Fans to Hoyer: When will Cubs pull win-now levers? originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Jed Hoyer stepped away from his media tour Monday and went straight to the fans, sitting down with Boog Sciambi and season ticket holders in a Q&A outside Wrigley Field.
Hoyer’s messaging was largely the same as his recent media stops, when he completed separate sit-down interviews with beat reporters and 670 The Score and ESPN 1000.
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Among the topics covered in Monday's Q&A, which aired on Marquee Network, there were no specific answers to the team’s competitive timeline, who’s going to be here or not for the next great Cubs team or what they’re going to do next offseason.
Hoyer discussed “levers” the Cubs pulled during their last competitive cycle — pure win-now moves like lengthy free agent commitments to trading prospects.
"When you look at the moves we made this [past] offseason, we did pull a bunch of levers that we felt like could help us win now and help us in the future," Hoyer said.
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"But we didn't pull some of those levers that we felt like could hinder what we think is a great future and the next great Cubs team."
One fan later asked when the Cubs competitively will be in position to pull those levers again.
“To me, it's just about trying to make one good decision after another,” Hoyer said. “You build it brick by brick.
“If we make one good decision after another, I believe it'll happen quickly. But at the same time, you want to build it the right way. My goal is to build something really special and take some of the lessons we learned last time and apply it.
“What I don't want to do is shortchange that and look back and build something good. We’re the Cubs and we can be better than that.”
Other takeaways from the Q&A:
• Hoyer again avoided labeling the current state of the Cubs as a rebuild, instead pointing to what the Cubs are looking to build toward.
“To me, it's not about labeling it,” Hoyer said. “It's about talking about what are we trying to accomplish. And what we're trying to accomplish is building that really healthy organizational foundation of young players so that we can go forward and really be great.”
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• Hoyer recalled the state of the Cubs a decade ago, when he and Theo Epstein took over the front office, and the difference in the organizational infrastructure now compared to then.
“We didn't have the technology or the people or the processes to be a great organization,” Hoyer said. “That's not the case now. We've invested in all those things, thanks to the Ricketts. We have great people here and great processes. We’re always trying to get better.
“But as far as building up an entire organization, that's not where we are. At this stage for us, it's about building up a group of young players and then building around them."
• Hoyer reiterated he's not concerned over the resources available to the front office.
“I know the money will be there at the right time,” Hoyer said. “If you go back to 2013 and ’14, we did not have really high payrolls. As we were winning and needed to push the financial gas pedal, we were able to do that.
“I know we can do that again.”
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