NEWSLETTER
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell was on 670 The Score today, and he was asked about what is likely to be the most obvious hot topic for the next few weeks: will the Cubs be buying or selling at the Trade Deadline, what will it look like when they do, etc., etc.?
Counsell’s response was not exactly illuminating:
mmhmm mmhmm *nodding, furiously taking notes* “do … good … things … not … bad … things”
OK. I kid, obviously, because that’s a quote right there that is designed to say nothing. It is correct that you want to make good decisions, but the statement is empty. Counsell isn’t trying to be silly or obtuse.
Heck, that’s pretty much ALL the manager of a team like the Cubs can say at a moment like this. He is not going to be in a position to talk in a way that even HINTS at selling just yet, because that’s not the message he wants to bring to the clubhouse on July 3. At the same time, he is not an idiot, nor is he disconnected from the front office. He knows which way the wind is blowing. So he’s not going to be out there talking like the Cubs are about to make a bunch of aggressive trades to add to this group.
He just kind has to say, boy, I hope we make good decisions and not bad decisions, the end.
I would not expect anything substantive from Counsell on trade season until after the All-Star break at the VERY earliest, and (1) it’ll still be very superficial, and (2) it’ll come only if the path is overwhelmingly clear by then.
