The Cubs’ deadline plans are starting to take shape, and Jed Hoyer’s own words point to the same place the team has been circling all season: pitching.
With less than two weeks to go before the trade deadline, Chicago is widely expected to make multiple moves to shore up the staff. Daniel Palencia’s setback has only added another layer to the conversation, with some wondering whether the Cubs might shift their focus toward a reliever rather than a starter. But Hoyer’s comments over the weekend suggested the front office still sees value in length, not just late-inning help.
“Don’t get me wrong, Craig likes ‘out-getters,’” Hoyer told reporters. “He also likes not burning through the bullpen all the time.
It’s important to be able to give him some stability. Getting 18 or even 21 outs in a game makes the next game a lot easier.
(We’re not) acting as though innings for a starter don’t matter at all. It has a cascading impact that is real.”
Hoyer made those remarks after Palencia’s setback was already known, which matters here. The timeline change may have nudged the Cubs’ thinking, but the message from the top still leaves room for a starter who can carry games deeper into the night. An established closer would be the cleanest fix for the bullpen, yet a starter who can regularly work into the seventh inning offers a different kind of relief by easing the load on everyone behind him.
There was also a quieter development from the weekend that could affect the Cubs’ calendar off the field. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the organization is already preparing for the possibility that there will not be a Cubs Convention this winter because of the looming labor situation.
If December 1 passes without a new CBA and the owners lock out the players, teams cannot communicate with players on the 40-man roster. Under those conditions, staging the annual convention would be difficult.
And amid all the celebration at Wrigley Field, Theo Epstein was back in the mix too. The former Cubs president of baseball operations was part of the weekend festivities, and The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney asked him whether he had any interest in returning to a major front office job. The answer, at least for now, sounded like someone comfortable with where he is.
Epstein, now a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, spoke about the balance he’s found in his life. His name will probably keep surfacing whenever a big baseball job opens, but this didn’t sound like a man eager to jump back into that grind.
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