If this is the Cubs' big deadline move, the 2024 season will be an utter failure

The Athletic's Jim Bowden (subscription required) penned a piece on Monday morning doing a bit of a roundtable on the crowded (and less than inspiring) NL Wild Card picture and the 'difference-making' moves each team could make ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.

If he's on the nose with the move the Cubs make, then we've got big-time problems.

Not because Chicago doesn't badly need help behind the plate, because we all know they do. But bringing in Elias Diaz, a veteran catcher on an expiring contract to address that position cannot be the 'difference-making' move this team makes.

Make no mistake. Given the low cost, it's one the team should make, although then the question becomes what to do with Miguel Amaya since he can't be optioned (assuming the Tomas Nido experiment proves successful). But this roster has flaws beyond just the catcher position and opting to bet the 2024 season on internal improvements when the team hasn't shown it's capable of them is troubling, to say the least.

Cubs have more pressing needs than a rental veteran catcher

The Cubs need an impact bat - the same need they've had for years now. The bullpen is in shambles and the latest Mark Leiter Jr. injury news took things from bad to worse. Chicago seems to be stuck in limbo, somewhere between letting their prospects climb the ladders and trying to sneak into the postseason in an awful field of October hopefuls.

Diaz can't be the headliner between now and the end of July. Obviously, the Cubs' situation can change a lot in a month (as we've learned already this season). But looking at the list of needs right now, it's clear Hoyer needs to be thinking big or this will quickly wind up a lost season on the North Side.