Jed Hoyer, Cubs are running out of time before the trade deadline

MILWAUKEE — The closer it gets to July, the closer it gets to Jed Hoyer making a decision on which direction the team will go over the last two months of the season.

And while the Chicago Cubs‘ president of baseball operations is still confident in a turnaround and confident that his team will be in a position to add on ahead of the July 30 trade deadline — he made that pretty clear during a nearly half-hour media scrum at American Family Field on Friday — he understands there isn’t a whole lot of time left to get there.

“When I look at this two-month stretch, it’s sort of been, ‘OK, we’ll turn it around,'” Hoyer said. “Undoubtedly, it has dragged on far longer than we expected or we hoped. We need to play a lot better. Now we’ve dug ourselves a hole, and we have to dig out of that hole. And obviously, yes, it’s important that we do that in this next [32 days] until the deadline.”

A month ago, when the Cubs traveled north for a series against the Milwaukee Brewers, they were only 3 1/2 games back of the Brewers in the National League Central and held sole possession of an NL wild card spot (they ultimately dropped three of four in that series).

At the end of their 4-2 loss Friday night to begin their final pitstop in Milwaukee this year, the Cubs had fallen to 11 1/2 games back in the division and five games back in the wild card race.

Given the variance and craziness of an MLB season, is it still shocking that the Cubs are looking up at the rest of the teams in the NL Central standings?

Jed Hoyer ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/oJwDWK4XJj

— Ryan Herrera (@ryan_a_herrera) June 29, 2024

Fans have grown frustrated with this ballclub. Part of it stems from the fact that the Cubs, at least at the major league level, are not clearly in a better position than they were a year ago.

Almost three years ago now, Hoyer decided to hit the reset button at the 2021 deadline and dealt most of the core group of players from the 2016 World Series team. It was an unpopular but understandable move.

It did lead into a rough 2022 season, but then in 2023, the Cubs went from their season being over in June to finishing a game out of the playoffs. There was hope that the 2024 group would finally take that all-important step forward, becoming the first Cubs team to make the playoffs in a 162-game season since 2018.

Hoyer entered this year with the belief that his team was on the “front edge of something special,” and he pointed to things like the health of the organization, the young talent coming up through the system and the rotation’s performance as stuff he remains “bullish” on.

But the big league club has not shown it’s in a better place than it was last year. Like in 2023, the Cubs are 38-45 through their first 83 games this season. So when it comes to fans being frustrated about this team, Hoyer is right there with them.

“Our projected win totals were higher this year than last year, internally [and] externally,” Hoyer said. “I think that when you look at the way we’ve performed this year with a team that’s stronger [on paper than last year], it’s lesser. Is that frustrating to me? Absolutely. And if it’s frustrating to me, I have to imagine it’s frustrating to the fans.”

Hoyer said it would be a mistake to cast “everything in a negative light based on two months.” He believes in the talent on the roster and in the organization, and he remains confident they can turn it around. He’d consider it “a danger to paint everything with a brush” based on the last two months, just like it “would’ve been inappropriate at the end of April to start planning a parade.”

But at the same time, the Cubs can’t worry about what’s happened through their first 83 games. They have to focus on righting the ship.

At the end of April, the idea that they’d become sellers by the end of July probably didn’t cross many minds. They were playing well and looked like they were actually taking that step forward from last season. But they slipped into a funk to close out that month, and they haven’t been able to get out of it since.

“When I look at April and how we performed and look at the rest of it, yeah, I’m very surprised,” Hoyer said. “It felt like two weeks turned into four turned into six has turned into eight. That’s the reality. I think you weather that storm a little bit for a while and you sort of get through it. We had some games over .500 to play with, and it just hasn’t ended. I think that’s the hard part, and I think that is a huge factor.”

The Cubs aren’t showing any signs that they’re about to turn the corner. Though Hoyer wants nothing more than to make additions at the trade deadline, if this swoon extends much longer, selling is certainly not off the table.

“I mean, we have to play well this month,” Hoyer said. “I think you have to be a realist when you get to that point. That’s not where we are mentally. But yeah, always in this job, you have to be a realist. You have to make the best decisions for the organization based on the hand you’re dealt that year. We’ll see where that is.”

At this time of year, Hoyer isn’t fielding any more calls than usual, he said. That could increase the closer it gets to the deadline if the Cubs don’t start picking up wins. Even though no-trade clauses and underperforming players might limit what assets they actually have to deal away, that could just end up being the direction Hoyer has to take.

It may be premature to decisively say the Cubs will be sellers, but with every loss, they get closer and closer to it. Though Hoyer isn’t ready to give up on this group yet, the performance on the field has to change — otherwise, the changes will come on the roster.

“I don’t think it’s time yet for that full conversation,” Hoyer said, “but it’s just the reality that we have to play better in July. We’ve backed ourselves into a little bit of a corner.”