Whit Merrifield is the guy, no question about it. Yes the Cubs are going to have to give up a lot but again we are trying to wind a world series. I wouldn't be disappointed with Castellanos either. So there are plenty of choices out there, making the right choice is the difficult part.
The Cubs have plenty to deal i. e. Schwarber, Almora, Edwards, Russell, Happ, Bote. Surely, with those 6 we should be able to get what we need.
Our schedule is tough the rest of the way and the Cardinals aren't going away. I hate the Cardinals but they are getting healthy, they are good and they have a lot of momentum going right now. Our fate is in the our hands. I still believe, even with the weaknesses we have, the right trade can and will make all the difference in the world. We are still the best team but the stretch run is going to be a dogfight. Especially with the number of games we have left against the Cardinals. Closing the season is out of in St Louis will be as intense as it gets, unless we can put some distanced between the Cardinals and Brewers.
It will all come down to pitching, as it always does. You can have the best hitters, the fastest baserunners, the best of everything, but if you don't have the pitching you will not achieve the ultimate goal. We have lost too many games in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning that were winnable. If we had won just a third of those games we'd be up by 5 or 6 games.