Baseball players entering their walk year typically get scrutinized more since they’re playing for a new contract and perhaps a new team.
But baseball executives entering their walk year seldom receive the same kind of probing treatment. Rarely are the terms of their contracts publicized, and even when they are, most fans believe presidents and general managers are as expendable as a box of balls.
That’s not the case, of course. A talented executive can change the direction of a franchise, as Theo Epstein proved during the Chicago Cubs’ rebuild.
Unfortunately for current Cubs president Jed Hoyer, it’s common knowledge that he signed a five-year deal to replace Epstein in 2020, making his walk year part of the narrative in 2025.
Will he stay or will he go?
Inquiring Cubs fans want to know.
With his own future uncertain, I asked Hoyer if Friday’s home opener at Wrigley Field had a different feel for him.
“It’s just as cold on opening day, it’s the same,” Hoyer said from the Cubs dugout, awkwardly attempting to inject some humor into a subject he didn’t want to discuss.
“No, it feels a little different,” he admitted. “I said that in spring training that everything feels a little bit different. But I’m excited we have a good team and I just focus on that aspect of it so I don’t have to focus on myself.”
That’s exactly what you expected him to say. Still, most observers believe Hoyer is entering a playoff-or-bust season after failing to take the Cubs to the postseason in his first four years as president. Chairman Tom Ricketts has said the Cubs should be the “team to beat” in the National League Central, and they were the consensus favorites.
Would Hoyer like to have contract talks with Ricketts?
“If we ever have talks, I’d keep that internal, just like a Kyle Tucker extension,” he replied.
Naturally. But would Hoyer like to have them?
“Listen, I’ve been here 14 years and I love this place,” he said. “My family loves this place. Even driving into the ballpark today, it doesn’t get better than a home opener at Wrigley. I don’t think you can say that everywhere and I don’t take that for granted.”
In an interview with CNBC last month, Ricketts said Hoyer “has done a pretty good job of bringing us back up from a couple bad years we’ve had,” apparently referring to 2021 and 2022 as the “bad years.” The Cubs were 83-79 the last two seasons, which technically is “up.”
Ricketts also mentioned the improved farm system and the fact Hoyer “supplemented it with several good free agents over the last couple years.” Other than Dansby Swanson and Shota Imanaga, it’s unknown whom Ricketts was referring to when he said “several.”
Ricketts added that “if we win our division, then anything can happen, and we believe we’ll be back in the mix this year.”
Hoyer did his part by acquiring Tucker from the Houston Astros and trying to sign Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott and Alex Bregman, all of whom wound up elsewhere. Hoyer ...
