Chicago Cubs Boss Enters Final Year of Contract Under Pressure to Win

The Chicago Cubs’ president of baseball operations is entering the final year of his contract and he’s under pressure to produce a winner.

Jan 12, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer talks to the media after introducing pitcher Shota Imanaga (not pictured) during a press conference at Loews Chicago Hotel. / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Jed Hoyer’s tenure as Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations has at times excited and frustrated Cubs fans since he arrived before the 2021 season.

Now that he's entering the final year of his five-year contract, Hoyer is under pressure to get the Cubs back to the postseason.

That could explain his two biggest moves of the offseason.

The Cubs last went to the playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when they went 34-26 and lost in the National League Wild Card series.

Since Hoyer took over in 2021 the Cubs have built up from a 71-game winner in his first season to back-to-back 83-win seasons. Being over .500 is good, but the Cubs have not been able to catch the Milwaukee Brewers, their rival to the north. The Brew Crew always seems to be able to do more with less.

The Brewers have won the NL Central each of the past two years, with the Cubs finishing second. Milwaukee has finished a combined 19 games ahead of the Cubs in the division in that span.

General managers, like players, don’t like working on walk years in a contract. They would prefer security. But, in both cases, it’s a “prove-it” moment.

This is the year Hoyer must prove that he’s built a team that can get over the hump, get to the playoffs and, perhaps, catch the Brewers.

That may explain one of the biggest sets of trades any GM made this offseason. He essentially swapped outfielder Kyle Tucker for outfielder Cody Bellinger in two separate trades.

The Cubs acquired Tucker from the Houston Astros and gave up a haul of players to do so — third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and an intriguing prospect in third baseman Cam Smith.

Tucker’s career production has been utterly consistent — a slash line of .274/.353/.516/.870 with 125 home runs and 417 RBI. He’s a three-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner, a Silver Slugger and finished fifth in 2023 AL MVP voting.

He’s also a free agent after the season and represented by Scott Boras. So Hoyer may not be able to work on an extension until after the season.

Out went Bellinger to the New York Yankees in a trade for pitcher Cody Poteet.

Chicago will now work with an outfield that includes Tucker in right, Peter Crow-Armstrong in center and Gold Glove winner Ian Happ in left.

The Cubs also need top prospect Matt Shaw to step up and claim the third base job in spring training.

Hoyer needs these moves to click if he hopes to remain in Chicago past 2025.