Nothing has been going right for the Chicago Cubs in recent weeks. They may pick up a win here and there, but they always go back to losing.
Lately, the biggest isuse hasn't even been losing games by large margins. Instead, they're finding ways to blow leads late in games to pick up a loss.
Jed Hoyer and the front office have to figure out how to stop the bleeding. The Cubs have blown 15 leads so far this season. Those games would put Chicago well up in the NL Central division race if they had finished them off.
Clearly, there are some roster issues for the Cubs. They need help in the bullpen, at catcher, and potentially need to add a power bat as well.
Looking ahead to the late-July MLB trade deadline, Chicago will have a chance to address some of their issues.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic took at a look at some potential players that the Cubs could pursue via a trade. One name that stuck out was Boston Red Sox catcher Connor Wong.
Wong has been red-hot this season and would be a massive upgrade for Chicago. He is hitting .329/.389/.451 on the season to go along with five home runs and 21 RBI. Those numbers would be an astronomical upgrade for the Cubs from the catcher position.
Chicago has found zero success with theri current two-catcher rotation of Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya. Both players have played poorly all season long. In fact, manager Craig Counsell recently went off on their production in a press conference.
Acquiring a piece like Wong, who simply gets on base, would help the lineup out in a big way. The Cubs don't have players that hit well this season.
Right now, the highest batting average on the entire team is star first baseman Cody Bellinger at .267.
At 28 years old, Chicago would also be getting a catcher under team control for the future. Wong wouldn't just be a pickup for the 2024 season. He could very well be the long-term catcher moving forward.
That alone makes this option extremely attractive. Hoyer doesn't like to spend big for one-year moves. Being able to justify this kind of trading due to the long-term picture would make it more valuable.
All of that being said, no one knows what Hoyer and the Cubs are going to do before the deadline. Some think they could go all-out to win now, but that doesn't seem to be the most likely scenario.
Making moves like this one to improve the present and future seem like the most likley course of action.
