The Chicago Cubs sit three games under .500 at 32-35 overall, leaving them in an interesting spot as the MLB Trade Deadline slowly approaches, and as some question whether they will be buyers or sellers, president Jed Hoyer made it clear what he believes the team's approach will be come late July.

“We'll be on the lookout for all sorts of upgrades,” Jed Hoyer said, according to Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “But let's watch this for the next stretch, and hopefully we start to turn this around. I think we will.”

The Cubs lost to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in walk-off fashion, which dropped them to their current record, seven games back in the division, but just half of a game back of the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates for the last wild card spot in the National League. The weak National League has the Cubs in the thick of the wild card race, despite having some glaring flaws.

The prevailing thought is that the Cubs lack impact bats in the lineup. The fanbase has critiqued the franchise for not going after star players who have hit free agency or been on the trade block in recent years. Players like Pete Alonso or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could be on the market depending on how their teams fare over the next month or so. Of course, the Cubs will have to stay afloat as well to justify buying.

Cubs do not want to hurt the long-term vision

While Hoyer said the Cubs will be looking for upgrades at the deadline, he did make sure to say that he will not completely mortgage the future for this season, which he felt was something they did after winning the World Series in 2016.

“We've built up a really great farm system,” Hoyer said, according to Sharma and Mooney. “Ultimately, the goal is to be able to bring up these guys up. That creates tremendous efficiency and tremendous depth as an organization. We do want to avoid (what happened after the 2016 World Series). We were a little bit guilty the last time of constantly making short-term deadline deals that ended up putting us in a hole.”

The Cubs have good rotation pieces with Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele among others, but there is a lack of a true star hitter in the lineup. There are solid players like Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, Christopher Morel and more, but they lack a true force in the lineup. It remains to be seen if an impact bat like Vlad Guerrero Jr. or Pete Alonso will be available. Both would be great fits in Chicago's lineup.

It also seems like the Cubs believe in the prospects they have coming up, so they might not give up the required assets for payers at the top of the trade market. It will be interesting to see the moves that Hoyer has up his sleeve if the Cubs are still in the conversation come late July.