After another deeply disappointing offensive performance, this one on the eve of the Trade Deadline, it’s reasonable to wonder … has Joe Maddon heard anything? A bat on the way? Something? Anything?
Well, if he’s heard, he ain’t giving it up.
Joe Maddon, after the 2-1 loss to Stl, 'do you think you'll get another bat?': "I swear I don't know. The guys are hunkered down. We'll look for the white smoke. If it appears we'll know something occurred, otherwise we'll keep going with what we got."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) July 31, 2019
I’m sure the front office is still grinding and trying to make some kind of deal work. Having not yet offloaded any salary, however, I am not optimistic that they’d be able to accommodate anyone with even a couple million left on their deal without including a more significant prospect package than you’d otherwise want to see.
Moreover, given the state of the team’s performance, they simply are not in a place to give up significant pieces for a rental bat.
Add a guy like Hunter Pence or Jarrod Dyson for cheap, and then roll the dice in the final two months of the season. That’s really all there is to do at this point, realistically speaking. (And then actually shake things up this offseason.)