MA and DM are definitely making a run this year, IMO. But, you have to have the pulse of your team. They may decide that there is no trade out there that can benefit this team right now, so they might not pull off even one single trade. That doesn't mean that the Cubs are trying harder now than the Brewers are. The Cubs seem to think that adding Jason Kendall has improved their team for the stretch run, so they made the trade. The Brewers would have never traded for Kendall, because he would not be an upgrade. So, you can't look at how many trades a team makes and say, "okay, the Cubs are trying to win because they have made 2 trades and the Brewers are not trying to win now because they haven't made any trades." In order to get something of value, you have to give up something of value. So, DM has to weigh the benefits of adding Player A with the loss associated with subtracting Player B.