Jed Hoyer Makes Interesting Comment About Cubs’ Trade Deadline Aggressiveness
Chicago's postseason strategy hinges on securing a first-round bye. President Jed Hoyer suggests the front office may withhold top prospects unless the sliding Cubs prove they are elite.
Video Transcript
What is up, Cubs fans?
And welcome back to Cubs Roundtable.
I'm Joey Polizzi, talking about all things Cubs.
And we are less than two months away from the August 3rd trade deadline, and teams are already shaping up to be buyers and sellers.
It's kind of clear which teams are gonna be buyers and sellers, teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, Phillies.
Those are all gonna be buyers at this year's trade deadline.
The sellers are gonna be teams like the Rockies, Giants, Royals, Angels.
And there's also a middle ground, teams that are fighting to be buyers and teams that will play their way into being sellers by the August 3rd trade deadline.
The Cubs are somewhere in that middle section right now, especially given their recent stretch.
The Cubs are just 6 and 18 over the last 24 games, and they need to make up some significant ground in the National League Central.
And it sounds as if whether the Cubs are aggressive buyers at this year's trade deadline will depend on how they play over the next eight weeks.
Jed Hoyer said, talking to reporters prior to Friday's series opener against the Giants, that whether you're aggressive or not is gonna come down to whether you get that bye in the playoffs or not.
Now, it was interesting to hear Hoyer say this because the Cubs are not really close to getting a bye at this point in the season.
First off, they are five-and-a-half games behind the Brewers in the National League Central standings, and they're also nine games behind the Braves for the first overall seed and seven games behind the Dodgers for the second overall seed.
So Cubs need to make up some significant ground in both the Central and the league standings over these next eight weeks because it could depend whether the Cubs go all in or the Cubs stay with the players they got, maybe add a couple of smaller pieces.
But these next eight weeks are key for the Cubs, and it looks like Hoyer will not be going after some big-time targets if the Cubs are not within striking distance of getting that bye because the bye is important.
We know the bye is important.
You skip through the wild card round, and you only need to win seven games compared to 10 to get to the World Series.
So the bye is important.
Three of the four teams that got a bye last year made it to the championship series, so the bye is important.
Hoyer knows that.
Now it's go time for the Cubs to get into position where they could potentially add some pieces to get them that bye by the end of the season.
But let me know what you guys think about the Cubs.
Do you think the Cubs will be aggressive buyers?
Do you think Jed Hoyer's comments is justified?
Let me know down below.
And as always, guys, go Cubs go.
