Hoyer says in hindsight, Cubs should have traded some star players sooner
During his chat with reporters on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer expressed some regrets about moves that followed the 2016 World Series victory.
"Replenishing along the way is something others teams have done better than we did it; being willing to make some trades earlier," Hoyer said. "Young players are the lifeblood of a championship team.
That's an especially relevant topic when the Cubs face the White Sox. In hindsight, the 2017 trade that sent the Cubs top pitching (Dylan Cease) and position (Eloy Jimenez) prospects to the Sox for pitcher Jose Quintana was a mistake.
From the World Series core, the Cubs could have traded a few and signed a few to long-term deals, perhaps adding some additional prospects who could have followed Cease and Jimenez to the majors. Cease started against the Cubs on Sunday and leads MLB in strikeout rate.
Instead, the Cubs shortened their window of opportunity, which led to last summer's sell-off and the current rebuild. They haven't won a playoff game since '17.
"We kept that group until the very end, really in part because we felt a really sense of belief with that group," Hoyer said. "We wanted to do it again."
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