MILWAUKEE — On the eve of the trade deadline, the Cubs were able to salvage the three-game series in Milwaukee, taking the last game 10-3 on Wednesday to move within a game of the top spot in the division. Key to the win was Moisés Ballesteros’ bases-clearing double in the third inning; Ballesteros was recalled from Triple-A Iowa before the game, and this is his second stint in the majors this season. He was first called up on May 13, and Ballesteros batted .188 with no extra-base hits in five games before he was sent back down to the minors a week later.
“That was certainly a big hit. That was the biggest hit of the day for sure,” Craig Counsell said of the Ballesteros double. “And falling behind with two strikes with some good swings […] just a good at-bat, and hit it hard, hit it in the gap. Got three runs there.
“Man, call a kid up, he doesn’t sleep, has a three o’clock wakeup call and delivers the biggest hit of the game.”
Ballesteros said he took a 5:00 a.m. flight to join the team in Milwaukee, and before the game, he said he felt more relaxed being with the big league club this time around thanks to his first callup. In particular, Ballesteros said he has a better idea of how to translate his success at the plate in Triple-A to the majors.
“Trying not to do too much,” Ballesteros said via team interpreter Fredy Quevedo, Jr. “How to be a little more calm, a little more patient when hitting. As much as we want to be out there and do things too perfect, you just got to stick to what you do and just try not to do too much.”
But, given the proximity of his second turn with the Cubs to the Thursday trade deadline, Ballesteros might not get an extended look. The leg injury that took Ian Happ out of the game on Tuesday will not require an IL stint for him, and his pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning is evidence that Happ’s leg is okay. And Vidal Bruján was designated for assignment on Wednesday to clear a spot on the roster for Ballesteros, and Bruján was the Cubs’ primary outfield depth. Because Happ was able to pinch hit Wednesday, it is safe to assume he should be back in the lineup by the time the Cubs return to Wrigley on Friday, but that still leaves Jon Berti as effectively the fourth outfielder with Bruján gone, so getting another guy who can play outfield is a necessity.
“I know Jed [Hoyer] is working really hard, and there’s time to go left, so you just kind of see what happens,” Counsell said. “You’ve got to be responsible to this team and the future of the Cubs, and he’s working hard at it.”
Many Cubs fans are eager to see Owen Caissie get a callup to the big leagues — he has a .933 OPS with 20 home runs in 83 games for Iowa this season — and if Happ had required an IL stint, it might have been a possibility, but there’s also the reality that Caissie could get moved on Thursday as a part of one of the trades Hoyer makes. Calling Caissie up for potentially a single game would have posed more risk than reward.
There is also the need for starting pitching depth. Shota Imanaga bounced back on Wednesday from a wobbly start on the south side last week, striking out 8 Milwaukee batters in five innings while confining the damage primarily to a pair of William Contreras solo homers. Matthew Boyd has been the steadiest presence in the rotation, but he struggled in the series opener Monday and is already well past the highest number of innings he has thrown in a season since 2019, when he was with the Tigers. There is also Jameson Taillon, who threw live batting practice on Tuesday and should return soon, as well as rookie Cade Horton, who posted a 1.52 ERA in July, but one of the older adages in baseball is that a team can’t have too many arms.
As evidenced by the last two months of the season, the Cubs are good, but in order to ensure they win the division and are built for late October baseball, at least some additions are going to be necessary by the time the late afternoon trade deadline passes Thursday. The makeup of the locker room when the Cubs are back home to face the Orioles will have to be at least a little bit different.
“I think it’s nice that we have an off day for it to be able to kind of just watch it unfold,” Happ said. “I think it’s a tough day when you have a game that day to wait and wait and wait, and then right before you go out, you kind of see everything unfolding.”
On the whole, the players in the Cubs locker room are confident that they are going to see some new faces by the weekend, and that is in part a product of how well they have played thus far this season. In other words, the Cubs have earned the title of trade deadline buyers, and shoring up for the next two — and they hope, three — months is the front office’s vote of confidence in the roster they already have.
“All the power to Jed and the boys. I love Jed, and I’m glad he’s here to stay,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “I think he does a really good job of putting the right pieces together. We’ve put ourselves in this position to let Jed go do his work.
“I think that’s the best, most confidence-building thing is like, you know what, if we don’t do a single thing, I’ve got the same confidence in this team to go play very well in the playoffs and go make a really good run.”
