Chicago Cubs Rumors: Long-time target makes perfect sense now

For much of the first month of the Major League Baseball regular season, it seemed that the Chicago Cubs had advanced past the idea that trading for New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso made sense.

While Alonso remains one of baseball's best power hitters, the Cubs offense trended towards the top of the league during April and it was largely due to the production that the team was receiving from Michael Busch at first.

The Cubs offense has since gone cold with the league having made an adjustment to Busch during the month of May. Bush had a slash line of .208/.329/.375 in 85 plate appearances in May while only hitting 2 home runs.

While it is far from time that the Cubs should give up on Busch, it seems that Cody Bellinger will be playing a lot more first base moving forward with Pete Crow-Armstrong likely remaining at the Major League level.

The Cubs are in desperate need of a lineup-altering bat.

Regardless of what lies ahead for Busch this season, if the Cubs do not address their need for power at the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline, there is no reason to expect this roster to make the post-season.

That is one of the reasons the Cubs were the first team mentioned by Jon Heyman of the New York Post when talking about the idea of Alonso being traded.

The Cubs are the obvious potential suitor. One rival suggested the Astros, Mariners and Jays as possibilities (if those teams buy.) One thing to remember: Because the Mets are again in Steve Cohen luxury-tax territory, they’d only receive a fourth-round draft choice if they tagged Alonso with a qualifying offer.

The issue is that Jed Hoyer has shown no inclination to make the move for a superstar bat since he traded away the core of the 2016 team at the 2021 deadline. Until Hoyer pushes his chips to the middle of the table and becomes comfortable with the cost of acquiring superstar players, the Cubs living on the margins of their expectations will always be the reality.