GM Hoyer has goals for Cubs at trade deadline but needs sense of urgency to arrive
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer learned in 2021 not to fight the trade deadline.
As of Friday morning, there were 13 days left to improve this year's Cubs. With starting pitcher Jameson Taillon on the injured list with a calf strain, it would be logical to add a pitcher sooner instead of later. But the deadline doesn't work that way.
“It's funny, in '21 when I knew I had to trade all those guys,” Hoyer said. “The first deal was (Andrew) Chafin, I think. And I was like, 'OK, let's see if I can make a deal every day.' Because I wanted to not have all those guys on the book on the 31st. So that was my goal, and I failed on day two, day three, day four.”
The final result was a flurry of trades in the final two days, with the Cubs sending away Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Craig Kimbrel and Ryan Tepera. As a seller, Hoyer was trying to get it over with quickly but couldn't. So he's not getting his hopes up now as a buyer.
“Ultimately, I just felt like there wasn't enough urgency,” he said. “I didn't have the right market, I didn't have the right price. So I couldn't do it. It was a good lesson for me that I needed the urgency of the deadline.”
So the only real news Friday was don't expect anything to happen in the next 10 or 11 days, basically. Hoyer confirmed the goal of wanting to add pitching, maybe looking at third base, trying to improve depth. None of that was surprising.
Regarding the question of whether the Cubs will go all-in to try to win a World Series in 2025, Hoyer gave sort of a “Yes, but …” answer.
“We're going to have really good teams after this year,” he said. “I think you always keep that in mind, but this is what's right in front of us, and this is really important.”
Another question is what are the Cubs willing to trade? They have five top-100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, but no one in the top 40, and only one of those is a pitcher, Jaxon Wiggins at No. 100.
Trading someone from the current major-league roster seems unlikely, but Hoyer felt with the lack of obvious sellers right now, they might need to get creative somehow.
“It all depends on the return, honestly,” Hoyer said. “No one's untouchable, but at the same time, we have a lot of really good prospects, and you have to feel like you're getting commensurate value. So it really just depends on what's available.”
The team's highest-ranked prospect is outfielder Owen Caissie at No. 41. He's blocked at the moment, with the Cubs outfield set. But they could have an open spot in a year or two, if they can't re-sign Kyle Tucker this winter. Or they do re-sign Tucker but then decide they can't afford to keep both Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki as well.
Caissie has been excelling at the plate for Triple-A Iowa, with 12 home runs and a 1.187 OPS since June 1. Is he the guy that can draw the best return in a trade?
“He's been awesome,” Hoyer said. “Probably one of the best hitters in the minor leagues for the last six weeks. We're not going to (call up prospects and) put guys on the bench. In September, it might be different, but not yet.”
With Shaw, Hoyer confirmed the Cubs are happy with his defense. While the batting average was .198 heading into Friday's action, he's not striking out a lot, which might suggest he's on the right track.
“Everyone's different,” Hoyer said. “Buschy (Michael Busch) came up a couple different times with the Dodgers in '23 and he struggled. Obviously Pete (Crow-Armstrong) was struggling up until a little later than this last year. Matt's going to be a really good player.”