Cubs' deadline disappointment is now on the brink of becoming a complete disaster

Jed Hoyer has been catching flak nonstop since Thursday's trade deadline - and rightfully so. His team was in dire need of starting pitching reinforcements, but not only did the Chicago Cubs not add the playoff arm they desperately sought, they added just one starter.

That starter? The oft-injured Michael Soroka, whose velocity had been sharply declining in recent starts. To make matters worse, the right-hander left his Cubs debut on Monday night with what has initially been called 'right shoulder discomfort'. His last two fastballs on the night clocked on the gun at just 89 MPH.

Soroka allowed one run in his two innings of work after allowing one run on one hit - a Tyler Stephenson home run - walking one and striking out three. He gave way to Ben Brown, who allowed just one run over four frames, striking out five and more than doing his part to give the Cubs a chance to win, despite their starter's abbreviated outing.

Michael Soroka leaves his Cubs debut with ominous injury diagnosis

We don't know for sure, and probably won't until Soroka undergoes imaging, but this could very quickly become a worst-case scenario for Hoyer and the Cubs. Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad are both close to returning (although Taillon's first rehab start was rocky, to put it mildly) - but the point remains the same: this team had an apparent need and the front office failed to address it in an impactful way.

They put all their eggs in the Soroka basket, despite the red alarm bells sounding in the pitch data from his final starts with Washington. Even if the asking price on aces was too high, adding just one arm felt like an awful gamble. Granted, that's easier to say now after Soroka left his start, but the Cubs' solution to their most glaring weakness felt insufficient even before Monday's events.

So now, we wait for word on Soroka - but it seems like Craig Counsell will be piecing it together with Ben Brown back in the mix until Taillon and/or Assad return. With Milwaukee continuing to roll (the Brewers will go up three games in the division race with a win Monday), the rotation short-handed and the offense non-existent, the Cubs need to find a sense of urgency soon - or risk the NL Central race getting out of hand heading deeper into August.