Figuring out Cubs is challenging on multiple levels

After a sad farewell game at Wrigley Field, the Cubs flew to the West Coast and enjoyed a day off in San Francisco.

So this is a good time to try to figure out what's going on with this team.

For those who can't understand what they're thinking with Willson Contreras and Ian Happ, consider what's on the mind of president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.

He knows the best way to have a long, consistent run as a contender is to build up the farm system. That way, the Cubs would have a steady stream of candidates to play in the majors, with enough depth to send some prospects out in trades.

Hoyer admitted the Cubs made mistakes with the World Series nucleus, sticking with the full group too long and gutting the minor leagues in a futile effort to repeat as champs. Presumably, the goal is to rebuild better.

A year after the big selloff of 2021, the results seem promising. Six of their top 18 prospects as rated by MLB Pipeline are players the Cubs received in deals for Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo or Yu Darvish.

Plenty of minor-league prospects don't pan out, so Hoyer wants to keep building depth in the farm system. The Cubs also appear to have made great improvements in player development. Pitchers Keegan Thompson and Justin Steele are prime examples, and there are some re-engineered swings on the way up.

Cub fans, could you deal with two or three more losing seasons if a long run of success followed? The Houston Astros are the role model, using a deep farm system to reach three World Series in the past five years and no signs of faltering this season.

Obviously, any fan would love that scenario. All the sad farewells will be easily forgotten with that result. The danger is it doesn't work and the Cubs end up with 10 bad seasons in a row.

But there's another way to look at the trade deadline dilemma. With some promising trends emerging this season, the Cubs' future lineup is beginning to take shape, and could theoretically be in place by 2024.

Consider Seiya Suzuki in right field, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center, Brennen Davis or Alexander Canario in left, Patrick Wisdom or TBA at third, Nico Hoerner at short, Christopher Morel at second and Matt Mervis or TBA at first.

Now, wouldn't Contreras be the perfect anchor to this lineup? He carries a connection to 2016, has been a strong veteran leader and he's the best offensive catcher in MLB.

When teams sign outside free agents, they have to give up draft picks. That's not an issue if the Cubs keep Contreras. We don't know if Hoyer has talked numbers with Contreras' agent lately, but the Cubs can certainly afford to sign their catcher to an extension.

Trading Happ while his value is high makes some sense logically. Same with veteran relievers like David Robertson and Mychal Givens. But the only reason to trade Contreras is if the Cubs believe they can't re-sign him or think P.J. Higgins (or Miguel Amaya down the road) will be an all-star.

If Hoyer does his job correctly, he'll say, "We want a big haul in return or we won't do a trade."

Six days of negotiating remain.

Season-high win streak:

Between all the sad hugs and emotional moments at Wrigley Field, the Cubs have won a season-high six in a row.

This part is the easiest to figure out. Successful returns from injury by Marcus Stroman and Drew Smyly have finally brought stability to the rotation.

Thompson, Steele and Adrian Sampson are building confidence, and now the bullpen is finally rested and ready to shine. During the win streak, the Cubs' team ERA is 1.47.

The Cubs seemed to have pretty good starter depth in the spring, but losing Stroman, Smyly, Wade Miley, Kyle Hendricks, Alec Mills and Adbert Alzolay to injuries changed the course of the season.

Maybe the Cubs can keep doing some damage, maybe it will fall apart after Tuesday's trade deadline. But in the short term, the Giants have lost seven in a row heading into this weekend series.

Twitter: @McGrawDHSports