Even just a few days away from the July 30 trade deadline, what theĀ Chicago CubsĀ are going to do is largely a mystery despite them being out of the division race and trailing the final Wild Card spot by multiple games.
It’s something Jed Hoyer and his front office have done whenever they don’t expect to make the playoffs, so with a few attractive assets on this roster who teams around the league might be interested in landing, the thought was the Cubs would start selling.
Instead,Ā they made a surprising tradeĀ to land a bullpen arm.
Chicago could still end up trading away some pieces on their roster, especially with multiple reports indicatingĀ Jameson Taillon is at the top of boardsĀ for many contending teams.
Prior to the Cubs entering this phase of their year where they likely will start focusing on next season, the fanbase wanted them to make a trade for a catcher because Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes were one of the worst offensive units in Major League Baseball.
Danny Jansen of theĀ Toronto Blue JaysĀ seemed like an obvious trade target.
With him being a rental, Chicago wouldn’t have had to give up many of their best assets to bring in the veteran who had produced three straight seasons with an OPS+ above the league average of 100 in a backup role.