After last week's trade deadline, though, the tune has changed after the Chicago Cubs were widely seen as big-time winners as they aggressively added to the roster. They may have missed out on the big fish in Tarik Skubal, but it wasn't for a lack of willingess to push in their chips. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subcription required), the Cubs "made virtually all of their young players available," but never came close to a deal with the Tigers. Cubs' farm system has shown signs of major improvement this yearIt's encouraging to see that Hoyer was willing to step outside his typical comfort zone in a potential Skubal trade and, really, it's more an indictment on the current state of the Cubs' farm system than anything else. The hard truth is the Cubs (at least right now) lack the elite blue-chip prospect in the upper levels of the minors.