How Cubs are balancing hot bats in Triple-A, limited starting options on mound for Thursday

Cubs GM Carter Hawkins (left) and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer (right) have plenty to weigh when deciding whether to call-up a prospect. (John Antonoff / for the Sun-Times)

WASHINGTON — In Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins’ experience running the Guardians’ farm system, he consistently saw one truism play out: 

“It’s always feast or famine,” he said in the visitors’ dugout at Nationals Park before the Cubs’ 5-1 victory Monday that snapped a three-game losing streak. “There’s never an in-between stage where you’re like, ‘Oh, this is nice.’ It always feels like you have too much or you have too little.”