Surprise Cardinals extension just made one thing clear for Cubs trade deadline plans

As the Chicago Cubs found out last weekend, the St. Louis Cardinals may be back. The Cubs still clear the Cardinals by three and a half games in the National League Central, but with St. Louis approaching the All-Star break with record over .500 and in the Wild Card conversation, perhaps the rebuild is already over.

Not only might the rebuild be over for the Cardinals, they have one of the better farm systems in baseball, and they just locked up one of their young stars. The Cardinals have signed second baseman JJ Wetherholt to an eight-year extension, buying out his first few seasons of free agency.

Wetherholt is posting a wRC+ of 118 through his first 395 plate appearances, and the Cardinals signing him to an extension now was the clear play. As the Cubs did with Pete Crow-Armstrong earlier this season, and other teams across the league, there's a benefit to teams getting these contracts done now. There's now telling what service time will look like with the new CBA.

More immediately, for this season, the Cardinals extension with Wetherholt should be one final warning before the MLB trade deadline for the Cubs. If nothing else, it's a reminder that the Cubs need to act with urgency and intent at the deadline.

Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt contract extension should be a trade deadline alarm bell for Cubs

For everything that has gone wrong for the Cubs this season, including dropping their first two series against the Cardinals, they enter Friday with 11 games over .500. Trailing the Milwaukee Brewers seven games in the division is a daunting task, but not impossible. But that is where the urgency arrives for the Cubs.

The Brewers don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. The Cardinals could very well be emerging as a perennial contender once again. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates should be viewed as contender with their current roster construction.

The Cubs opened their contention window in earnest this past offseason by signing Alex Bregman and trading for Edward Cabrera. Those were two moves designed to push the division in the favor of the Cubs. That hasn't happened. Now, the next move is straightforward. The same urgency that Jed Hoyer had during offseason is what he needs to have at the deadline. Now is the time to push the chips to the middle of the table.

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