Cubs keep status quo in the field and rotation as trade deadline passes

8:32 PM ET

CHICAGO — It turns out the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds don’t want to send players to the Chicago Cubs that will help them win a World Series, according to general manager Jed Hoyer.

The non-waiver trade deadline passed on Monday afternoon with the Cubs unable to add a left-handed bat or a cost-controlled starter. You can thank the division alignments and being in a two-team city for that, at least in part.

“There’s a lot of conversations that don’t come to fruition,” Hoyer said Monday afternoon. “A lot of phone calls that don’t work out. We were involved in a lot of things.

“One fact that was not ideal for us, we had two active sellers in our division, one active seller in our city. It’s hard to do deals with those teams.”

Hoyer reiterated the notion there is a “tax” when teams within the same division — or city — talk trades. In other words the asking price for former Reds left-handed hitting outfielder Jay Bruce was conceivably higher for the Cubs than the team he went to, the New York Mets. Same goes for catcher Jonathan Lucroy (a righty), formerly of the Brewers and now with the Texas Rangers.

“That was an area we did look into,” Hoyer admitted regarding left-handed hitting.

At least the emergence of Javier Baez gives manager Joe Maddon the option of keeping switch-hitting Ben Zobrist in the lineup by playing him in left field. However, Baez is hitting only .254 off righties this season, and his .277 on-base percentage against them is woefully low. He’s at .363/.433 versus lefties so that’s not an issue. But when the Cubs face the best right-handers in the National League such as Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer and Noah Syndergaard do they have enough fire power from the left side of the batter’s box?

Having Javier Baez hit better against right-handers will lessen the Cubs’ need for a left-handed bat. Joe Robbins/Getty …

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