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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.
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