Cubs president reportedly lacks 'wiggle room' to bolster offense before deadline

The Chicago Cubs' offense has severely underperformed this season, but Chicago reportedly won't be making significant additions to its lineup ahead of the deadline.

If the floundering Cubs hadn't already solidified themselves as sellers, Chicago's president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer did just that ahead of the Cubs' weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers revealed comments made by Hoyer on Friday that essentially ruled out the Cubs as willing, or even capable buyers.

"There's not a ton of wiggle room on as far as how we can shake things up and improve things, positionally," Hoyer said, per Rogers. "When you look at where we've performed this year with a team that's stronger (on paper), it's lesser. Is that frustrating to me? Absolutely. If it's frustrating to me, I have to imagine it's frustrating to the fans."

Rogers took Hoyer's remarks as an indication that any additions made to Chicago's offense in 2024 will come from its farm system alone.

"In terms of the Cubs offense, Hoyer admitted he can't tinker with it much considering his core players are all under longer-term contracts," Rogers said. "In other words, the trade deadline won't fix the team's run-scoring problems; it will have to come from within."

Chicago is now 38-45 after losing the opening game of its series with Milwaukee. The Cubs are in last place in the National League Central with 79 games remaining.

Any major changes to Chicago's roster between now and July 30 will be subtractions, not additions, and momentum is picking up for Cody Bellinger to be traded.

Jed Hoyer has his hands full with Cubs fans careening towards a state of apathy.

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