Why isn’t Cubs manager Craig Counsell worried about a sellout before the trade deadline?

CHICAGO — Craig Counsell stayed in his role and dismissed the possibility that the Chicago Cubs would sell their players at the trade deadline, an outcome that certainly did not live up to expectations when the team named him the sport’s highest-paid executive.

The day after president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer confirmed that the Cubs have no plans to hire players for the final two months of the season, Counsell continued to maintain the stoic demeanor and hands-off outlook that largely characterized the beginning of his tenure.

“Make sure you take those comments to heart and listen to everything he said,” Counsell said before Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

Hoyer left a little room in case the Cubs suddenly surge in the final week before the July 30 deadline. He acknowledged that the roster is limited in terms of trade chips. He kept open the possibility of acquiring players who could help now and next year. He dismissed the idea of ​​using 2025 as a rebuilding season to let the kids play.

But once you read the predictors, the key message became clear after listening to Hoyer for nearly 30 minutes: No help is on the way.

“This is our record,” Counsell said of his 49-54 team. “It’s put us in a little bit of a hole and we’ve got to play really well the rest of the year. We’ve got a lot of opportunities to turn that around and make it better. That’s how we look at it. That’s how the players look at it. That’s how the coaching staff looks at it. What happens around it is what happens. But it’s not going to change our focus.”

Cubs manager Craig Counsell comments on next week’s transfer deadline.

Cubs chairman Jed Hoyer said yesterday he expects to make moves with 2025 and beyond in mind, rather than just making moves to help in 2024.

⬇️ photo.twitter.com/XVFtcLGMV9

— Ryan Herrera (@ryan_a_herrera) July 23, 2024

Counsell’s previous experience with Milwaukee’s management team and managing the small-time Brewers has given him insight into how to best utilize the roster and why certain moves make sense.

“It’s not this or that,” Counsell said. “There’s a big misunderstanding about trade deadlines that they’re this or that. That’s a mistake. I think it’s an easier story to write: ‘It’s this or that.’ No matter what happens for a team — it doesn’t matter if you acquire players or you flip players or you sell players, whatever it is, you change the makeup of your roster — there’s going to be 55 games left for everybody.”

To quote Counsell, that’s a bad take. Or maybe it’s just a more nuanced conversation in Wisconsin. The big-market Cubs have been a clearly defined buyer or seller in each of Hoyer’s first 12 seasons in Chicago’s front office. After trading away Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez at the 2021 trade deadline, Hoyer memorably said, “You don’t let a crisis go to waste.”

By focusing on “2025 and beyond,” money is by definition being taken away from the National League playoffs, while the Cubs somehow still hang around as a sub-.500 team.

Counsell’s message revolves around that flickering possibility. In all likelihood, the roster won’t look much different on July 31. In terms of production this season, there’s not a huge difference between Cody Bellinger and Mike Tauchman if the Cubs decide to trade either of those left-handed outfielders.

Depth for August and September is a different consideration than trying to cover an entire 162-game season. There might not be a huge dent in the bullpen if the Cubs trade a reliever like Mark Leiter Jr. and redistribute innings with emerging young arms (Porter Hodge), pitchers coming off the injured list (Julian Merryweather) and the next man up from Triple-A Iowa (Hunter Bigge).

At least that’s what the Cubs are trying to tell themselves. And it’s not like there’s that much emotional attachment to a group that hasn’t had a winning record since late May and has been shut out nine times in the past three months.

“There may be some other names in the room, because the trade deadline is an opportunity for the entire industry to do business and change things,” Counsell said. “But for us, it’s going out there and competing.”

(Photo: Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)