Jed Hoyer always indicated that the Chicago Cubs were built to win the National League Central division during the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
By those very own words, the 2024 season has been a failure, and the blame is entirely on Hoyer. Sure, injuries and regression could not be forecasted, but considering Hoyer built the roster to be good enough to win a weak division, the Cubs' president of baseball operations is to blame for this season's failures.
Each time Hoyer meets with reporters ahead of a home stand at Wrigley Field, he likes to come off calm and collected. Lately, this has been a masked insult to fans who know better. Hoyer tries to be the smartest guy in the room with every move, and that is why Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score rightfully called out his awful approach.
What is mind-boggling about Hoyer's approach is he is fascinated by the approach that the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Arizona Diamondbacks have. Hoyer seems to have this false sense that those are the models that the Cubs should be following but it is a flawed thought. The reason why the Guardians, Rays, and Diamondbacks operate in the way that they do is because their market dictates that they can't be at the top of the market in spending.
The Cubs are in the third-largest market in Major League Baseball and to their credit, they have spent money. But Hoyer's fascination with avoiding the trending moves is what is going to consistently put the Cubs behind the eight ball in terms of being force in the National League.
Power pitching and power hitting are the easiest ways to stack wins. To that end, power pitching and power hitting have higher price tags and nothing Hoyer has done in his time overseeing the Cubs' front office should make Cubs fans feel that he will ever make that expenditure.
