out of the division lead…did not look and go ‘Wow, we get in, anything can happen. Let’s get this group a real chance in October.”

Jed Hoyer’s change of heart

The Cubs’ inability to bring home what they really needed, coupled with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer’s recent contract renewal has sparked some theories as to why the team didn’t pull the trigger on something big.

Per Olbur:

“Is Tucker gone? I mean, are they just moving on? And so hey, we’re playing the long haul now that Jed got an extension. ‘Hey, I know I’m not resigning Tucker. So, I got to hold on to [Owen] Caissie. I know I’m not re-signing Tucker. And now that I’m going to be here for the next five years, I can’t lose that type of prospect. I already lost one in Cam Smith. I can’t lose Smith and Caissie if I know I’m not signing Tucker.’

Nothing is good here.”

It does boggle the mind that the team would bring Tucker in via big, risky offseason trade and then, when they’re pushing to get to that next level of success, shy away from going all-in at the trade deadline, with everything they need within their reach.

Has Hoyer’s focus changed from “win now” to “circle the wagons, protect the farm system” as his status has gone from “up for renewal” to “multi-year contract signed?”

Whatever the case, the Cubs will have to work with what they got. Their deadline moves were not bad, they just weren’t game-changing and it’s questionable whether the team is significantly better on August 1 than they were on July 31.