MILWAUKEE — President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs have agreed to a multiyear contract extension, a team source confirmed to Marquee Sports Network on Monday afternoon.
Hoyer was in the last year of his five-year contract as the head of the Cubs’ front office. That union will continue for the foreseeable future, as the team later confirmed the deal.
“Jed and his baseball operations staff have built a healthy player development organization and put an exciting, playoff contending team on the field,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement released by the team. “We are looking forward to the rest of the season and to working with Jed for years to come.”
Hoyer joined the Cubs in 2011 as general manager under then-president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. That front office helped guide the organization to a World Series championship in 2016, the first in 108 years.
“I’m extremely happy for Jed and happy for the Cubs,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before Monday night’s game in Milwaukee against the Brewers. “I think Jed’s put together a great product on the field this year and it helped get us into a great place. So happy for the Cubs and the future of the Cubs that this has happened.”
Hoyer took over as president of baseball operations after the 2020 season when Epstein stepped down from the role.
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“I’m so grateful for the Ricketts family’s trust and support for 14 years,” Hoyer said in the team-released statement. “The Cubs are a special organization with an amazing fan base. I’m excited to keep building on the momentum we have and to work with a terrific baseball operations staff to consistently deliver a championship-caliber team for this great city.”
Hoyer orchestrated the 2021 trade deadline in his first year in charge, when the Cubs sold off the core of that 2016 World Series team. Hoyer had to make difficult decisions that summer, trading away franchise icons such as Kris Bryant, Javy Báez and Anthony Rizzo.
“For the few of us that were still there that had spent years with those guys, a huge challenge, just from a morale standpoint — those guys were the organization at that time,” Cubs outfielder Ian Happ said. “Not easy to do for the front office. But also I think it was an opportunity for us to kind of write, and [then-manager David Ross] at the time, to write what was going to be our M.O. moving forward.”
That “M.O.” was an organization that entered Monday with a 62-43 record, tied with the Brewers atop the NL Central and for the league’s best record — spearheaded by a player from that 2021 trade deadline.
The Báez deal with the Mets brought back Pete Crow-Armstrong, who since has blossomed into a superstar in Chicago.
“I think you’re seeing kind of what that looks like now, years later,” Happ said. “Couns has put a massive stamp on that in the baserunning, defensive side of things. But I think that those years — rolling out there in ‘22 … going out, playing every day, and playing hard, playing the right way, those are kind of the things that built you to these moments.”
The Cubs face a crucial trade deadline this week, and Hoyer’s front office is tasked with finding ways to upgrade the roster. They have a strong farm system to deal from as they look to add pitching help and potentially a new third base option.
“It’s always a really, really fun and cool time,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “So we’re excited to see what happens, and just put a lot of faith and trust that they’ll do what needs to be done.
“And I think they’ve shown so far that they’re willing to do that.”
