SAN FRANCISCO -- "A wide net."
That's how one executive described the first-place Chicago Cubs' search for help with the trade deadline just a week away. In past years, the team's July needs were very specific -- think closer Aroldis Chapman in 2016 -- but this time around, there are a few more holes to fill.
It isn't a stretch to think that the Cubs could use a front- or back-end right-handed and left-handed reliever and both a bench bat and a starting one to slot near the top of the order. If they can get any combination of the above, they'll be a little closer to a complete team. Right now, the parts are better than the sum. They need help.
"I'm not a rainmaker," manager Joe Maddon said from the visitors dugout on Tuesday at Oracle Park. "I don't bring ideas to them [the front office]. I don't think that's my job. But I react to what they say."
The conversations are ongoing. While names such as Nicholas Castellanos, Eric Sogard and those lefty Giants relievers (Will Smith and Tony Watson) have been discussed, the "wide net" includes many more players not yet ready for public consumption. Don't forget that the names that leak usually do for a reason: to drum up business for the sellers. As in most years, the Cubs are ready to pounce but won't push the envelope and mortgage the farm simply because there probably isn't a single player who can push them over the top like Chapman did.
"I've only been on the selling side, so that weighs on a team a little bit," reliever Brad Brach said. "The buying side is slightly more exciting. I like to follow it."
Bullpen help
Veteran Pedro Strop's struggles this season (5.47 ERA) underscore the Cubs' need for another righty, but their lack of lefty pitchers might be even more urgent.
Kyle Ryan has carried the load, but it's not enough. The market has been slow to develop simply because many teams, such as the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, are hanging around the playoff race. Those teams might not be buyers, but lefties Smith, Watson and Andrew Chafin might not go anywhere -- and if they do move, it'll come very near deadline day.
"The reliever market is at a standstill," one National League executive said. "But that will change by next week, obviously."
At the plate
Plenty has been written and said about hitters such as Whit Merrifield and Castellanos, but the lefty Sogard might be the Cubs' most attainable bat, given that he won't cost them a lot and his game should carry over to a new team.
Sogard has been an on-base machine for the Toronto Blue Jays, featuring a .370 OBP batting first in the order; and this year, he is getting on equally against lefties and righties. The Cubs were interested in the offseason, according to a source familiar with his situation, so there's plenty of reason to think they still are.
The Cubs have so many potential moving parts that it's hard to know what the priority is. Understanding how valuable relief arms are in October -- and how short the Cubs are in their pen -- the team might have to put its best assets into acquiring pitchers and hope for the best at the plate.
This is the one time of year when players are as curious as fans.
"Overall, guys are excited about what's going to happen," Brach said. "The organization has made it clear that they want to add pieces to help us win."
Is it realistic to add up to three impact players? Probably not, but that's what the Cubs need right now to feel safe in the tight NL Central -- and in October. With seven days to go, the chaos hasn't even begun.