Chicago Cubs Rumors: Jed Hoyer confirms talks with Miami Marlins

Monday's loss to the San Diego Padres was another piece of evidence to file away in the case of the Chicago Cubs making a move to address their bullpen woes sooner as opposed to later.

After Justin Steele tossed 4.2 scoreless innings in his first start since Opening Day, the bullpen imploded once again for the Cubs as relievers Daniel Palencia and Richard Lovelady, collectively, gave up 6 runs over in 1.1 innings pitched while each giving up 3 hits.

The expectation is that as the Cubs' starting pitchers get healthy, that should provide some resolution to the struggles of the bullpen as Hayden Wesneski may be moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen in a similar way that Ben Brown was after Steele's return.

Of course, the Cubs are desperately awaiting the return of Julian Merryweather, who has been shut down since the first week of the season with a shoulder strain. If Merryweather's absence has proved anything, it's that he is the glue of the Cubs' bullpen to bridge the gap from the starting pitcher's exit to the high-leverage relievers in the eighth and ninth innings.

However, for the Cubs, part of the issue is that Mark Leiter Jr. is the only high-leverage reliever who has had consistent success this season. That is why recent rumors suggested that the Cubs may be engaged in trade talks with the Miami Marlins in an effort to add another reliever to their bullpen.

Jed Hoyer does not rule out an early trade for the Cubs.

While speaking ahead of the Cubs' loss on Monday, Jed Hoyer confirmed those trade talks with the Marlins.

"“I knew that trade was in the works,” Hoyer said Monday. “I’ve been talking to the Marlins. Just in general, as you talk to different people, so that wasn’t a surprise. But I don’t expect that to kick off a ton of early deals. It may be earlier than usual, but it’s not going to be all of a sudden in mid-May everyone’s making a bunch of trades.”"

- Jed Hoyer via The Athletic

Hoyer was speaking in reference to the Luis Arraez trade in terms of how he had a whiff that the Marlins were one of the teams that may be ready to make a deal. However, Hoyer pumped the brakes on the idea that a trade may be near for the Cubs as he went on to say that the focus for the Cubs at the moment is for the pitching staff to get healthy.

Once the Cubs' pitching staff gets healthy, which is never a certainty, the team will have a better understanding of how the pieces to the puzzle fit. However, the prevailing thought will likely be that the Cubs need to add a closer.