(670 The Score) The Cubs are no strangers to uncertainty in the trade market. This time, there's a sense of finality to their situation.
Just more than a month looms before the trade deadline on July 30, by which point Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer must decide whether to add to his team or sell off stars like infielder/outfielder Kris Bryant, shortstop Javier Baez and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who are all set to become free agents at season's end. The Cubs' core players, namely Bryant, have heard their names mentioned in trade possibilities on many occasions.
For his part, Cubs manager David Ross told the Laurence Holmes Show that he doesn't feel the need to address trade rumors with players, instead keeping their focus on the task at hand.
"That comes with if you're on a good team or you're not having a good year," Ross said. "I think those things, you create those rumors -- right? -- if you're having a good season. Everybody early on when we weren't playing great was like, 'They're going to sell.' We started playing great -- 'We're going to buy.' Now everybody's in limbo because it's just kind of the middle of the season and we're still within striking distance of the top of the division and we've gone through a tough stretch of our schedule and we've got a lot of guys who are key pieces to this team who are banged up.
"It just comes down to us playing baseball games. I think those are the things that I don't stress. When we get to that point, if that's something that happens, we'll address it then. Right now, I think we're in a really good place to win, continue to compete on a nightly basis, win this division and make a nice run in the playoffs and see what happens. That's all we can control. We can't control any of that other stuff."
The Cubs (42-37) dropped their fourth straight game Monday evening, losing 14-4 to the Brewers, who now hold a four-game lead in the NL Central.
