Cubs looking to get creative with Aug. 31 trade deadline looming

Don’t look now, but MLB’s trade deadline is now nine days away.

The Cubs are almost halfway through their 60-game schedule and find themselves in the driver seat in the National League Central and in a great position to make a trip to the postseason.

While the Cubs fight toward a spot in October, the trade market for who they might be able to add for reinforcements is still starting to take shape.

“Still too early to be able to characterize the whole market with any certainty, but there’s certainly a handful of teams that have picked the direction based on their standing,” president Theo Epstein said. “[There are] probably fewer sellers than typical for 10 days away, but we’ll see how that…