NEWS: Jed Hoyer Agrees to Extension with Cubs

[UMFan83]

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer agreed to a multi-year contract extension Monday, according to multiple reports. It's a seismic moment, as much because of the timing as based on the news itself. Hoyer is working hard to upgrade the Cubs roster he built in the shadow of this Thursday's MLB trade deadline, and this news changes the context of his pursuits.

Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic broke the news on Twitter.

Last fall, much was made of the fact that Hoyer would be out of contract at the end of the 2025 campaign. For most fans (and even many throughout the ranks of other front offices and the baseball industry, writ large), Hoyer's status has been viewed as a microcosm of that of the team in general. Given the tenor of his own comments about his lack of an extension heading into last offseason—and given the aggressive offseason he then orchestrated—the assumption had been that the ownership group would move on from Hoyer if the team didn't make the playoffs this year.

Now, apparently based on the fact that the team is in good position to do that (but without any guarantee that they actually will, in a competitive National League and an NL Central race that is currently tied), the team has jumped the gun on that decision. Presumably, this alleviates some pressure on Hoyer to make trades that might not have been in the best long-term interests of the team, and encourages him to focus on winning both now and in the future. For many, though, it will also read as an early declaration of a victory not yet won—and a questionable demonstration of faith in an executive whose track record as the top decision-maker on the baseball side of the organization is somewhat uneven.

Under Hoyer, the Cubs have unloaded the remnants of their 2016 World Series-winning core. In their 2021 fire sale, they did acquire some very valuable pieces, including not only Pete Crow-Armstrong, but Kevin Alcántara and Daniel Palencia. They've signed several free agents to deals that panned out well, and under new scouting director Dan Kantrovitz, they've enjoyed more success in the MLB Draft. Their reputation in that area is improving. Hoyer made perspicacious trades to land Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker over the last two offseasons and has succeeded with forays into the Japanese market with the signings of Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga. He also landed the biggest managerial free agent in baseball history when he signed Craig Counsell away from the Brewers in November 2023.

On the other hand, struggling often to manage upward and somewhat stubborn in his evaluations of players, Hoyer has allowed himself to be unduly limited by the budgets set by the Ricketts family. At their whims, he non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, and has failed to land the elite free agents who might have put either of the last two iterations of this team over the top. His signature is a certain baseline conservatism that does not always serve the club well.

The thinking in striking this deal now must trace in part to Hoyer's conversations with rival executives about trades that would ship out some of the key players who make up the farm system he tried to strengthen over the last few years. Not only are his incentives and the team's no longer misaligned, but he can now avoid having any negotiating partner try to use his own contract status as leverage against him. If Hoyer (as, based on his personality, we might well imagine he would) would feel unduly guilty about trading a haul of prospects for a high-impact, short-term piece, that internal conflict is now resolved, too.

Chicago's pitching development has improved under Hoyer's stewardship. So has their farm system. Yet, they haven't won anything of note under his leadership, and his mistakes in roster building have been major factors in that failure. Ownership has liked his way of doing things enough to decide to re-up with him. Now, based on what he does over the next few days and what his team does over the next few months, fans will get to render their own judgments about that choice.

View full article

Edited July 28, 2025 by UMFan83

[ToolDRT]

Gross. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

[Bertz]

Jed's probably not the best GM in the league, but we're at a point where the difference between like 3rd and 10th or whatever isn't huge.  This team is set up extremely really well for the next several years, and it would probably do more harm than good to swap out POBOs at this stage even if an upgrade were available.

[Jason Ross]

That's good. I know there are people who hate him, but he does as good of a job as anyone else, essentially. He uses analytics, his "bad years" are basically 83 wins and his good year has the Cubs atop the NL record wise (tied with Milwaukee, ahead of the Dodgers) with two months to go. He does a fine job and anyone else is probably just as good. 

[BigSlick]

Somehow is pretty funny to announce this during the most anticipated time of year for MLB personnel moves. 
 

Ok! Fine! Do some other stuff for the team now!!!

[Hot Sauce]

Y’know what, I’m down with it.

I believe in Jed Hoyer. 👏🏻👏🏻 I believe in Jed Hoyer.

[Chicago Al]

If not Jed then who else? Good, glad he’s staying put for the next few years.

Edited July 28, 2025 by Chicago Al

[UMFan83]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Jed's probably not the best GM in the league, but we're at a point where the difference between like 3rd and 10th or whatever isn't huge.  This team is set up extremely really well for the next several years, and it would probably do more harm than good to swap out POBOs at this stage even if an upgrade were available.

Yes, and while there is some value to bringing in outside ideas and perspectives to the organization, Jed knows this org inside and out having been here almost 15 years now.  He (along with Theo) were responsible for modernizing the FO, building out all of the data and evaluation systems they are using.  I agree he's probably not the best but he's definitely better than average IMO.

[ILMindState]

7 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

That's good. I know there are people who hate him, but he does as good of a job as anyone else, essentially. He uses analytics, his "bad years" are basically 83 wins and his good year has the Cubs atop the NL record wise (tied with Milwaukee, ahead of the Dodgers) with two months to go. He does a fine job and anyone else is probably just as good. 

His bad years were basically a rebuild without tanking. I think he's done a pretty good job ever since Tommy cut the budget after "biblical losses". The drafting and pitching development has been a big improvement under Hoyer.

[Rcal10]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

Yes, and while there is some value to bringing in outside ideas and perspectives to the organization, Jed knows this org inside and out having been here almost 15 years now.  He (along with Theo) were responsible for modernizing the FO, building out all of the data and evaluation systems they are using.  I agree he's probably not the best but he's definitely better than average IMO.

Count me in as considering this a good move. I said it earlier that he would sign soon. 

[Bull]

Great, now do the job.

[UMFan83]

We need an update Theo

[Tryptamine]

Seems weird to extend a guy who has never made the playoffs. Though unlikely, if they somehow bombed and missed the playoffs this year wouldn't that be incredibly awkward that he was just extended.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I'm probably reading more into this than what is actually there... but is it possible the Cubs announced this now to give Jed a bit more leverage going into the next 3 days of trade negotiations?

[Matthew Trueblood]

4 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Seems weird to extend a guy who has never made the playoffs. Though unlikely, if they somehow bombed and missed the playoffs this year wouldn't that be incredibly awkward that he was just extended.

Yes. And yeah, it's unlikely, but it's far from impossible that that happens.

I'm somewhat shocked. I would not have done this now, and even though I don't expect the Ricketts family to do things the way I would, I'm surprised that they did.

[Outshined_One]

The farm system has definitely improved since the end of the Theo Era, so credit there.

I feel like the Cubs could do better, but they also very easily could do worse.

[mul21]

7 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

The farm system has definitely improved since the end of the Theo Era, so credit there.

I feel like the Cubs could do better, but they also very easily could do worse.

This is where I am.  The likelihood you get someone markedly better, especially when you factor in the seeming budget restraints from ownership, seem pretty small and the chances of ending up with someone markedly worse are much higher.  I'm no Jed sycophant, but I think he's done a respectable job since taking over and the arrow is pointing up, so I'm absolutely fine with this.

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, mul21 said:

This is where I am.  The likelihood you get someone markedly better, especially when you factor in the seeming budget restraints from ownership, seem pretty small and the chances of ending up with someone markedly worse are much higher.  I'm no Jed sycophant, but I think he's done a respectable job since taking over and the arrow is pointing up, so I'm absolutely fine with this.

Love the way you said that. I can find faults with Jed overall, but almost any one of his significant moves has been logical and worked out decently well so far. They have really improved the developmental side of things, they have drafted relatively well, and have generally done well in FA (some smaller misses). 

He probably isn't the world's greatest VP of OPs. But he is probably just fine all things considered. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

As long as the shareholders are happy i guess

[Wilson A2000]

1 hour ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I'm probably reading more into this than what is actually there... but is it possible the Cubs announced this now to give Jed a bit more leverage going into the next 3 days of trade negotiations?

Was wondering the same thing too. 670 the Score hosts wondered aloud if this makes Jed more or less willing to make a big splash at the deadline.

[JunkyardWalrus]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

That's good. I know there are people who hate him, but he does as good of a job as anyone else, essentially. He uses analytics, his "bad years" are basically 83 wins and his good year has the Cubs atop the NL record wise (tied with Milwaukee, ahead of the Dodgers) with two months to go. He does a fine job and anyone else is probably just as good. 

I don't believe the guy with the most assets, by a mile, in the division who still hasn't finished as high as even runner-up in nearly half a decade is as good as anyone else.

But I appreciate what you're saying.

[Wilson A2000]

1 hour ago, Outshined_One said:

The farm system has definitely improved since the end of the Theo Era, so credit there.

I feel like the Cubs could do better, but they also very easily could do worse.

It better after trading the ‘16 core

[Jason Ross]

9 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

I don't believe the guy with the most assets, by a mile, in the division who still hasn't finished as high as even runner-up in nearly half a decade is as good as anyone else.

But I appreciate what you're saying.

I think on paper he has the most assets, but he's also hamstrung a bit by the ownership as well. This is a team who is spending more in line with the division than we give him credit for at times. There are 12 more teams spending more than the Cubs currently, And last year the Cardinals spent about $20m less than the Cubs 2025 actual payroll (the LT number is higher, it should be noted) as it stands today (though this will change over the course of the next few days). The Cubs aren't out here out spending the division like they could/should very often, and they don't get any of the draft benefits for acting this way. 

So I think it's fair to state he gets a benefit of assets, the Cubs will probably outspend every team in the division almost every year, but probably also fair to point out that the benefits he gets aren't nearly as realized as they could be due to factors outside of Jed, too. \

My hope is that with an MiLB side of things more consistently producing MLB talent, that the Cubs can better utilize their assets. A big thing they've struggled with up until mid-2024 is that the roster had very little "free" talent; everyone was on post-arb contracts. With PCA, Shaw, Busch, Brown, Horton, and some relievers, they can begin to flush their roster out with pre-arb freebies which should help them utilize the money they still have over the rest of the division. 

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Jed's probably not the best GM in the league, but we're at a point where the difference between like 3rd and 10th or whatever isn't huge.  This team is set up extremely really well for the next several years, and it would probably do more harm than good to swap out POBOs at this stage even if an upgrade were available.

Agree. And I'll add, the Ricketts will find one just like him if it wasn't going to be him.