As trade deadline looms, young Cubs Horton and Shaw shining

With the July 31 trade deadline just days away and the Cubs locked in a dogfight with Milwaukee for the top spot in the division, Cade Horton delivered six and a third scoreless innings against the White Sox in as close to a “must-win” game as there can be at this point in the season.

On the other side of the ball, Matt Shaw hammered a two-run homer to left field in the seventh inning and drew a bases loaded walk in the eighth that together supplied three of the Cubs’ six runs Saturday night.

Valuable performances from two young players who are important pieces of the Cubs’ long terms and whose roles will likely be impacted by the team’s trade deadline moves.

In July, Horton has thrown two of his three total quality starts and has a 1.52 ERA in four outings this month. He’s gone toe-to-toe against pitchers like Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet going back to mid-June, and on Saturday, he took a step forward in his development as a rookie pitcher.

On a night when he didn’t have his best offspeed stuff, Horton leaned into his fastball to work out of a first-inning jam and then limit the White Sox to just three baserunners the rest of the night. This was a big step forward after his June 27 start in Houston in which he lasted only four innings and gave up seven runs. That night, Horton said, he never felt like he was able to settle in and the game sped up on him.

“It’s huge,” Horton said of Saturday’s adjustments. “Just being able to slow the game down and feeling comfortable out there. I feel like I was behind a lot today, but [I] was just able to execute my fastball to both sides of the plate and it worked out.”

Horton isn’t a stranger to big games. He pitched for Oklahoma in the 2022 College World Series, tossing 13.1 innings while striking out 24 batters and allowing four runs on nine hits and one walk. That kind of experience helps center him in some of the more challenging moments on the mound.

With Saturday’s win and a Brewers loss to the Marlins, the Cubs move back into first place in the National League Central. They have swapped spots with Milwaukee a few times in the last week, and the Cubs and Brewers have seven games against each other between now and August 21, so there will probably be more standings-shifting to come. But the Cubs have positioned themselves well to be in the hunt for a division title right up until the end of the season, and Horton will be an important part of that race. The Cubs will almost certainly trade for a starting pitcher (or two) before Thursday’s trade deadline, but Horton’s July performance is keeping him in the rotation no matter what happens.

The same could be said for Shaw. Saturday’s homer gave him six on the season; four of those longballs have come in Shaw’s last seven games. Since the All-Star break, Shaw is 11-for-23 (.478) with 8 RBI and six runs scored. He credits some of that to getting the days off over the break.

“I think just playing free and having a lot of fun has been really huge for me,” Shaw said. “The All-Star break is nice to get some perspective and kind of take a step back.

“Not grinding, mentally just kind of letting things happen. Not pressing and putting a lot of pressure on myself. Kind of playing with a little more freedom.”

In some ways, Shaw’s two-out, bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning was as indicative of how he’s feeling at the plate as the home run the previous inning. And it’s a good sign of the growth he’s making as a hitter since the beginning of the season.

“Just a really good attitude every day,” Ian Happ said. “He’s been the same guy, he’s been asking a lot of questions and kind of soaking things in and making adjustments. Seeing what works, making more adjustments. The consistency in the at-bats the last few weeks has been really good, and it’s nice to see. I know how much work he puts into it, and so some of the hard hit balls in the air, to the pull side in the air, and getting those results is nice.”

The Cubs are rumored to be in hot pursuit of third baseman Eugenio Suarez, which would obviously impact Shaw’s playing time. Before his recent stretch, fans might have welcomed the change at the hot corner (and justifiably still could), but in his last eight games at least, Shaw has consistently shown the kind of potential that made him a first round draft pick in 2023 and the guy the Cubs wanted as their starting first baseman on opening day this season.

But there are multiple suitors for Suarez — even after the Yankees traded for Ryan McMahon on Friday — so the Cubs’ attempts to get him might not work. And it’s not as if a hot stretch from Shaw will necessarily change the front office’s plans; he could continue to rake this week in Milwaukee, and no one will balk at the Cubs trading for Suarez.

But a move like that would help bolster the Cubs’ bench depth. That, along with a starting pitching staff that has had holes punched into it by injury, represents the Cubs’ two biggest areas of need at the trade deadline. They will probably add to the bullpen as well, but making a deep playoff run could come down to adding a bat and at least one top tier starting pitcher. Horton and Shaw are major parts of the Cubs’ future, but their roles on the team in 2025 might shift at least a little because of the trade deadline.

But between now and Thursday, the Cubs have important games to win as they wrap the weekend series against the White Sox and head to Milwaukee for three games against the Brewers. They’ll need to keep winning with guys like Horton and Shaw and block out the rumors in the meantime.

“It’s a front office job,” Craig Counsell said of the team’s trade plans. “This is our team, and you’re happy with our team, and you’re happy to go to battle with your team tonight, and that’s the way you look at it. It’s not much more than that. It’s simple, really. If there’s new players here, there’s new players here, and we’ll figure it out.”