As July draws nearer, Jed Hoyer will have to decide which way to take the squad during the final two months of the campaign. During a nearly half-hour-long media scrum at American Family Field on Friday, the president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs expressed his confidence in a turnaround and his team’s ability to add players before the July 30 trade deadline. However, he also acknowledged that there wasn’t much time left to reach that goal.
“This last two months, it’s been like, ‘Okay, let’s turn it around,'” stated Hoyer. It has definitely taken significantly longer than we had hoped or anticipated. We must play much better. We need to excavate ourselves out of the hole we’ve built for ourselves. Indeed, it is imperative that we take such action within the next [32 days] before the deadline.
A month ago, when the Cubs traveled north for a series against the Milwaukee Brewers, they were only 3 1/2 games back of the Brewers in the National League Central and held sole possession of an NL wild card spot (they ultimately dropped three of four in that series). At the end of their 4-2 loss Friday night to begin their final pitstop in Milwaukee this year, the Cubs had fallen to 11 1/2 games back in the division and five games back in the wild card race. Given the variance and craziness of an MLB season, is it still shocking that the Cubs are looking up at the rest of the teams in the NL Central standings?
Supporters have become dissatisfied with this ballclub for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the Cubs—at least in the major leagues—do not appear to be in a better position than they were a year ago. Nearly three years ago, Hoyer made the controversial but necessary decision to hit the reset button at the 2021 deadline, trading away the majority of the core group of players from the 2016 World Series team. This decision did not help the Cubs during a difficult 2022 season, but it did set them up for a rough 2023 season, after which they finished one game out of the playoffs. Fans had hoped that the 2024 group would finally make the necessary progress, becoming the first Cubs team to qualify for the postseason make the playoffs in a 162-game season since 2018.
Hoyer came into the season believing that his team was on the “front edge of something special.” He cited his continued “bullishness” on the organization’s state of affairs, the young talent coming up through the system, and the performance of the rotation.
But the major league team hasn’t demonstrated that its situation has improved from the previous season. The Cubs are 38-45 after 83 games this season, just like in 2023. Hoyer agrees with the fans when they express their frustration with this club.
“Both internally and externally, our projected win totals were higher this year than last year,” stated Hoyer. “I believe it’s less when you consider that we have a team this year that is stronger [than last] on paper than we had last year. Does that irritate me? Indeed. And I have to assume that the supporters find it annoying as well, given how frustrating it is to me.
It would be incorrect, according to Hoyer, to “cast everything in a negative light based on two months.” He is still optimistic that they can turn things around because he believes in the organization and the potential on the roster. Based on the past two months, he would view it as “a hazard to paint everything with a brush,” just as it “would have been incorrect at the end of April to start planning a parade.”