Cubs 2025 Trade Deadline Thread

[Bertz]

Things I Like

- I love Willi Castro for this team. Love love love. I would have taken him over any non-Cease rental arm.  Pitching clearly didn't work out like I wanted but this was Plan A by a mile for me on the position player side

- I suspect the team added a lot of quality innings. Probably not impact innings, but quality innings

- There is a certain extent to which it's nice to push the Caissie/Alcantara decision until after the Tucker situation is resolved

- I prefer the second reliever addition to an Adrian Houser type rotation arm

- Probably grasping at straws, but is the lack of another SP a signal that we've all been overestimating Horton's innings restrictions?  If the team thinks it can get closer to 150 innings out of him while we've been earmarking 120, it changes the calculus quite a bit

- I am glad the team did not sell low on Brown or Wicks

Things I don't Like

- Jameson Taillon’s our 3rd starter in the playoffs...cool

- The reason I accepted not making another SP move last winter was an expectation that powder was being kept dry for this summer.  Well that powder's still bone dry, so how many more times are we going to kick this can down the road?

- Owen Caissie's going to enter the winter with ~1100 AAA plate appearances. Ballesteros around 800. Alcantara's last option year is next year. What's the endgame here?  

- If SP prices were too exhorbitant, the team should have aimed higher on the RP front. I would have gladly done the deals the Yankees did for Bednar or Doval for instance

- If the division was comfortably in hand, I would like taking a lighter touch on SP additions in order to give runway to Brown/Wicks. But the division VERY MUCH IS NOT in hand

[JHBulls]

43 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

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

And we know the likelihood of that happening is very low. We’ve seen it for a long time that Jed will just sit on his hands, get his rentals and then never sign anyone to an extension. 

[Stratos]

1 hour 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 

We'll agree to disagree again on this.  Tom has 400 million+ reasons to just let him and walk.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Sosa21MVP said:

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. 

Yeah.  Hopefully Assad and Taillon come back.  It would give them a chance to rest Horton and/or Boyd for Sept/Oct.

We play the Brewers in a 5-game series (including a double-header) at Wrigley in mid-Aug,  Hopefully those guys are back by then.

[Randall Simon]

Watch Caissie become Micah Hoffpaur 2.0

[Randall Simon]

"The prices were too high".  

Torres was a price too high for a rental reliever, but we paid it bc we were in Win-Now mode. 

"Sustained success". Can we get 1 successful season at least before you preech about sustaining it!?  If you keep focusing on tomorrow, you will never achieve today.  

Edited August 1, 2025 by Randall Simon

[Randall Simon]

"We don't want to give up the next PCA, or Mackenzie Gore".  

The teams that gave up those guys are right back in the hunt again this year, better positioned than the Cubs to make a WS run.  

Keep retooling. Don't wait for your minor leaguers to win you a world series.  It will never happen. 

[Hot Sauce]

30 minutes ago, Randall Simon said:

"The prices were too high".  

Torres was a price too high for a rental reliever, but we paid it bc we were in Win-Now mode. 

"Sustained success". Can we get 1 successful season at least before you preech about sustaining it!?  If you keep focusing on tomorrow, you will never achieve today.  

We don’t know what “too high” is. I’m beating a dead horse here, but “too high” may be that teams were asking for roster players like Shaw or Horton in addition to top prospects. What we do know is that nobody else paid the price either.

Some of the folks complaining that Jed didn’t sell off the farm (if that was even enough to get the deals done) are the same ones complaining that they don’t want to see Happ on the team next year and/or don’t believe Tucker is a Cub next year. So hypothetically if we sold out the farm, didn’t win the WS, and Tucker didn’t come back, guess who will be the first to log on here and complain that Jed sucked, failed, deserves to be fired into the sun? The same people complaining now that are never happy.

Jed did what he did. The Cubs are still good. Nobody else acquired the players folks here wanted. Real life isn’t a game of MLB the Show where you can just trade for whoever you want as long as the trade is “fair.”

[Billy62]

Now we come down to it. For more than a month we were inundated about the "big splash" the Cubs were going to make at the trading deadline. The names were paraded in front of us, and we were looking to the end of the day like a kid on Christmas morning. Then reality set in and the "Big Splash" was hardly a ripple. I think we have improved our bullpen, but so have other teams. Offensively I thought we were pretty well set, but if a big thumper suddenly became available, maybe we would seize on it. Pitching was our primary area of concern. Starters as well as the bullpen. We started the season losing Justin Steele to injury. Imanaga and Taillion have had stints on the shelf, and pitchers like Boyd and Colin Rea have really stepped up. I know money is the issue, and rightfully so. I mean nobody knows what the Tucker demands will be, and guys like PCA, Busch, Shaw, and a couple of others are going to have to be paid better next season. It makes perfect sense, still the carrot was held in front of us and now many feel a little betrayed. Maybe this works out and we have another parade, or more probably, we just get into the playoffs and then get beat in the first or second rounds. This will leave yet another winter when we will wonder what could have been. Still a fan but admittedly a little disappointed.

[JBears79]

Cassie should be on the bench ASAP

[PeanutPunch33]

Caissie should be playing LF next year.  Happ should be the guy that gets moved, one way or the other.  I'm sure he'd wave that no trade clause to go to a contender like the Yankees 

[Geographyhater8888]

7 hours ago, Bertz said:

Things I Like

Alcantara's last option year is next year. What's the endgame here?  

 

That’s my biggest question. Did teams specifically not request Alcantara in a deal for that very reason? Rentals like Kelly or Gallen wouldn’t have the extra years of control tax, what exactly did Arizona want that’s off limits for Jed? They gave Suarez away for nothing and the cubs would’ve benefited from him a lot if he felt the asking price for starting pitchers was too high..

Edited August 1, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[CubUgly]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

Yeah.  Hopefully Assad and Taillon come back.  It would give them a chance to rest Horton and/or Boyd for Sept/Oct.

 

I just can't get past the Boyd/Horton conundrum - can't see either of them getting to 150 innings and still pitching effectively if at all with Boyd having not pitched 100 innings in 6 years and Horton hell, probably never in his career even going back to college.  I know they monitor these things differently now and don't hold to the Verducci model that teams seemed to adhere to in the recent past - which BTW I always thought was flawed. 

That's why I strongly felt we need two SP's at the deadline.  Not only has our starting pitching been middlin over the last month or two but two of those starters may either not be pitching anymore by late September or may well be weary-armed and less effective if they are. 

[Rcal10]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

We'll agree to disagree again on this.  Tom has 400 million+ reasons to just let him and walk.

Stratos, to be clear, even at a 30% chance of signing him that still leave a 70% chance he doesn’t sign. So you will probably be right that he won’t be a Cub. I just think it isn’t a forgone conclusion by the FO and ownership that they won’t even “seriously try” to get him. I think they will go to the mega year, mega millions offers others will be offering. I do not think they will limit the offer to 7 years when others are offering 10+. 
Frankly I don’t care about past examples. Those example is not a comparison. They didn’t go after Soto because they wanted Tucker. They did go big on Ohtani, even though there really was no hope there. Any other FA years ago has no bearing on what can happen now. He is the first guy who is in this team who the Cubs can try to keep as opposed as try to get. I think that is a difference. In the end, even I don’t have the Cubs signing him. I just differ in my belief about them trying and I do have some hope. 

[Rcal10]

5 hours ago, Hot Sauce said:

We don’t know what “too high” is. I’m beating a dead horse here, but “too high” may be that teams were asking for roster players like Shaw or Horton in addition to top prospects. What we do know is that nobody else paid the price either.

Some of the folks complaining that Jed didn’t sell off the farm (if that was even enough to get the deals done) are the same ones complaining that they don’t want to see Happ on the team next year and/or don’t believe Tucker is a Cub next year. So hypothetically if we sold out the farm, didn’t win the WS, and Tucker didn’t come back, guess who will be the first to log on here and complain that Jed sucked, failed, deserves to be fired into the sun? The same people complaining now that are never happy.

Jed did what he did. The Cubs are still good. Nobody else acquired the players folks here wanted. Real life isn’t a game of MLB the Show where you can just trade for whoever you want as long as the trade is “fair.”

Well said. I agree. No matter the outcome at the deadline this was always going to be a bitch session. 

[17 Seconds]

i think if they had just gotten bieber or kelly, the reaction to this deadline would be way different

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

i think if they had just gotten bieber or kelly, the reaction to this deadline would be way different

Had they gotten Bieber, they probably would have given up a Jaxon Wiggins type. The prospect who went from Toronto was ranked #80 on FG's big board and has been getting top-100 love and helium across the industry. 

I do agree the reaction would be different, but not a "good" different. And while I am critical of the team's inability or inaction to either create a significantly better pen or rotation (while I think they're better, they're still one impact pitcher away, and one that isn't coming), I don't think the solution was to trade a Wiggins type for what will likely be around eight or nine starts of Shane Bieber., either.

[CubinNY]

9 hours ago, Bertz said:

 

- There is a certain extent to which it's nice to push the Caissie/Alcantara decision until after the Tucker situation is resolved

I think this is a great point. I know a lot of people were saying this means the Cubs aren't resigning Tucker b/c they didn't make a big trade. I'm not sure if they will re-sign him, but if they do, they should finalize the deal quickly during the offseason.

Then they can look for deals when trade prices are lower in the offseason. 

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Had they gotten Bieber, they probably would have given up a Jaxon Wiggins type. The prospect who went from Toronto was ranked #80 on FG's big board and has been getting top-100 love and helium across the industry. 

I do agree the reaction would be different, but not a "good" different. And while I am critical of the team's inability or inaction to either create a significantly better pen or rotation (while I think they're better, they're still one impact pitcher away, and one that isn't coming), I don't think the solution was to trade a Wiggins type for what will likely be around eight or nine starts of Shane Bieber., either.

I think the miss was just not realizing the prices wouldn’t go down. The player they missed on, to me, was Bednar. But we don’t know what the cost would have been to the Cubs. In the end the Cubs do appear to have a solid pen. And IF Assad and Taillon come back the rotation is at least decent. I would guess Rea, Brown and Horton all are out of the rotation at that time (Horton for innings limit). Depending on how the last 1/3 of the season goes maybe they can monitor Boyd’s innings a little better. Also, if they can limit Horton soon enough, maybe he can pitch in the playoffs too.

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I think this is a great point. I know a lot of people were saying this means the Cubs aren't resigning Tucker b/c they didn't make a big trade. I'm not sure if they will re-sign him, but if they do, they should finalize the deal quickly during the offseason.

Then they can look for deals when trade prices are lower in the offseason. 

Agree. Well said. Doesn’t help for this year, but I honestly do not think people would have been happy at the cost for Keller, let alone guys one or two tiers above him. 

[Jason Ross]

6 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I think the miss was just not realizing the prices wouldn’t go down. The player they missed on, to me, was Bednar. But we don’t know what the cost would have been to the Cubs. In the end the Cubs do appear to have a solid pen. And IF Assad and Taillon come back the rotation is at least decent. I would guess Rea, Brown and Horton all are out of the rotation at that time (Horton for innings limit). Depending on how the last 1/3 of the season goes maybe they can monitor Boyd’s innings a little better. Also, if they can limit Horton soon enough, maybe he can pitch in the playoffs too.

The rotation might be decent the rest of the regular season, but the playoff rotation is an issue. With a great BP, you can survive that. The Cubs improved neither enough. 

Bednar, Bird...there were lots of relievers the Cubs could have and should have pivoted to. And I am still not entirely convinced one of the SPs couldn't have been had regardless of how Jed thinks. I know none of the controllable SPs were traded, but there is an aspect of chicken/egg we forget here - there really weren't many teams who had need/means to acquire them and the Cubs were among the very few. That there were non-traded is a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy when the Cubs didnt pry one, as well.

Regardless, I am not sure Jed will ever find the prices better. They were too high last deadline, they were too high during the winter, and they were too high yesterday again. They won't magically be free in the offseason, either. At some point he needs to get real with himself and understand this is the world you live in. A bird in the hand...

[squally1313]

Eh. The Cubs have played as well as anyone in baseball, have a bunch of depreciating assets in AAA, a largely unchanged roster going into 2026 (yes, I know, one big exception), and the Big Bad Dodgers look very beatable (not that that should have ever stopped us before). If not now, when? Wiggins might be good, fine, it’s your job to find/develop another one. This is twice in a row now where Jed waited out the market and then was left with a whole bunch of dry powder he couldn’t use. I get that all the good relievers went while he was Holding Fast To His Principles and he was left with the lesser Rogers brother. But feeling out the market and pulling the trigger when the time is right is the whole job. 
 

I’ll get over it, the team that has played to a 94 win pace is better than they were and the playoffs are a stupid/fun crapshoot. But, as the guy who typically embodies the ‘it’s still good’ simpsons meme, there’s no way to justify the combo of the end of the offseason and this. It’s a roster while holes that could have been at least paved over, if not fixed, and a bunch of cash going back into Toms pocket. 

[BKHoo]

I really thought the Cubs would be one of the most active contenders, not one of the least. 
 

We all know starting pitching is our problem - and it was not addressed.  

[Derwood]

It's annoying that two of the three pro franchises I follow are overly cautious about moving prospects and signing big names

[gflore34]

I'll give Jed credit for addressing the bench, there, he did the best he possibility could with Castro.  Suarez aside, I don't know if there was a better option than Castro.  At least Jed didn't punt on that need.