(670 The Score) Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer wasn’t shy about his team’s interest in pursuing frontline starting pitching prior to the MLB trade deadline Thursday, but his hope never came to fruition.
The Cubs made four trade acquisitions across Wednesday and Thursday but none were a top-end starter. The sellers were simply asking for too much in trade talks, Hoyer told 670 The Score on Thursday evening.
“Ultimately, we made the decision that those prices didn’t make sense for us to be sustainably successful,” Hoyer said. “And I think the market sort of said that no one else did either. We weren’t the only team that was in that market. A lot of teams needed a starting pitcher. And the fact that everyone sort of made the same decision, it kind of tells you that the team that had those starting pitchers, they really value them.
“It’s hard to draft and develop or have a starting pitcher like that under control. So, I think when teams do, rightfully, they expect a massive return to do it. We made that decision organizationally that was not the right thing for us. And the fact that none of those guys changed hands indicated that we weren’t alone.”
The Cubs acquired utilityman Willi Castro, right-hander Mike Soroka, lefty reliever Taylor Rogers and righty reliever Andrew Kittredge in trades this week.
The Cubs open a three-game series against the Orioles on Friday at Wrigley Field.