The Chicago Cubs came into this season with high expectations after making Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in MLB history.

While an elite skipper can certainly elevate a roster, there still needs to be enough talent present for the team to compete.

The Cubs front office underwent some criticism during the offseason as there was a thought they should have been more aggressive to add more pieces. That came after president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, and the ownership group stated their goal was to build a contender and make the playoffs.

Those words felt a little hollow when star player after star player landed elsewhere, while Chicago sat idle for the most part.

But, based on recent comments made by Hoyer, it sounds like they plan on being aggressive at the trade deadline and are already eyeing potential moves.

“I don’t think you ever stop thinking about that. Because that’s the job. You’re always kind of looking,” he said according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic.

On the surface, there isn’t a whole lot here, but he easily could have taken the more conservative executive route where he says they haven’t thought that far ahead, or that they’re taking things month by month.

Instead, he implied the front office is doing work to see who might be a feasible addition to their roster.

The Cubs were potentially going to be sellers at last year’s deadline if they didn’t turn things around and players hadn’t convinced the front office to keep the group together.

They don’t expect to be in that situation again, and with a 13-9 record entering Monday, they look like a much better team even with their pitching issues.

Chicago will have a very tough upcoming stretch where they face five teams who either currently have a winning record or are .500, plus the Houston Astros, who are struggling right now but are always dangerous.

The front office will get a much better idea of what this roster needs to truly compete for a playoff spot after this part of their schedule.