From the Bleachers

COLUMN BY KURT MARGGRAF IN CHICAGO

The MLB trading deadline is August first.

The teams that think they can make the playoffs will trade some of their best young minor league players to teams for major leaguers that can help them now. The White Sox will be trading for young players while the Cubs are kind of stuck in the middle, not sure yet which way to go. They won five of their last seven and are now only three games under .500 and 6.5 games out of first as of last Sunday night. The Cubs play the White Sox twice, Cardinals four times, and Reds once before the trade deadline and if they win five or more of those games, I’m guessing they’ll go for it and trade some of their kids. Personally, I hope they hold onto their kids and trade a couple of their players for more youngsters. Marcus Stroman is having a great year and loves Chicago so if they trade him, they may be able to re-sign as a free agent next season. Cody Bellinger is playing so great that I hope the Cubs keep him and sign him to a multi year contract.

The Cubs have made a lot of moves at the trade deadline in recent years. They got rid of World Series hero’s Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Chris Bryant for youngsters that haven’t made it to the majors yet, but are very promising.

Last year they tried to trade Wilson Contreras but the Astros backed out at the last minute. Those four, plus others, had performed admirably for the Cubs, but their best years seem to be behind them, so the team did the