More than ever, at least for the overwhelming majority of the league, the game we love is a results-oriented business and, truth be told, the results haven’t been there for the Chicago Cubs.
Since Jed Hoyer succeeded Theo Epstein as the team’s president of baseball operations, the Cubs have not appeared in the postseason. They’ve won just one division title, but it comes with an asterisk via the COVID-shortened 2020 season – and really, Hoyer and his right-hand man Carter Hawkins, are being judged more for the team’s performance since the 2021 sell-off.
The trades of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Craig Kimbrel netted next to nothing, with Pete Crow-Armstrong the only impact talent developing from the group of prospects acquired that summer, not to mention one of the only players left in the organization, period.
Chicago’s biggest addition of late came in the form of a manager, rather than a player, when the Cubs made Craig Counsell the highest-paid skipper in MLB history, only to run back the same 83-79 record the team put up under David Ross the year prior.
Winning gets you respect. Making impact signings or trades can get you respect. There hasn’t been enough of either in Wrigleyville under Hoyer and Hawkins – and the latter is well aware of the perception surrounding the baseball operations team.
No one will take the Cubs’ front office seriously until they win again
The poll from The Athletic Hawkins mentioned was a damning indictment on the work Hoyer’s team has done of late as one of the most valuable teams in the league continued to be a middling underperformer, pinching pennies and focusing on the margins. All the blame can’t land at the feet of Hoyer and Hawkins (plenty belongs to ownership) – but there are plenty of front office groups doing more with less.
Will that poll look different next spring? That will be determined by how the 2025 season plays out. If the Cubs punch their postseason ticket for the first time in half a decade, that’ll help.
But how they attack the trade deadline – and whether or not they manage to make Kyle Tucker a Cub for life next offseason – those questions will determine how their counterparts around the league view Carter and Jed moving forward.