Cubs fans won’t like this chilling trade update from a top MLB insider

After Wednesday's additions of Michael Soroka and Andrew Kittredge, the Chicago Cubs have yet to make a deal on the day of the MLB trade deadline. There have been targets they've lost out on, and there have been rumors of the team eyeing a blockbuster deal with the Washington Nationals, and we now have a report from an MLB insider that needs some unpacking.

A quick glance through Mark Feinsand's intel, and it would seem that the Cubs have made Moises Ballesteros untouchable. First and foremost, let's stop there. It's highly unlikely that Ballesteros is untouchable.

The only three prospects who come close to that label are Owen Caissie, Jaxon Wiggins, and Jefferson Rojas. Even then, the Cubs would likely be willing to deal one of those three prospects in a deal for, say, MacKenzie Gore.

It's also possible the other teams have approached the Cubs about including Ballesteros in a deal, and the Cubs declined to do so. For example, the Cubs likely were not going to part ways with Ballesteros in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Eugenio Suarez.

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Feinsand's reporting was more likely a leverage play as the Cubs try to push a deal across the finish line. The final hours before the deadline are the greatest game of chicken played during each baseball season. That's not to say that the Cubs are eager to trade Ballesteros; that's just to say that Jed Hoyer is still Jed Hoyer. He's not going to be extremely careless and move Ballesteros in the first deal that comes across his table.

That said, if the deadline passes and the Cubs are left off the scorecard with moves made today, then we would need to come back to this report. With the Cubs only having two guaranteed months remaining of Kyle Tucker on their roster, holding onto prospects who are key trade chips would be possibly the biggest mistake of Hoyer's tenure.

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