The Rundown: Hoyer Attempts to Thread Deadline Needle, Morel Slaps in Rays Debut, Trade Deadline Winners & Losers
“Come to me now, and rest your head for just five minutes. Everything is done.” – Crosby, Still, and Nash, Our House
Jed Hoyer will not go down as the greatest GM in Cubs history, but he may be remembered as the organization’s most consistent. Hoyer, who operates on a foundation of intelligent spending and threading the needle, managed to do both at this year’s trade deadline. True to his word, the president of baseball operations navigated baseball’s overpriced flea market with 2025 in mind. Or did he?
The Cubs are analytically the same team they were last week. Nate Pearson has replaced Mark Leiter Jr. and Isaac Paredes gets to fill the shoes of fan favorite Christopher Morel. Hoyer also managed to net-zero a pair of fungible prospects, acquiring Jack Neely and Ben Cowles from the Yankees after sending Hunter Bigge and Ty Johnson to the Rays.
It was much more fun watching the White Sox wheel and deal than refreshing Twitter for Cubs news during the 48-hour snooze fest over at Clark & Addison.
The Cubs sit in last place in the NL Central, two games behind the Reds, who manhandled Chicago for the second consecutive game. You would think Hoyer would have a much greater sense of urgency to improve his ballclub for this year or next, or even 2026 and beyond for that matter. No dice. The Cubs don’t look very different post-deadline with Hoyer’s moves akin to replacing all the shelf paper before putting his home on the market. The mantra remains the same: Thread the needle, spend intelligently, and move the goalposts. Chicago’s top executive operates with the temperament of an artificial intelligence algorithm.
For Cubs fans, there isn’t much to look forward to until November, when Hoyer will undoubtedly temper free-agency and trade expectations. He has a lot to unpack and could be handcuffed by Cody Bellinger. The outfielder seems like a lock to exercise his $30 million option to remain in Chicago. Cub fans championed Bellinger’s return last winter, but might be a little less enthused in four months. A roster crunch looms large, and few spots will be made available to the organization’s prized prospects unless significant moves are made.
Hoyer will be entering his fifth year as chief executive in 2025, and barring a miracle, will have missed the playoffs in each of his seasons since taking over for Theo Epstein. Next year’s roster won’t look much different than the one that lost to Cincinnati last night. Fans will, and should, demand answers from Hoyer and Tom Ricketts. We’ve learned the hard way that Chicago’s executive team fronts by using catchy buzz phrases that truthfully define continued mediocrity.
Imagine being given the discretion to spend $220 million only to field a team that annually disappoints. Hoyer is the Frank Schwindel of baseball executives, just not as likable or as easy to root for.
Cubs News & Notes
- The Cubs recalled RP Ethan Roberts and optioned UT Miles Mastrobuoni before yesterday’s tilt with the Reds.
- Evan Altman has all the details of the trade that sent Leiter Jr. to the Yankees.
- The ability to scout and develop big league relievers is part of the reason the Cubs were fine with sending Leiter Jr. to New York on Tuesday for a pair of minor leaguers.
- Hoyer also admitted that it took almost a month for the Paredes-Morel trade to get done. He added that several teams contacted the Cubs about flipping the corner infielder once Chicago acquired him.
- Hoyer said the Cubs would have had to have been “blown away” to trade Jameson Taillon.
- The president of baseball operations seems a little too enamored with his trade deadline whiteboard.
Odds & Sods
Take that, Jed!
Christopher Morel homers in his first game with the Rays! pic.twitter.com/EaWxHdOryw
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 30, 2024
Central Intelligence
- Milwaukee (61-46): New Brewers reliever Nick Mears said the Rockies knew he was tipping his pitches but waited a month and a half to tell him.
- Pittsburgh (55-52): The Pirates on Tuesday upgraded their roster without giving up much in the form of prospects.
- St. Louis (55-52): Tommy Pham crushed a pinch-hit grand slam in his return to the Cardinals.
- Cincinnati (52-55): The Reds traded a few veterans and all but conceded that they’ll continue their run of 29 straight seasons without winning a playoff series.
- Chicago (51-58): The Cubs are baseball’s sixth-worst team and have a 5.55% chance of winning the draft lottery.
Deadline Dirty Dozen
- The Orioles, Pirates, and Royals stuck to their plans and also improved their teams.
- Baltimore was both a winner and a loser. The Orioles were an additional ace shy of a deep October run but failed to add one.
- Pittsburgh is positioned nicely to be the dominant NL Central team as soon as next season.
- The White Sox kept Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. but traded everybody else, including Eloy Jiménez.
- The Dodgers won every deal in the bullying fashion we’ve grown accustomed to.
- The Padres traded all of their remaining prospects for a couple of relievers.
- The Tigers will be the 2025 version of this year’s Royals.
- The Marlins cleaned house again, but for once, did so with a purpose.
- The Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Giants, and Cubs disappointed.
- The Cardinals continued to collect White Sox castaways, while the Braves turned the clock back to 2021, sans Joc Pederson.
- The Astros accelerated their decline by giving up three prospects for rental arm Yusei Kikuchi.
- If anyone can make Morel a star, it’s the Rays.
Trade Deadline History
When Branch Rickey traded Ralph Kiner from the Pirates to the Cubs in June 1953, he told the slugger “We finished last with you; we can finish last without you.”
The Cubs acquired Kiner, Joe Garagiola, George Metkovich, and Howie Pollet for Bob Addis, Toby Atwell, George Freese, Gene Hermanski, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, and $150,000. Talk about your blockbusters!
Extra Innings
The Cubs might lead all of baseball in meaningless home runs.
Cody Bellinger homers in his first game back! pic.twitter.com/oqalmyL2Je
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 31, 2024
They Said It
- “We did the deals that crossed our line and made sense for us, and we didn’t do a lot of deals that didn’t.” – Hoyer
- “The group has not changed significantly, and it’s our responsibility — we’ve got to be better. We’re still in a place where I feel like we could do something here.” – Craig Counsell
Wednesday Walk-Up Song
It’s time to forget about baseball and enjoy the rest of my summer.