The Chicago Cubs sit 7 games back of the Brewers at the All-Star break, which is not ideal but also not hopeless. This team has already ripped off two separate 10-game winning streaks this season. They’ve also lost 10 in a row at one point, which is the kind of wild swing that makes you wonder which version of this club is real.
Right now they’re trending up. Eighteen wins in their last 25 games. They head to Cincinnati for a three-game set against the Reds playing as well as almost anyone in the National League. The talent is there. Pete Crow-Armstrong looks like an MVP candidate, slashing .296/.387/.543 with 21 homers, 52 RBI and 23 steals while playing elite defense in center. Ian Happ has 17 homers. Dansby Swanson has 16. Seiya Suzuki has 15. Michael Busch has 11. That’s five guys in double figures before you even mention Alex Bregman, who could still find another gear.
But the pitching is where this thing gets complicated. The Cubs need help on the mound, both in the rotation and the bullpen. And they need a certain kind of help. Not a guy who eats innings and keeps you in games against bad lineups. They need someone who can go toe-to-toe with the Dodgers or the Braves or the Phillies in October.
Michael Wacha isn’t the answer for Chicago
Which brings us to Michael Wacha. The Royals righty is having a perfectly fine season. Nineteen starts, 12 quality starts, a 3.77 ERA. That’s solid. But here’s the thing: Wacha doesn’t miss enough bats (96 strikeouts in 119.1 innings) and he gives up too many homers (14 already). His fastball isn’t going to blow anyone away. When he needs a strikeout against a good lineup, he doesn’t have a put-away pitch he can lean on. He’s a crafty veteran on a mediocre team. That’s a useful player, but not the guy you want starting Game 2 of a division series.
The Cubs need more. Tarik Skubal would be the dream, but the price tag from Detroit is going to be astronomical. And unless Skubal agrees to an extension, that’s a huge gamble. Better options might include Joe Ryan, Reid Detmers, Casey Mize or Sonny Gray. Gray has been red-hot for Boston, sitting at 10-1 for a team that looked dead for three months before suddenly catching fire. Ryan might cost the most of that group, but he’s the kind of arm that changes a rotation.
Could trading Seiya Suzuki make sense?
The Cubs aren’t trading PCA. That’s not a conversation. But Suzuki? That’s a real discussion. He’s slashing .266/.347/.467 with 15 homers in 77 games, and he has a no-trade clause. So he’d have to sign off on any deal. But he’s also a free agent at the end of the season. If moving him brings back a front-line starter, the front office has to think hard about it. Suzuki has excellent power and he’s been heating up after a knee issue in June, but the Cubs need rotation help more than they need another bat in the middle of the order.
The deadline is August 3. The Cubs have decisions to make. Wacha probably isn’t the guy. Someone with more swing-and-miss stuff is. And if that means saying goodbye to Suzuki a few months early, that might just be the price of doing business.
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