Will the Cubs Be Able to Replace Justin Steele On the Trade Market?

While the Chicago Cubs are off to a great start this season, they do have a looming concern when it comes to being a contender in October.

It has been an excellent start to the year for the Cubs, who find themselves in first place in the National League Central.

Coming into the campaign, expectations were high for the Cubs after a great winter. The team was able to make a few notable additions to help support what has been an impressive young core of talent.

Trading for Kyle Tucker completely changed the dynamic for Chicago on offense. Adding an MVP-caliber player into the middle of the order has made everyone around him better. Now, the Cubs have one of the best lineups in the league.

Furthermore, while the lineup might be ready to compete in October, they do have some looming concerns in the rotation after an injury to Justin Steele.

Will the Chicago Cubs Be Able to Find an Ace?

Johnny Flores Jr. of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about the Cubs’ need to find and ace-level starter and that potentially being harder than initially thought.

“It also creates a tall task for Jed Hoyer’s front office, as the Cubs won’t be the only team in search of a starter (see No. 1), and through the early parts of the season, it looks like it’ll be slim pickings come July.”

Before the start of the year, it seemed like there were going to be a plethora of front-end pitchers available at the trade deadline. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case as of now.

With the San Diego Padres playing excellently, it would be shocking at this point to see them move on from Dylan Cease or Michael King with the chance to be a contender in the NL.

Furthermore, in the American League, the Seattle Mariners are playing well. This could impact their desire to move on from Luis Castillo, who was a frequently mentioned name.

One pitcher who is likely to be the most available that could fill the need for Chicago is Sandy Alcantara. However, the from NL Cy Young has been struggling and can’t be seen as a fix for the rotation.

While things can change depending on how teams perform, that might make front-end pitchers available, but the options right now are limited.

This isn’t good news for a Cubs team that can compete in the NL this season. However, without adding another front-end starter, it’s hard to imagine that they will be able to hang with the best in the league come October.