Cubs 2025 Trade Deadline Thread

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, Pinerider said:

i was pissed today but I'm reading GMs are saying the cost for starting pitching was just too high. If we would have gave up the farm everyone would be upset so I guess we roll with what we have and hope for the best.

Welcome to NSBB!

It works for AJ Preller. And while I don't think Hoyer needs to become Preller, I'm not giving him a pass simply because "it was expensive". 

I'm sure it was expensive. But at some point, you either pay the price of admission or you just waste your bullets to a degree. And the Cubs are bordering on the latter. They are now almost assuredly in a place where they *have* to trade some of these guys in December or they will really be at a "what are you doing with these guys?" point - their value will be going down and it's unlikely that pitchers will be any cheaper.

[Michael Busch Light]

I wonder if we should just finally get it over with and put Ben Brown in the bullpen where he belongs.  

[Rex Buckingham]

I'm disappointed that they didn't get a better starter than Soroka.  I feel like they've been a SP away from being a strong contender since Steele went down.

However, the bullpen appears to have gotten better. The lineup is stronger with Castro able to fill in and give breaks. The postseason bullpen could be nasty if they can include Horton and Brown

[gflore34]

1 minute ago, Michael Busch Light said:

I wonder if we should just finally get it over with and put Ben Brown in the bullpen where he belongs.  

Definitely, move Soroka to the rotation, no more horsefeathers bullpen games or Brown starts.  When Tallion and Asaad come back, move Rea to the pen, probably shut down or severely limit Horton.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Welcome to NSBB!

It works for AJ Preller. And while I don't think Hoyer needs to become Preller, I'm not giving him a pass simply because "it was expensive". 

I'm sure it was expensive. But at some point, you either pay the price of admission or you just waste your bullets to a degree. And the Cubs are bordering on the latter. They are now almost assuredly in a place where they *have* to trade some of these guys in December or they will really be at a "what are you doing with these guys?" point - their value will be going down and it's unlikely that pitchers will be any cheaper.

Thanks friend! Glad to be here.

Fair points. I just really feel great about Shaw, Ballesteros etc. Would be a tough pill to swallow if we gave up too much but we absolutely have serious issues with the rotation so we desperately needed a front end starter. Maybe we can just try to out score them in the PO lol

[Stratos]

9 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

This is ridiculous. Just negative to be negative. Even if he wants top dollar it is more than a 1% chance. I am frustrated too, but stop being negative just to be negative. 

5% then?   They've passed on every single star FA over the last 10 years or so and slashed payroll by 20m this past offseason.  There's no reason to be optimistic, the evidence just doesn't support it.   If they shock us great, but i'm assuming he's gone and moving on and not setting myself up for the annual FA letdown.

We've got Seiya/Caissie/Alcantara/Ballesteros/Long to fit into the RF and DH slots next year, and Shaw should hit better.  If they sign a good SP we'll still be a good team with a good offense.

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

I'm disappointed that they didn't get a better starter than Soroka.  I feel like they've been a SP away from being a strong contender since Steele went down.

However, the bullpen appears to have gotten better. The lineup is stronger with Castro able to fill in and give breaks. The postseason bullpen could be nasty if they can include Horton and Brown

Having guys who can miss bats is more important in the postseason.  The Cubs SP certainly won't miss many bats but, the bullpen could potentially have guys who miss bats.  If I had to pick I'd go with guys who miss bats at the end.

[PeanutPunch33]

lol the Reds just erased an 8 run deficit in the 8th inning.. still nobody out 

[731.4life]

46 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

Imaginary scenarios are pointless since we don’t know what the cost of acquiring those players actually was. It could’ve been Horton, Shaw, Caissie. We don’t know, so there’s no sense in playing this game.

I would've offered Caissie, Wiggins, Birdsell, Neely, and Triantos for those two. I think it's a fair deal (my opinion), and the Cubs wouldn't totally scrapped their farm system. 

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Pinerider said:

Thanks friend! Glad to be here.

Fair points. I just really feel great about Shaw, Ballesteros etc. Would be a tough pill to swallow if we gave up too much but we absolutely have serious issues with the rotation so we desperately needed a front end starter. Maybe we can just try to out score them in the PO lol

We are sincerely glad to have you. Thanks for being apart of it!

I like a lot of our prospects as well. My background has been in young player and minor league prospects, so I understand the love of our young guys. It's hard to give up the future in some ways; prospects can be whatever our mind sees. Ballesteros is the next top-5 catcher in baseball, hitting .320 with 20 home runs. Owen Caissie is Kyle Schwarber who plays RF competently. Jaxon Wiggins is throwing 100mph and leading a rotation. But our minds deceive us with tantalizing ifs and buts, when the reality almost assuredly falls short.

Most of these prospects will fail to become our perception. Keeping them all will ensure we keep all of the good ones, but also, will force us to play all of the those who take 800 PA's and never materialize. 

At some point, swapping some future assets for current ones, is better. Before you're left with the whole bag and you wish you would have gotten a little more defined assets out of it.

[Hot Sauce]

4 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

I would've offered Caissie, Wiggins, Birdsell, Neely, and Triantos for those two. I think it's a fair deal (my opinion), and the Cubs wouldn't totally scrapped their farm system. 

And if the Marlins wanted major league players like Shaw, Horton, etc. back they would’ve decline the package. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

And if the Marlins wanted major league players like Shaw, Horton, etc. back they would’ve decline the package. 

Pretty sure that's what happened. All these teams with SP probably wanted Shaw and/or Horton included and Jed wouldn't budge. That's the only thing that makes sense to me, anyway 

Edited August 1, 2025 by Tangled Up in Plaid
Words

[Stratos]

17 minutes ago, Michael Busch Light said:

I wonder if we should just finally get it over with and put Ben Brown in the bullpen where he belongs.  

They might do that, he seems the obvious man out with Soroka.   Even to save his arm.  I'm sure he'll be working on his 3rd pitch this winter.

LHB have destroyed him.  Having a solid change-up would be huge for him.

[Rcal10]

17 minutes ago, Stratos said:

5% then?   They've passed on every single star FA over the last 10 years or so and slashed payroll by 20m this past offseason.  There's no reason to be optimistic, the evidence just doesn't support it.   If they shock us great, but i'm assuming he's gone and moving on and not setting myself up for the annual FA letdown.

We've got Seiya/Caissie/Alcantara/Ballesteros/Long to fit into the RF and DH slots next year, and Shaw should hit better.  If they sign a good SP we'll still be a good team with a good offense.

I think they have the best chance of signing him compared to any other team. That said. Still not exactly 50/50. To suggest 1%, as you did earlier is just being angry to be angry and negative. He has played her a year. He has seen what being a Cub and playing at Wrigley is all about. And ownership and the FO has seen the results if having a star player. This is different than not getting a FA from another team. I would say they have a 30-35% chance of signing him 

[Rcal10]

36 minutes ago, cubfansince77 said:

I think it absolutely is a tell. But I'm not worried...kid looks like a stud from all appearances. Make no mistake, Tom won't fork over 400-500 mil for Tucker and I'm not so sure he should frankly. Screws up the salary structure of the whole team. 

I don’t. I think the controlled starting pitcher ask was just way too high. Reports had Keller costing Cassie+. What do you think others cost. Miami guys may have been Cassie and Wiggins. Gore or Ryan might have cost Horton and Shaw with Rojas. Maybe more. If that is the case, Jed was right not to trade for any of them. And it had nothing to do with the FO’s confidence in signing Tucker next year. Jed’s mistake was for some reason he thought the price of a controlled starter would go down. And it never did. He should have never aimed that high and should have been happy getting Morton or Kelly.

[731.4life]

13 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I don’t. I think the controlled starting pitcher ask was just way too high. Reports had Keller costing Cassie+. What do you think others cost. Miami guys may have been Cassie and Wiggins. Gore or Ryan might have cost Horton and Shaw with Rojas. Maybe more. If that is the case, Jed was right not to trade for any of them. And it had nothing to do with the FO’s confidence in signing Tucker next year. Jed’s mistake was for some reason he thought the price of a controlled starter would go down. And it never did. He should have never aimed that high and should have been happy getting Morton or Kelly.

That's where I'm at. Morton, Kelly, and Verlander are established MLB pitchers that can pitch postseason games and do well, and should be for a reasonable price. 

Sometimes, you just have to overpay a little and hope for the best. Theo did that, AJ Prellar does that, Dombrowski does that, but Jed doesn't.

Padres gave up the #3 overall prospect for a relief pitcher...

Edited August 1, 2025 by 731.4life

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

That's where I'm at. Morton, Kelly, and Verlander are established MLB pitchers that can pitch postseason games and do well, and should be for a reasonable price. 

Sometimes, you just have to overpay a little and hope for the best. Theo did that, AJ Prellar does that, Dombrowski does that, but Jed doesn't.

Padres gave up the #3 overall prospect for a relief pitcher...

Yes, if people want to criticize Jed for not understanding thr cost and the fact he had to overpay, I agree. But I don’t think anything they decided to do or not do now has any reflection on their view on signing Tucker. Jed should have known the cost and figured out a way to make more happen. 

[731.4life]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Yes, if people want to criticize Jed for not understanding thr cost and the fact he had to overpay, I agree. But I don’t think anything they decided to do or not do now has any reflection on their view on signing Tucker. Jed should have known the cost and figured out a way to make more happen. 

I feel like they're going to be "somewhat content" with letting Tucker go, and not sign him to that $400 Million+ contract, and letting Caissie become the next right fielder...

Where if they traded Caissie, then there's pressure to re-sign Tucker. Now, I don't think there's any pressure...

Edited August 1, 2025 by 731.4life

[Jfoley89]

29 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I think they have the best chance of signing him compared to any other team. That said. Still not exactly 50/50. To suggest 1%, as you did earlier is just being angry to be angry and negative. He has played her a year. He has seen what being a Cub and playing at Wrigley is all about. And ownership and the FO has seen the results if having a star player. This is different than not getting a FA from another team. I would say they have a 30-35% chance of signing him 

I think you're absolutely insane.  We wouldn't even talk to Soto, and you think they're going to offer 500 million to Tucker? Jed isn't willing to go to 200 million so far.  1-5% is pretty fair.  Especially knowing they can get a draft pick for letting him walk and they refused to use any trade capital this deadline.  You don't keep Cassie and Alcantara if you don't expect an opening in the OF next year

[JHBulls]

2 hours ago, KCCub said:

Brother, you didn’t just today find out the asking prices today. You can’t swim in those waters without a better backup plan….

Although I am happy that the other teams with better rotations than ours didn’t improve their rotations, I am still disappointed.

[Sosa21MVP]

What keeps me up at night is thinking about how 2 of the 3 best starters in the current rotation (Boyd & Horton) could run out of runway by the time October comes due to innings. I get that the top level of starters did not get dealt at all, probably due to insane price tags. But shoot, I'd take my chances on a pitcher outside that group (Adrian Houser for example) for depth and insurance. And a guy like Houser, you could have made that deal before July 31st. 

[KCCub]

This hits home. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, KCCub said:

This hits home. 

Breslow is a Theo/Jed disciple so it's not surprising.

[Rex Buckingham]

1 minute ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Breslow is a Theo/Jed disciple so it's not surprising.

yep, he and Jed are so similar... two extremely conservative guys running teams in huge markets and hesitating to spend what they need to spend... liked Rosenthal's point that they're counting on their guys progressing and the team continuing to improve... but so were the Orioles, who have collapsed this year.

I really hope that Caissie, Alcantara, Long, Mo, etc. keep hitting in Iowa to finish the season and Jed can make an offseason move for a frontline starter

[PeanutPunch33]

This organization is a joke.  Hopefully the players defy the odds and play deep into October.. but more than likely, they will exit the playoffs quickly due to below average pitching and only 1 or 2 guys in the bullpen that can strike anyone out