CHICAGO -- In the early hours ahead of Friday’s afternoon game at Wrigley Field, utility man Willi Castro headed out to shortstop to field some ground balls at his new ballpark. Behind him, relievers Taylor Rogers and Andrew Kittredge walked out to left field together to get some work in.
As those players adjust to their new surroundings, the Cubs are preparing for the season’s two-month ramp to the postseason. With the Trade Deadline now officially in the rear-view mirror, the North Siders started their quest for a spot on the October stage with a 1-0 win over the Orioles, played in 1 hour, 49 minutes which tied for fastest this season (Cardinals-Royals on May 17).
“I love this day, because this is our group. This is the group we’re going forward with,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I think for the guys in the room, that’s a really good feeling. That’s my message to them today. This is who we’re going to have the fun with, man. This is who we’re going to go through it with.
“And we’ve got a great three months ahead of us. It starts today.”
Castro, Rogers, Kittredge and righty Michael Soroka were the newcomers acquired by Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer in the two days leading up to Thursday’s Deadline. Castro gives a versatile bench piece, Soroka can help the rotation and relief corps, while Rogers and Kittredge add a pair of established arms to the bullpen.
The Cubs did not accomplish the goal of adding a front-line starting pitcher, but the team also knows it has Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad (both on the injured list) on the comeback trail with Triple-A Iowa. There have also been important contributions from veteran Colin Rea and rookie Cade Horton -- the latter blanking Baltimore over five innings on Friday.
“I know that Jed did look at some of the higher-profile players, some of the controllable pitchers,” Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said. “If something would've fit – something you might call aggressive – if something would’ve fit, he would've done it.”
With a strong wind blowing in, Horton held Baltimore’s lineup to two hits in his outing and was lifted after 71 pitches with the Cubs taking a careful approach to his workload. That upped his scoreless streak to 17 2/3 consecutive innings dating back to July 9, and lowered the right-hander’s ERA to 1.26 over his past five turns out of Chicago’s rotation.
The Cubs’ lone run against lefty Trevor Rogers arrived in the second inning, when Carson Kelly reached via single and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Ian Happ. In the run-suppressing conditions, that proved sufficient for the North Siders to run their record to 64-45 as they battle the Brewers for the National League Central crown.
Chicago’s bullpen handled the final four innings, including a clean seventh inning with two strikeouts for Kittredge in his Cubs debut against his former team. Closer Daniel Palencia slammed the door in the ninth, picking up his 15th save of the season.
After Thursday’s Deadline, Hoyer was asked why hesitated to trade any top-tier prospects unless it was the right kind of longer-term acquisition. He pointed to names like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Matt Shaw, Horton and Palencia as recent “prospects” who are now part of Chicago’s young core in the big leagues.
“I just think that young players are the lifeblood of a team,” Hoyer said. “Sometimes, [you don’t want] to give those guys away for a guy that’s only helping you for whether it’s 10 starts or whether it’s two months. Ultimately, I think these guys are going to be Cubs for a long time and provide a ton of value.”
Ricketts said the way Hoyer has gone about his decision-making – building a winning team in the Majors, while constructing a deep farm system – led to the decision to sign him to a multiyear extension on Monday.
“Jed had really proven he’d put a good ballclub on the field,” Ricketts said. “He’s really built a good organization. The organization’s gotten healthier over the years. The Minor Leagues. The Draft has been more effective over the last few years. And, of course, we’re playing well at the Major League level. So, it really felt like it was time to extend Jed.”
And now, as Counsell put it, this is the group that will try to get the Cubs playing deep into October again.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good spot, but we’ve just got to keep going,” Cubs first baseman Michael Busch said. “There’s a lot of guys who have helped this team. There’s a lot of guys who have been here the whole year, a lot of guys who have been in and out, some new guys. But just kind of looking at the clubhouse, I think [Counsell] is right.”