(104.3 The Score) Once the owners of the best record in MLB, the Cubs have fallen out of first place in the NL Central standings. The Brewers claimed the first two games of a series at Wrigley Field this week and vaulted into the division lead with a 5-2 win against the Cubs on Tuesday.
After posting their second 10-game winning streak of this young season, the Cubs have since lost eight of their past 10 games to drop to 29-20 ahead of their series finale against the Brewers on Wednesday evening. The Cubs’ struggles have come in part due to injuries to their pitching staff.
The Cubs are working without right-hander Cade Horton (season-ending elbow surgery in April), left-hander Matthew Boyd (meniscus surgery) and left-hander Justin Steele (rehab from elbow surgery).
The Cubs know they need reinforcement for their pitching staff, but the dynamics at play make a trade at this time of the season unlikely, as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer explained on the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show on Wednesday. Hoyer is hoping to find the answers from within.
“It’s the nature of how the sport is covered that people feel like you can always go out and get replacements externally,” Hoyer said. “We’ve had discussions with teams, candidly, about guys who are struggling with their teams and there may be a buy-low opportunity. We’ve had some of those discussions. But the reality is to go out and get someone who’s pitching well early in the season, it’s just not realistic. You look around baseball and for a team to sell a starting pitcher for prospects at this time of year is just unbelievably unusual. For the most part, teams would wait to get a higher price if they know they’re going to sell.”
Hoyer also mentioned that the bunched-up American League standings make it a little more difficult to pull off a trade at this time of year because so many teams will hang around in the race in that league.
“Ultimately, all that matters is you have to move forward,” Hoyer said. “You have to do everything you can to find a replacement. Sometimes those are external, but early in the season those are usually internal. You have to hope that through he struggles and through the replacements, you can find a couple guys that can fit and help you.
“With the trade deadline, it does give you more opportunities to find guys externally. But I think the best teams are able to find some internal replacements that help them for the whole summer.”
The Cubs and Brewers play the final game of their series at 6:40 p.m. CT from Wrigley Field. That game will be broadcast on 104.3 The Score.
