Craig Counsell could reportedly hurt Cubs future at trade deadline

The Chicago Cubs had one of their best performances of the season on Thursday, scoring ten runs (seven of which came against the red-hot Cristopher Sanchez), and defeated the MLB-leading Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 10-2.

As encouraging as that win was, the Cubs still lost the series at home against Philadelphia and they're now 40-48 on the year. They're eight games under .500, sitting in last place in the NL Central, and holding the third-worst record in the NL at this point.

The Cubs are 12.0 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and are 6.0 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the NL with a ton of teams in front of them.

In most circumstances, teams in their position would strongly consider selling at the trade deadline. Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic ($) are reporting that the Cubs are reluctant to do so, however, with Craig Counsell possibly being the reason why.

Craig Counsell could hurt Cubs future at trade deadline without doing anything

"All those who had the Cubs scoring 10 runs Wednesday in a game started by the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez, raise your hand. And yes, we all know the Cubs got hot right around this time last year, and will be reluctant to concede in Craig Counsell’s first season as manager."

The end of this quote is pretty disappointing. The Cubs might be reluctant to sell because this is Craig Counsell's first year as their manager.

Really?

Counsell is in the first season of a record-setting five-year deal worth $40 million. He's in it for the long term. Yes, this season has been extremely disappointing, but by not selling now, they're only making it harder on themselves for the rest of Counsell's tenure too.

The Cubs don't even have to do a complete fire sale. What they should do is make their potential rentals like Cody Bellinger available for teams to acquire. They don't have to trade controllable pieces and can easily try to compete next season.

FanGraphs gives the Cubs a 6.0 percent chance of making the postseason. Those are the fourth-worst odds in the National League. Sure, their odds aren't zero, but barring an absurd run, they'll be on their couches come October.

It's not as if the Cubs have Counsell on an expiring deal and they need to win to keep him around. He's locked in for the next four seasons if they want him. It'd be better for them to simply admit that this season is a failure rather than not sell because they don't want to make themselves look bad in Counsell's first season.