Dansby Swanson quietly puts pressure on Jed Hoyer with one Cubs' trade deadline comment

With a comfortable lead in the NL wild card race, the Chicago Cubs will be buyers at the trade deadline. The question on everyone's mind, though, is whether Jed Hoyer will get aggressive and aim for top-of-the-market names, or play it safe with improvements around the margins.

It's been an inconsistent season for Craig Counsell's club. Injuries have decimated the pitching staff, many of Hoyer's top offseason additions have underperformed, and the team has a pair of 10-game winning streaks (and a 10-game skid) under its belt. All that said, though, the fact they're in prime position to play in October again has many - including Dansby Swanson - believing in this club's potential.

"It’s always an interesting perspective of what everyone thinks should be done. Even just the question — and I’m not giving you a hard time — it’s like: “Have we earned it?” We have a top-five record in baseball, and you could argue that we haven’t really played as well as we can, so maybe that answers the question in its own right."

Swanson's up-and-down campaign pretty perfectly embodies the Cubs as a whole. After a strong start, the two-time Gold Glover went into the worst slump of his career - struggling so badly that there were very audible calls for the team to bench him - or worse. But since June 20, he's turned things around, slashing .312/.333/.624. During that stretch, Chicago has gone 19-10, although it's been unable to close the gap on the Brewers in the NL Central.

Will Cubs be buyers even without a first-round bye in the playoffs?

We know leapfrogging Milwaukee and snagging a first-round bye was and is a critical piece of the equation for Hoyer, who refuses to mortgage the future for an all-in approach, especially in a season where the Cubs have pretty clearly not even been the top team in their own division. Swanson, though, believes this group has weathered everything that's been thrown its way - warranting some aggressive moves from the front office in the coming week.

Other than health on the mound, position players have played. We’ve all gotten a couple days here and there, some mental days or whatever, but we’ve taken the field. That adds up throughout a season. That’s how you withstand the crap that goes sideways. You just keep showing up and trust in this process we have to win games. It leads you to this point. It doesn’t always look pretty or look fun, but it gets the job done.

The position player mix is, more or less, set. Matt Shaw's lingering injury could prove to be an issue for Hoyer, especially if they're putting together a deal with a contending team that's as focused on 2026 as the years ahead. Arms will be the focus for the Cubs, both in the rotation and the bullpen, with reinforcements coming in the form of guys returning from the IL in the weeks to come.

There are plenty of names out there. Will Hoyer deliver a shot in the arm to Swanson and the Cubs? We'll soon have our answer - and that will give us a better idea of how to look at this team heading into the dog days of summer and, hopefully, with more October baseball to follow.

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