Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer
In situations like this, someone usually has to take the fall. For the Chicago Cubs in 2025, it’s looking pretty obvious who that someone is going to be.
Treading water at .500 (9-9) since the All-Star break, the Cubs, 66-48 overall, head into a weekend series at St. Louis trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by 4.0 games in the National League Central. It’s been a rather quick fall for the team that was among the best in Major League Baseball entering the summer and led its division by a game at the break.
Chicago currently has a solid grasp on the top wildcard position, and there appears to be a bit of a separation starting between the teams leading the postseason chase and those left clinging to fading hopes. It would take an epic collapse by the Cubs, and a similarly epic surge by another team, for them to miss the playoffs.
Cubs Analyst Suggests GM Carter Hawkins Will Shoulder Blame for 2025 Failings
But a team that had such lofty aspirations this season appears destined for another early October exit. If that happens, the front office must shoulder its share of the blame, and according to Jordan Campbell of FanSided, general manager Carter Hawkins is already “in the crosshairs” amid the team’s failings.
“Hawkins needs to become the scapegoat of 2025,” Campbell wrote. “Sure, it may not be deserving, but a front office combination of two passive executives is not the recipe for success in Major League Baseball at this time. [Jed] Hoyer needs a general manager who will balance out his conservative nature with a level of aggressiveness the Cubs’ front office hasn’t had since the Theo Epstein era. Hawkins is not that general manager.”
Hawkins’ fate was likely sealed by the team’s lackluster approach to the trade deadline. While the league expected the Cubs to go hard after starting pitchers, Hoyer and Hawkins decided not to use any of the club’s top prospects as trade chips, frustrating the fan base by settling on lower tier deals for starting pitcher Mike Soroka, reliever Andrew Kittredge and versatile utility player Willi Castro.
Ironically, while the Cubs’ mounting failures on and off the field have cast a shadow over Hawkins’ future, Hoyer appears untouchable. Just days before the trade deadline, the team quietly announced a contract extension for Hoyer — a move that effectively insulated the president of baseball operations from the fallout of a disappointing season.
The timing of that announcement was strange, given the importance of the trade deadline for a team that seemed to be on an all-in trajectory. It was also noteworthy that there was no mention of Hawkins amid the discussion of contracts and extensions. Hawkins was originally named the general manager in October 2021, but his contract is up after this season, giving the Cubs an easy ride to Scapegoat City.
Lackluster Trade Deadline Approach Potentially Sealed Carter Hawkins’ Fate
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Cubs viewed 2025 as their season to make a push, and that became even more of the goal with the acquisition of Kyle Tucker.
Injuries to the pitching staff have been costly, and it began before the regular season with the loss of Justin Steele to elbow surgery. Like a bad joke, injuries even impacted one of the team’s trade deadline pickups, as Soroka had to leave his first start with the Cubs after just two innings with a shoulder issue, leaving Hoyer to admit the trade was a mistake.
“We spent a lot of time on that. We knew the velocity was trending down,” Hoyer said. “We obviously talked through that extensively. Given the market, given the asking price and given all those different things, we felt like it was a good bet to make. Ultimately, he came off the mound last night, and right now, it’s not looking like a good bet.”
And right now, it’s looking like Hawkins will be the one stuck with a bad hand when all the chips are down.
