Brewers latest injury update could push Cubs to sell even harder

Quietly, the Chicago Cubs have won four of their past five games, and sit six games under .500 as we near the All-Star Break. Jed Hoyer and the Cubs front office must decide soon if they plan to buy or sell come July 30.

Hoyer and manager Craig Counsell have been open about their expectations for this club, and how those haven't been met. Selling assets -- even if just expiring contracts or players expected to opt out like Cody Bellinger -- would be ideal for a franchise not expected to make the playoffs, rather than letting said players leave for nothing this winter.

“You never know when a team's going to get hot and turn it around,” Hoyer said just over a week ago. “We did it last year when certainly no one was expecting us to do that. I think that the best way I can say it is, this has dragged on a lot longer than we had thought. And now we've locked ourselves into a really tough stretch of schedule.”

Brewers could force Jed Hoyer to sell thanks to Devin Williams injury update

The shorthanded Brewers have dropped six of their last 10 games, and are just four games up on the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards are surging headed into the break, and are set to gain reinforcements in the form of Lars Nootbaar and Tommy Edman.

The Cubs, meanwhile, are in last place in the division, 10 games behind the Brewers, whom Counsell voluntarily left this past winter. Milwaukee's rotation is stretched thin, as they traded Corbin Burnes to Baltimore before the start of the season, and lost Brandon Woodruff, DL Hall, Robert Gasser, Joe Ross and Wade Miley to the 60-day IL. That's a playoff rotation on the injured list.

The Brewers need starting pitching -- and Matt Arnold ought to acquire some at the trade deadline beyond Aaron Civale and Dallas Keuchel -- but the return of Devil Williams ought to help matters for a pitching staff in desperate need of fresh arms.

Williams has been on the injured list since spring training with a stress fracture in his back. Per Bally Sports Wisconsin, he has started throwing again. The next step will be facing hitters in batting practice, and then eventually rehab starts.

The Brewers hope to have Williams back by mid-August, at the latest, but that looming return should have the Cubs thinking about just how realistic their NL Central chances are.