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Joe Maddon’s bottom-line reaction to all the trade-deadline madness can be summed up like this: Who cares?

For all the hype surrounding this season, the Cubs still spend most of their time inside a bubble, with Maddon’s players not feeling the weight of franchise history while Theo Epstein’s front office ruthlessly executes The Plan.

The Cubs didn’t make any impulse buys during their final hours of shopping before Monday afternoon’s non-waiver deadline, simply adding a right-handed relief specialist (Joe Smith) to the team with baseball’s best record.

“I’m more concerned about us as opposed to what everybody else is doing,” Maddon said. “I truly believe if we continue to do what we are doing and play our standard of baseball, it really doesn’t matter what anybody else does.” 

Not when Kyle Hendricks dissects the Miami Marlins during a 5-0 complete-game victory at Wrigley Field, throws 123 pitches the night after the bullpen absorbed nine innings and gets a question about Cy Young Award consideration during his postgame news conference. 

“That was the first one,” said Hendricks (10-7, 2.22 ERA). “At the end of the day, that’s just an accolade. We got a long way to go – two months left – and our sights are on a lot more than individual honors on this team. I got my sights set higher for this team.” 

[SHOP: Gear up, Cubs fans!]

Still, Maddon didn’t dismiss the idea with his No. 5 starter in name only, watching Hendricks go 6-1 since June 19 and post the best ERA (1.04) in the majors during that time: “Right now, he’s one of the best pitchers in the National League. Period. No question.” 

Of course, the Cubs (64-41) would have taken another starting pitcher to pair with Hendricks near the top of the 2018 rotation, or a left-handed hitter to help replace Kyle Schwarber’s middle-of-the-order presence in October.    

But the St. Louis Cardinals still haven’t really counterpunched after John Lackey and Jason Heyward switched sides in the 124-year rivalry with the Cubs. The Pittsburgh Pirates are facing their 2016 underachievement and small-market reality by selling off Francisco Liriano and Mark Melancon (to the Washington Nationals in response to the Cubs getting superstar closer Aroldis Chapman). 

The arms race in the NL West continued with the San Francisco Giants (Matt Moore, Will Smith, Eduardo Nunez) and Los Angeles Dodgers (Rich Hill, Josh Reddick) stockpiling players. The New York Mets hope Jay Bruce can rescue their lineup and become this year’s Yoenis Cespedes. 

But the Cubs will be tough to beat when they play like this, getting another clutch hit from Addison Russell with a two-out, two-run single in the first inning, forcing Marlins lefty Adam Conley to throw 97 pitches in four innings and leaning on MVP candidate Anthony Rizzo (3-for-3 with a walk, hit by pitch and two runs scored).

The defense also backed up Hendricks, with Heyward and Javier Baez making two great throws to nail Derek Dietrich trying to stretch a double into a triple on a ball hit into the right-center field gap. And rookie catcher Willson Contreras throwing out Dee Gordon trying to steal second base. And Kris Bryant starting a double play on pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki’s line drive to third base, leaving the Japanese legend stuck on 2,998 hits.

“I’m very confident that we’ll pitch and play defense at the level that we’re at,” Maddon said. “If we’re able to continue to do that and really grow the hitters, I’m not going to say I’m not worried about anybody else. My point is I’m not worried about what anybody else does. We have to be more concerned about what we do.”

Latest Cubs Talk

Soler homers in return to help Lester, Cubs beat A's

Jorge Soler to start Friday, Cubs DFA Joe Nathan

How Russell can help Cubs take off again

With a few days still until the MLB non-waiver trade deadline, even Cubs staffers aren't ruling out another move from Theo Epstein's front office.

Aroldis Chapman and Mike Montgomery have already been brought in as reinforcements for a struggling bullpen and veteran Joe Nathan's Cubs debut can help matters, too.

But there have still been rumblings about the Cubs possibly acquiring another bat, with names like Oakland's Josh Reddick and Yankees slugger Carlos Beltran being tossed around.

The problem is: If the Cubs do upgrade their group of position players, who becomes the odd man out on the roster?

Joe Maddon and the Cubs already had to make one extremely difficult roster decision Friday to send high-performing left-handed role player Tommy La Stella down to the minors as Chris Coghlan came off the disabled list.

[RELATED - Cubs demoting La Stella for Coghlan just about numbers game and 'rules']

Jorge Soler is also on his way back from a hamstring injury that has robbed the young outfielder of almost two months.

When he returns sometime over the next week, who does he replace on the 25-man roster?

Because of that, Maddon admitted he's not sure how another hitter from outside the organization would fit right now.

"I think it's harder to imagine," Maddon said. "Of course, the guys are always attempting to do what they think is the right thing. It's harder to connect those dots right now."

Soler has struggled in six rehab games in the minor leagues (.385 OPS) and the Cubs want him to get his timing back before calling him back to Chicago.

The Cubs lineup would also see a boost in the season's final two months if Jason Heyward can return to his career norms, providing another left-handed bat on a daily basis. He homered Friday against the Seattle Mariners and has been working diligently with Cubs coaches to climb out of his season-long funk.

These roster decisions also have a way of working themselves out most of the time between injuries and performance.

"It's tough," Maddon said. "It's unusual to have this kind of volume of good players."

Maddon talked at length about the La Stella decision before Friday's game and how honesty is always the best policy when it comes to sending a guy down or making these kinds of moves.

Maddon didn't completely rule out a trade, but also believes in what he has to work with right now, even if Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer don't add more before Monday afternoon's deadline.

"Right now, we're in a good position regarding our standing, the talent on the field, the players that are behind us in the minor leagues," Maddon said. "So right now, we're obviously dealing from a moment of strength.

"Theo and Jed are so good at this. Just my conversations, the weighing of all the potentialities is all there. Their logic and intellect are so high. All of these are present right now.

"Everything is magnified a little bit right now. The 11th hour is the strongest hour in history. We will continue to [weigh that all], whether it's internally or potentially externally. But I have a lot of faith in our guys and their judgement."

Latest Cubs Talk

Soler homers in return to help Lester, Cubs beat A's

Jorge Soler to start Friday, Cubs DFA Joe Nathan

How Russell can help Cubs take off again

The calendar is about to flip into August and the narrative around high-priced outfielder Jason Heyward is still the same.

The Cubs entered play Wednesday night with the best record in baseball despite their $184 million prize of the winter suffering through the worst offensive season of his career.

Among qualified MLB players entering Wednesday night, Heyward had the lowest slugging percentage in the game (.315). His OPS (.630) was the seventh-lowest among qualified hitters.

Those numbers have gotten significantly worse as Heyward has been mired in a major slump over the last two-plus weeks in which he's gone just 4-for-42 (.095 AVG) with only one extra base hit, zero RBI and a .275 OPS. 

Before Wednesday's game at Wrigley Field, Heyward was out on the field working with Cubs hitting coach John Mallee.

"It's pretty much what they've been working on for a while," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Again, like I've said, this guy's hit into some bad luck. Yeah there's been some ground balls, but he's had a lot of well-struck balls that have been caught.

"And with that goes your confidence. But they have a definite plan they're sticking with."

Maddon said the Cubs wanted Heyward to get to see the results of his work out on the field of play instead of just watching baseballs jump off his bat into a netting in the cage.

One of the main things the Cubs are working on with Heyward is making a conscious effort to get the ball in the air. 

They're also focused on his mindset through these struggles, trying to keep his spirits up.

"He's probably struggling a little bit," Maddon admitted. "It's not easy to go through what he's going through right now. But like I said, I'm certain he's going to come out the other side.

"I've seen a lot of good stuff work-wise recently. And I'm telling you, man, the new-fangled defenses have got him on ground balls up the middle a lot. He's been victimized by defense a bit."

Maddon has talked a lot this season about Heyward hitting into some tough luck — whether on line drives or just ground balls directly into the opposition's defensive shifts.

But it's not just luck. Heyward's batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is .273, which is 26 points below his career mark (.298), but there are 24 other qualified big-league hitter with lower BABIPs, including White Sox slugger Todd Frazier and his .200 mark entering play Wednesday.

Compared to last season — when Heyward hit .293 with a .797 OPS with the St. Louis Cardinals — Heyward's line drive percentage is up slightly and his groundball percentage is down significantly. 

But his soft-hit percentage is way up and his hard-hit percentage is down quite a bit.

All of the fancy stats can make the casual fan's head spin, but the gist is simple: Heyward has not been making enough solid contact. 

And he has not been making enough solid contact for four months now. 

Still, Maddon refuses to let any worry show publicly, even as he penciled Heyward seventh in the Cubs' lineup Wednesday, the lowest the 26-year-old has hit all season.

"I've been through this before with some really good players," Maddon said. "He'll come out the other side because he's good and he's working at it. I really like the plan of attack him and John have going right now.

"I'm very patient. I've done this for a bit. I was a hitting instructor myself. I know what it takes. You don't always get overnight results when you're trying to make some dramatic adjustments and that's exactly what's going on. 

"I know people are going to get less patient with it than I will or he will. But the biggest thing is that Jason doesn't get impatient. With the actual player himself, you never want him to be the guy to give up on what he's doing. If he doesn't, he's gonna break through.

"I have a lot of faith in him."