CHICAGO — One month out from the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has already seen the club swerve from unbeatable to unwatchable and then back to unstoppable.That’s not an exaggeration. The Cubs roared out of the gate with two 10-game winning streaks, posting the league’s best record (27-12) through May 8. The next day began a 7-22 tailspin, the worst record in the majors during that stretch. And then a 15-4 run heading into the Fourth of July weekend turned them back into the hottest team in baseball.Depending on the snapshot, it has looked like the Cubs should:
Trade for Tarik Skubal and go all-in to win the World Series this year.
Trade away all the soon-to-be free agents to collect future assets and shake up a quiet, comfortable clubhouse.
Keep an open mind.
How the Cubs perform over the next 25 games will help determine the scale of Hoyer’s additions, and potentially reveal the next injury crisis that will have to be addressed by the trade deadline.“It has been a really up-and-down season,” Hoyer said before Friday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. “There’s no reason to think that’s the way the rest of the season is going to go. It could go that way, or we could just proceed to level things out, and I hope we do. But, yeah, this is a really important stretch. The market will dictate a lot of those things. But, of course, our play is going to dictate a level of aggressiveness.”The calculus at each trade deadline is never the same. But that willingness to give up high-level prospects and add money to the payroll can be connected to the club’s chances to capture a division title and access a first-round bye in the playoffs.
