Shoppers euphoria? Cubs hit seven homers in blowout win over Reds
As Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recapped the past few weeks, it sounded like other general managers around baseball knew the Cubs would be buyers before Hoyer did.
"You have to sort of play both sides," Hoyer said after the trade deadline passed Tuesday. "It was interesting, though, more and more as we got deep into last week, other teams were calling like, 'You're not selling.' People stopped taking us seriously. 'Come on, you guys are good, you guys are going to buy.'"
By the time the Cubs' winning streak reached eight in St. Louis last weekend, the answer was clear to everyone. The Cubs did go shopping and brought back Washington's Jeimer Candelario.
The decision to buy looked great Tuesday, as Candelario went 4-for-5 at the plate and the Cubs erupted for 7 home runs in a 20-9 blowout of Cincinnati at Wrigley Field.
The 7 home runs tied a franchise record. Dansby Swanson went deep twice, while Mike Tauchman, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner, Patrick Wisdom and Miguel Amaya added the other home runs. Candelario started with 2 infield singles, bounced a double off the wall, then added a bloop single in his return to the Cubs. He did make an error while playing first base for the first time in three years.
On a humid night when the ball carried well, Cubs starter Justin Steele (12-3) was able to complete 6 innings with 4 earned runs allowed.
Before the game, Hoyer tried to pinpoint the exact moment when he decided with certainty the sell-off was canceled. And he admitted the Cubs did think about moving key players before the team got hot.
"I don't remember exactly the game," Hoyer said. "I will say the comeback in the second game against the White Sox, and then obviously the Tauchman catch game (at St. Louis), that was sort of like, 'OK, this is a lot of fun.'
"These guys are celebrating like it's a playoff game and doing so many great things together as a group. Winning six in a row against the Cardinals, that was probably the turning point where you realize this group believes in each other and it's definitely the right thing to do to keep them together and let them play the last two months."
The parity around the National League certainly helped. There are years when a 54-53 record would have the Cubs well beyond playoff contention. But that's not the case this season.
Hoyer said he tried to get more help for the bullpen. The Cubs added relievers Jose Cuas from Kansas City and Josh Roberson from Tampa Bay, but those are more long-term acquisitions. Both will likely stay in the minors while the Cubs pitching development staff works with them.
"We tried pretty hard," Hoyer said. "We were definitely in on a lot of different guys, but not all deals come together. Candy was certainly the priority and the one we went after the hardest and were the most aggressive on.
"I do think we've worked amazingly hard the last few years to build up our farm system. To be able to give up talented guys (LHP D.J. Herz and SS Kevin Made went to the Nationals), but be able to protect our top 10-15 group (of prospects) was really important to us."
Hoyer suggested the Cubs might be able to get bullpen help from the minors. One key piece is Keegan Thompson, who was their best bullpen arm in April. He spent about a month on the injured list and had one nice outing in Iowa after struggling badly for most of the summer. There are also guys like Brad Boxberger, Brandon Hughes and Nick Burdi trying to return from injuries.
"On paper, we've been a little better than our record," Hoyer said. "If you watch the product night in and night out, we do a lot of things really well. This team has a chance to come together and really win."
Hoyer also admitted it's nice to be on the buying side after a massive sell-off of some World Series heroes in 2021, then last year's smaller, but still productive, distribution of relief pitchers.
"Sitting here after selling is never the goal," Hoyer said. "It's often the right strategy. As we sat here several weeks ago, we thought that was the path we were going to take, but it's a much better feeling sitting here now having added and been able to show the belief we have in this group."
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