advertisement

Chicago Cubs calmly wait out the trade talk

If the trade winds indeed were blowing around Wrigley Field Tuesday night, they were about as gentle as the breeze around the ballpark on a stuffy evening.

The nonwaiver trading deadline is fast upon us — it officially arrives at 3 p.m. Friday — and the Cubs are looking for all the pitching help they can find, as well as a bat.

As far as distractions go, all they had to do was look across the field at the Colorado Rockies, who took a gut punch Monday night, when their front office traded franchise face Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays in a multiplayer deal.

Those kinds of things can take the wind out of team's sails, but the Rockies jumped on Cubs starter Dallas Beeler with 4 runs in the first inning and chased him in the second on the way to a 7-2 victory.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon is waiting to see what his own front office will do.

“If you look at the group we have, the big thing there is to get more out of what we have,” said Maddon, who may have to live with the Cubs standing pat. “And there is more. There's a lot left in the tank offensively for us in the next two months. If we can get everybody to play offense to the level we're capable of, there's a lot of offense. There's still a lot of offense left waiting in the wings.”

As many managers do, Maddon pointed to Cubs currently in the minor leagues and/or recovering from injury as possible reinforcements.

He noted that catcher Miguel Montero and infielders Tommy La Stella and Javier Baez are “getting well.”

“There's a lot of in-house acquisitions to be made, too,” Maddon said. “People talk a lot about the roster construction. A lot of that has been impacted through injury. We didn't know how much we missed (Chris) Denorfia until he came back (from the disabled list). A lot of times the answers do lie within. We've just got to get more out of the group that is here. The other part I like is that we all fought together to this particular juncture. To remain together and rely on the same group sometimes works to your benefit, too.”

As for the players being bothered or distracted by trade rumors, veteran catcher David Ross said it goes with the territory this time of year.

“There's just a lot of extra noise that we normally don't hear that gets thrown around,” Ross said. “There's always speculation, every team. You're really wasting your time if you think you've got any idea of what any front office is going to do. Each one has a different plan of how they're going to go about things. You just wait to see now it falls into place. You focus as much as you can on the field.”

Maddon says the players do their best to keep their feelings from him.

“They never let me hear it,” he said. “They never let the manager hear it. I hear it through coaches who say so and so is worried about being traded. 'Is he going to get traded,' and it bothers him. But I don't get it directly most of the time, regardless of the player, here or in Tampa Bay. It's always these indirect conversations.”

Maddon continues bullpen juggling act

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.