Chicago Cubs Have Reportedly 'Expressed Interest' in Needed Blue Jays Player

Based on a recent report, the Chicago Cubs are looking to upgrade their roster amid this hot streak.

Jun 14, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen (9) throws the ball as he prepares for the start of the second inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Rogers Centre / Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

After the Chicago Cubs started out the year competing for an NL Central title, they went through a prolonged stretch of struggles that felt like it would never end.

For a while, everyone was waiting for them to break out of the funk and start playing like a roster of this caliber should. It took a while, but they finally have started to look like the team many expected them to be as they have gotten hot during the front half of July.

Whether it's too little too late will be seen, but the Cubs have at least given their front office something to think about ahead of the upcoming trade deadline.

Entering this All-Star break, Chicago sits last in the NL Central, is four games under .500 and has a negative run differential. But, they are only 3.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot after winning seven out of their last 10.

If the organization feels like this group has turned the corner, then it wouldn't be surprising to see the Cubs add a few pieces before July 30.

One area they desperately need to upgrade is at catcher.

Entering this season, Chicago turned over the starting duties to Miguel Amaya with veteran Yan Gomes backing him up.

That turned out to be a disaster on the offensive side of things.

Amaya has an OPS+ of 54 and wRC+ of 59, both figures well below the league average mark of 100. Gomes was cut after his poor output, forcing them to bring in Tomas Nido who has never been known for offense and is 6-for-41 across his 14 games with the Cubs.

Knowing this, it sounds like Jed Hoyer and his staff are looking for a major upgrade.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, they have "expressed interest" in catcher Danny Jansen who could find himself on the move with the Toronto Blue Jays drastically underachieving.

The 29-year-old has long been a rumored target of Chicago but it was never known if they were actually looking into acquiring him or not. Based on this report, it seems like they are kicking around the idea of adding him as a rental for the second half of the season.

Jansen would be a major upgrade over what they currently have.

He's slashing .223/.316/.391 with six homers, 17 RBI, an OPS+ of 100 and wRC+ of 103. Those aren't remarkable numbers by any stretch, but this would easily be the best output on the roster, which points to just how bad the Cubs' catching situation is.

What it would take to land the veteran backstop isn't known, but considering he's a league average catcher who is a rental, it shouldn't take a whole lot for Chicago to acquire him.

This will be something to monitor over the next two weeks.