I just wrote the Cubs News & Notes blog when I saw this and I don’t want to update it. Instead I think this item stands alone as its own blog. I think it’s that noteworthy and compelling.
Some people are going to be mad about this. I recommend you save your emotions.
Everything he’s saying here is exactly true. You have to be a complete moron right now to trade for Pablo Lopez or Sandy Alc or someone on that spectrum because you have zero leverage. The market knows the Cubs need to replace Steele so if they’re calling now, the price is going to be extra high.
Instead, you have to roll with your depth as far as you can go to the trade deadline. That’s the only existing leverage for trade deadline buyers and to move outside the window would cost significantly more to make a deal.
It definitely blows because the team appears to be special and we want to see a move. So don’t try to ignore any of that. Should we lose the next 5-6 Justin Steele scheduled starts then I’m going to be more pissed than anyone reading this.
But there’s nothing we can do about the timing other than let Colin Rea and Cade Horton and Jordan Wicks take their shots at stepping up.
And really those guys aren’t too fuckin shabby if we’re being honest. Rea is a free agent veteran with a boatload of experience, while Horton and Wicks are first round college draft picks that everyone said could do the job. So let’s see if they can do it, right?
And in the meantime, we’ll clench our butt cheeks every 5th game and hope the bullpen starts to round out consistently. If that happens then we’ll be just fine until the trade deadline when Jed can really make a big splash.