Hoyer shifts focus to Cubs' future over present as Deadline nears

CHICAGO -- After falling just short of a spot in the postseason last year, the Cubs retained much of the same group, stunned the baseball world by bringing manager Craig Counsell into the fold and made a handful of strategic additions to the roster. Reaching the playoffs was the clear objective this season.

On Monday, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer took a seat in the Cubs’ dugout at Wrigley Field and faced reality with the July 30 Trade Deadline just around the corner. The chances of Chicago finding its way into the playoffs are slim, necessitating a shift in focus to 2025 and beyond in any trade negotiations.

“This is not the conversation I expected to be having,” Hoyer said prior to the Cubs’ 3-1 victory over Milwaukee. “But you’ve got to react to it and make the best decisions possible.”

Hoyer proceeded to describe a Deadline plan that felt less like an all-out selling situation and more like moving the competitive goal posts. The leader of the Cubs’ front office expressed continued belief in the foundation of his Major League group and optimism stemming from one of baseball’s top-rated farm systems.

The way Hoyer sees his team’s position, it does not make sense to aggressively pursue a big-name rental star if probability points to the Cubs falling short of the 2024 playoffs. He will look for solutions that fortify the roster in the coming seasons, during which Hoyer firmly believes Chicago can get back to contending.

“We probably won’t do a lot of moves that only help us for this year,” Hoyer said. “If moves help us in ‘25 and beyond -- I think we’re still exceptionally well-positioned -- I think that’s where our focus will be. But just helping in ‘24, I think that probably won’t be our focus unless things change dramatically.”

After winning in walk-off fashion against the D-backs on Sunday, the Cubs did just enough offensively (Ian Happ capped off the scoring with his 16th homer of the season), made a series of great defensive plays and received 5 2/3 strong innings from the bullpen. Hoyer did acknowledge that “things could change” if the next week featured an extended winning streak.

“That’s our job in the clubhouse right now is to make it tough on Jed,” Happ said. “It’s going out and playing good baseball and putting ourselves in a position where we can get back in this thing. The nice part about the Wild Card situation is it’s all bunched up right now. We’ve got plenty of baseball left.”

Heading into Monday’s game against the Brewers, the Cubs had just an 8.3% chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs’ playoff odds. Chicago’s team-wide offensive slumber across May and June wiped away the strong start to the season (18 wins in March-April) and sent the club tumbling down the National League Central.

The victory against the division-leading Brewers on Monday night gave the Cubs a 13-21 showing within the NL Central this year. As things stand, the North Siders sit in fourth place, nine games behind Milwaukee, 3 1/2 games back of an NL Wild Card spot and without a winning record against any of the five teams between them and the last Wild Card spot.

“The way we played in May and June dug a hole that’s really difficult to get out of,” Hoyer said. “From a young talent standpoint, from a controllable players standpoint, I feel really good. I think we simply dug a hole with underperformance for those two months. That doesn’t impact how I view the organization or how I view things going forward, but it certainly affects ‘24.”

The Cubs’ roster is not stocked with the kind of pending free-agent players who often get mentioned around each Deadline. Hoyer declined to comment when asked if he would be open-minded to trading away any players under control for multiple years. One possible area from which to trade would be the bullpen, where Mark Leiter Jr., Héctor Neris and Tyson Miller are among the potential trade chips.

Hoyer was not willing to discuss specific parts of the Cubs’ roster, but said generally that he has to be open-minded to a variety of paths under the circumstances.

“You’re always going to listen,” Hoyer said. “I think you do have to be opportunistic and try to be creative and think about things like that.”

Given the expectations going into this season and the Cubs’ current situation, Hoyer was asked if he has spent any time thinking about his own job security. The president of baseball operations, who is under contract through 2025, called that the “last thing” on his mind at the moment.

“The minute I become part of the conversation, I’m not making good decisions anymore,” Hoyer said. “To me, it’s simply about trying to make good decisions for the organization. That’s why I’m here. That’s why [Theo Epstein] hired me before that. I feel great about where the organization is, but we played badly for two months and now we have to make decisions as it relates to that.”