Players Hot, Cubs Not

As the 2011 season has officially gone half way point, a few Cubs players have started to heat up. However this has not helped the Cubs chances for the playoffs because they put themselves in a pretty big hole by losing in the beginning of the season. As of right now the Cubs are on pace to lose over 90 games. Even if they play good baseball, they probably will not be back into playoff contention.

Jim Hendry has recently said that the Cubs will not have a fire sale and keep most of their players intact on the current roster. I believe this might be the wrong move for the Cubs to just stand pat. However, I believe the Cubs will listen to trade offers on anyone except Starling Castro, so no one other than him is untouchable. With players like Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena heating up, this might be the best time to start to trade these two players and get something in return for them. These two will mostly not be Cubs in 2012, so you might as well try and get something in return for them instead of just letting them walk away after the season.

Pena has 17 homeruns since April and 3 homeruns in the last 5 games. Ramirez in June is hitting .301 and has 7 Homeruns and 20 RBIs. These two players stock on the market has not been higher at any point this year. I believe teams will be looking at these two players very closely to see if they can help them down the stretch. A team like the San Francisco Giants has a world class pitching staff, but do not have the hitting to go along with it. Both of these to players would immediate help the hitting woes of the Giants. Other teams that may be interesting in either of these players may include the Rangers, Diamondbacks, and the Indians.