Cubs receive serious trade deadline warning about one particular player

The Chicago Cubs absolutely need to do some roster tweaking between now and the MLB trade deadline if they want to re-establish themselves as genuine World Series contenders. They have gone just 7-21 since a 27-12 start, and pretty much everything has gone wrong for them.

While the Cubs need help basically everywhere, their No. 1 area of concern is their starting rotation, which has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster this season.

Chicago acquired Edward Cabrera in a trade with the Miami Marlins over the winter, but he has flopped thus far in the Windy City. Justin Steele remains out and no one knows for sure when — or if — he will return, and Matthew Boyd has been sidelined since early May due to a freak knee injury.

The Cubs are expected to be heavy in the market for starting pitching in the coming weeks, and there should be a handful of very intriguing arms available.

Chicago could return to the well in Miami to try and pry Sandy Alcantara away from the Marlins, but Paul Niemiec of North Side Baseball doesn’t seem to think it’s a a good idea.

Chicago Cubs receive warning on Sandy Alcantara

Alcantara has logged a 4.33 ERA over his first 14 starts of 2026, with that number largely being inflated because of a few really bad outings. He has been either great or terrible this season, which is why Niemiec wants the Cubs to stay away from him.

“Alcantara has made 14 starts this season and has allowed two or less earned runs in eight of them. He also has four starts where he has given up six or more runs. His xERA on the season is 4.05 and he has been worth 1.3 fWAR, but the Marlins have been reluctant to trade him to this point, and it might not make sense for the Cubs to meet a high asking price for a guy who blows up this frequently,” Niemiec wrote.

Alcantara was once one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. After all, he was a unanimous NL Cy Young award winner back in 2022 when he posted a 2.28 ERA and 0.980 WHIP. He then battled through elbow issues in 2023 and underwent Tommy John surgery the following year.

The 30-year-old hasn’t been close to the same since, and while he has certainly shown flashes, he hasn’t been consistent enough in that regard. It’s also clear that Alcantara’s stuff is down considerably, as evidenced by his dip in strikeout rate.

The command is still there, and there are times when he is nearly unhittable. But acquiring Alcantara would certainly be a major risk for Chicago given the asking price.

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