While Playoff Contenders Swung For the Fence, the Cubs Front Office Played Small Ball — Again
- Eugene McIntosh
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
With Milwaukee on fire and contenders loading up, the Cubs played it safe —and may pay the price come October.
CHICAGO — Cubs fans have long been vocal in their criticisms of President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer — and the 2025 trade deadline didn’t help his case.
While contenders around the league aggressively reinforced their bullpens and playoff hopes, Hoyer publicly declared they would need to be “creative” at the trade deadline. He preached patience and long-term prospect value over immediate results.
The Cubs once held a 6.5 game lead over the Brewers on June 17. Now? The Brewers are in the middle of their second double-digit win streak (14 games) of the season, rolling to a 38-9 record and building a nine game lead over the Cubs. Chicago, meanwhile, has stumbled to 24-25 in that same stretch. The Cubs biggest issue isn’t effort, it’s execution — a terrible job of situational hitting and an inability to put up crooked numbers, leaving them 29th in MLB in runs scored over their last 31 games.
Manager Craig Counsell isn’t chalking it up to bad luck — just baseball.
“Things not going right, that’s not what’s happening. This is baseball that’s happening. You gotta be tough enough to roll with it,” Counsell said before the Cubs 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday afternoon. “We know results is what matters here. This is a results business, we understand that. But I think for us to focus on results is harmful and so you focus on the things that contribute to us being good.”
Playoff Bullpen Arms Were on the Move
In one of the biggest splashes of the deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired flamethrowing closer Jhoan Duran — who entered Sunday with a 1.86 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 53.1 innings — for two top prospects. Duran wasted no time, hitting 103.3 mph in his second appearance, the fastest pitch in Citizens Bank Park history.
In addition to the acquisition of Gregory Soto and Tyler Rogers, the Mets added elite reliever Ryan Helsley, who owns a 2.26 ERA over 208.2 innings since 2022 and a 24% K-BB rate. New York gave up three top prospects in the deal.
Then there’s San Diego, who landed Mason Miller, the league’s hardest thrower with the highest average fastball velocity in MLB. He’s tallied 73 Ks and 21 saves in just 44.2 innings. Miller and closer Robert Suarez give the Padres a formidable 1-2 punch. Yes they gave up a top shortstop prospect and three pitching prospects but president of baseball operations/general manager A.J. Preller thought it was well worth the risk.
Meanwhile, in Chicago...
The Cubs failed to land a high-end starter. While only a few quality arms (Merrill Kelly, Shane Bieber and Charlie Morton) moved, top Cubs targets Mackenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara, and Zac Gallen stayed put. (With Javier Assad making his first start of the season Tuesday in a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays and Jameson Taillon’s likely return next week, that adds depth to a rotation that has been sufficient since the All-Star break)
So what did Hoyer do?
Michael Soroka: A High-Risk Bet
The Cubs traded two prospects to the Nationals for Michael Soroka, a pitcher whose once-promising career has been derailed by injuries. Since his 2018 debut:
Shoulder inflammation (2018)
Torn Achilles (2020, re-torn in 2021)
Forearm inflammation (2023)
0-10 record in 2024 with the White Sox — fourth-worst winless season since 1900
On his Cubs debut (and 28th birthday), Soroka exited after two innings due to a mid-grade shoulder strain and was placed on the 15 day IL.
"Soroka played catch yesterday and it went very well," Counsell told reporters Friday morning. "Today he’ll just do drills and plyos and back to playing catch tomorrow and then probably continue through and build up.”
A "creative" mistake on Hoyer's part and he voiced his frustration to the media.
"Really disappointed you know. We kinda watched him throughout the years and he has a real upside. We saw a lot of different development opportunities to make him even better. We knew the velocity was trending down. We obviously talked through that extensively. We felt like given the market and given the asking price and all those different things, it felt like it was a good bet to make and right now it's not looking like a good bet. But ultimately that's our job, to make bets on these things. We did a lot of due diligence, a ton of research and if it doesn't work out, that's on me."
Andrew Kittredge, a steady veteran, was added from Baltimore in exchange for 17-year-old shortstop prospect Wilfri De La Cruz. Kittrredge has tossed 38.0innings with 39 Ks and a 25.2% strikeout rate. Kittredge threw an immaculate inning August 6 versus the Reds making him the third pitcher to accomplish the feat this season.
Taylor Rogers, a veteran lefty with a career 3.26 career ERA, was added from Pittsburgh for 2024 seventh round pick Ivan Brethowr. Not a huge risk for Hoyer and Rogers ability to generate ground balls gives the Cubs another solid option in high leverage situations. Chicago makes the sixth stop for the 2021 All-Star.
Willi Castro, a super-utility man from Minnesota, offers positional depth and a switch-hitting bat. Not a game-changer, but helpful. The Cubs sent pitching prospects Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong to the Twins
Kyle Tucker — Injured or Struggling
It’s no secret: Kyle Tucker was brought in during the offseason as the guy.
There's speculation that a finger injury he sustained in June during a head first slide into second base may still be affecting him.
"I don't know how much is pain or discomfort, how much is bad habits you got into to compensate for something, and just how much is a slump. There's no question it's had some impact on him," Hoyer said.
Injury or struggle, Tucker looks like a shell of himself. After a hot start to the season landing him in his fourth All-Star game, he’s cooled off significantly. Since the break, Tucker is hitting .200 with a .635 OPS and batting .170 with one RBI and 13 strikeouts through 13 games in August.
The bright spot? Even in the middle of his slump, Tucker's .377 OBP and .831 OPS are reminders of why he'll be cashing in this winter.
How Tucker finishes his lone season in Chicago has no bearing on his free agent value. President of business operations Crane Kenney apathetically stated "there is no Kyle Tucker fund" all but sealing Tucker's fate. Hoyer echoed Kenney's sentiments over a month ago adding, "I think you want to keep a player like that. You go into the negotiation wanting to keep them but you realize, at some point, you must have your limits."
A source close to The Bigs said the Cubs are expected to max out a Tucker offer at 10 years/$350M. Meanwhile, only 36.4% of the Cubs’ $584M revenue is being spent on payroll — 26th out of 30 MLB teams.
In the words of the great Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, "HE GONE!"
Caissie Gets Call-UP
In a fitting homecoming, Cubs top prospect Owen Caissie made his MLB debut Thursday in Toronto — only the second Canadian-born player since 1901 to debut on Canadian soil. The 22-year-old crushed Triple-A pitching this year (.955 OPS/22 homers/.289 AVG) and now brings hope to a Cubs lineup gasping for air.
How will Counsell work him into the lineup?
“It’s more on the game to game side and what we don’t want to happen is that he comes and doesn’t play a lot, but he’s gotta cross the bar as being the best option too. In our outfield, that’s pretty difficult so that’s the balance that we’re gonna have to strike. With the amount of games we have coming up, we’ll see how that rolls out.”
The Cubs can’t afford to waste Caissie’s call-up. He should be in the lineup daily, getting reps, while also giving veterans who could use it some well-timed days off.
“We’re going to play the best guys everyday. Owen will be involved tomorrow — and this is why we wrestled with calling him up at times because of the group of outfielders we have.”
Bottom Line
The Cubs aren’t mathematically eliminated, but let’s be real — their chances of overcoming a nine-game deficit with 40 left = cooked! A five-game home stand against the Brewers starting tomorrow offers a chance to gain ground, but the new reality is clear…survival mode in the Wild Card before this slide buries them deeper.
While playoff contenders swung for the fence, the Cubs front office played small ball — again. The trade deadline was a chance to double down on a promising season. Instead, Hoyer & Co. settled for insurance policies — and are rolling the dice.
We'll soon see how that gamble pays off.
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