Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer met with news media Tuesday morning, as he does every year when the season ends. He did express regret that this presser was being held today, as opposed to the team being in the postseason, and said, “We have to be better. We’ve got to get back to the postseason for the fans.”
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Which is a great goal, of course, and what we all want. Hoyer acknowledged that there’s a “significant” gap between the Cubs and the Brewers, who finished 10 games ahead in the NL Central this year. He compared it to the gap the Cubs had behind the Cardinals when Theo Epstein and Hoyer came to the Cubs more than a decade ago. They managed to close that gap then — the question, of course, is how to fill it now.
Honestly, I could quote Hoyer at length here but there wasn’t all that much to say that you and I don’t already know. He acknowledged the bullpen failures and offensive failures that dug the team a deep hole during May and June, a hole that was too big to get out of despite the team playing well for the last three months of the season. He noted that overall, while the team was 12th in runs scored, Wrigley Field played as a poor offensive park this year, ranking 29th, while it ranked seventh last year. Hoyer said they’ll look at that when assessing the offense — even while knowing the team posted the second-best home ERA in MLB.
When asked about Cody Bellinger’s contract status, he noted Bellinger will have “options,” didn’t have quite the year he had last year. That’s pretty noncommittal, and of course we won’t know for sure about Bellinger’s opt-out decision until a few weeks from now. My position remains: He won’t opt out. (Could be wrong, of course, but that’s how I see it.)
Hoyer was asked a couple of times about his relationship with Craig Counsell. He replied, “I couldn’t be happier. He’s a great baseball mind, glad he’s a Cub. I learn from him on a daily basis.” He also noted that counsell couldn’t put a staff together, and they did make a couple changes to the coaching staff and strength and conditioning group that made some news late Monday:
Further to the Counsell discussion, Hoyer noted that Counsell’s statement about “90 win teams” — difficult thing to do. He said there is a level of discipline needed to do that, no “wild swings,” something they did before (under Theo), we did take some chances, and that led to a bit of a trough. So, instead, he cited “drafting and developing well.”
About next year’s budget, Hoyer said they haven’t gotten into the process yet, that will happen later this month. But he noted that he feels good about both the number of expiring contracts and the deals they have going forward. Like I said, pretty noncommittal.
Hoyer had effusive praise in particular for Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong and their development over this season, loves their energy, and further added that he felt PCA was as good as any fielder in baseball in the second half.
Then Hoyer was asked to make a self assessment, and he said he feels the Cubs are in terrific position as an organization, and the 2021 selloff helped us build the system back. couldn’t be more proud of the work the staff has done. incredibly healthy from a young player standpoint. “I feel excellent about where we are,” he added, but he also took accountability for consecutive 83-win teams and believes the team is set for success next year. (YMMV, of course.) He added he doesn’t feel personal pressure being in the last year of his deal, he feels the same pressure to succeed that he always does.
Hoyer was also effusive in his praise of the tribute Saturday for Kyle Hendricks: “The whole thing felt too good to be scripted, it was an incredible moment, can’t think of anyone who deserved it more. He’s good a teammate as I’ve ever been around, heconducts himself in a perfect way all the time. The whole thing was amazing. He’s super humble and appreciative.” But he didn’t want to speculate on the future for Kyle, just said he was happy for all the years we had together, an amazing Cub.
There were a few other notes, notably about Isaac Paredes, who Hoyer expects to have a good year in 2025, and a bit of an update on Ben Brown, who he said the team will know more about in the middle of this month.
If you expected big breaking news from this presser, clearly, you are disappointed. But there aren’t going to be any free agent notes or trade rumors at an event like this, largely because executives aren’t going to get into tampering, and also Hoyer just isn’t that kind of guy. Those of you wanting him to be fired are also likely going to be disappointed. He’ll get the last year of his contract to see if he can push this team past that 83-win plateau.
I’ll have more to say about Hoyer and Counsell later this week.
