Why Cubs may not trade for Tarik Skubal

The Chicago Cubs have often been mentioned as a trade suitor for Tarik Skubal. The Detroit Tigers have struggled and it seems likely that Skubal will end up getting moved. However, the Cubs have not exactly been dominating the competition. At 33-30, Chicago is in fourth place in the National League Central standings. Jesse Rogers of ESPN shared an interesting takeaway about the Cubs’ potential Skubal pursuit after speaking with team president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.

“Some teams, like the Cubs, aren’t going to mortgage the future in a major way if they’re just vying for a playoff spot. Using Skubal as an example. Even though a wild card-ish team could desperately need him more than a 1st place team, it’s the one in first that might land him. In other words, the Cubs need to get moving up the standings if they want to add in a big way,” Rogers reported.

Rogers also shared a quote from Hoyer about potential trade deadline aggressiveness.

“Your World Series odds are probably going to be correlated to your odds of getting a bye and getting a bye is such a big deal…A lot of that aggressiveness is based on that ability to get the bye,” Hoyer said.

So, will the Cubs trade for Skubal? It could certainly happen. If the Cubs remain around the .500 mark and clearly are not going to compete for the division, though, it seems as if their chances of seriously pursuing a trade for the Tigers ace may decrease.