The All-Star Game in the rear view mirror, and the Cubs have played their way to a 54-42 mark on the season so far. It’s not quite good enough for a lead in their division, that belongs to the 59-37 Milwaukee Brewers, but it does have them in sole control of the first Wild Card spot, one game in the loss column ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s a pretty miraculous record when you consider they have a pretty elite rotation and bullpen sitting on the injured list, and have for much of the season.
I mean, just look at this:
While some of those pitchers seem slated to return soon-ish (Jameson Taillon is on a rehab assignment and Edward Cabrera and Daniel Palencia are throwing), many are out for the year. It’s a team tailor-made for the trade deadline, which believe it or not, comes up on Aug. 3, just 18 days from now.
Cubs fans would be forgiven for being a bit skeptical that reinforcements are on the way at the deadline, however. Last year saw them add Michael Soroka, who immediately hit the injured list, along with Andrew Kittredge and utility man Willi Castro. The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and PJ Mooney put the outlook for this year’s deadline pretty bluntly yesterday:
Hoyer’s front office trusts the team’s pitching coaches, and Counsell believes they can maximize pitchers who might not look like obvious contributors.
“The job in a game is to get 27 outs,” Counsell said. “It doesn’t matter what the names are — just get 27 outs. That’s the pitching staff’s job, to somehow put together 27 outs every day. So it doesn’t matter how you do it, or what you’re called when you do it. It matters that we do it better than the other team.”
A pessimist would doubt the front office’s willingness to go all in at the trade deadline for a likely wild-card team; a pessimist would probably also doubt the club’s ability to stay healthy. An optimist would look at all the potential in the names on the injured list and the opportunities to improve the team through transactions before early August.
Bruce Levine was even more blunt on a now-deleted Tweet that was surely meant to be a DM or text message that surfaced over the break:
It seems fans are not alone in feeling that the Cubs front office has been a bit too cautious at adding players to this roster.
To my eye, a reunion with Kittredge (or a similar pitcher) could make sense. While his ERA and FIP look less stellar than last season (4.32 ERA off a 4.06 FIP in 2026 v. 3.45 ERA off a 3.52 FIP prior to the trade in 2025) the underlying numbers are similar: about a strikeout per inning, low walk rate and a 51.3 percent ground ball rate that is better than what he put up in 2026.
That said, while the Cubs should add to the back end of the bullpen, what they really need is starting pitchers. MLB Trade Rumors has a solid write-up of the arms who might be available, which include everyone from Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, old division foe Freddy Peralta, the Twins’ Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray of the Red Sox. Cubs fans are certainly familiar with Gray from his time in the NL Central with the Reds and Cardinals.
Unfortunately for Cubs fans, among the teams the Cubs could trade with above, the Twins, Red Sox, Orioles and Tigers are all within 3.5 games of a Wild Card spot in a lackluster American League, so all of those teams could take it down to the last minute before deciding to sell this trade deadline. That could mean a lot more waiting (and fretting) for fans anxious to see the Cubs try to make another run at the Postseason in 2026.
