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Jed Hoyer: Cubs Won't Mortgage Future For Any Single Year, This One Included

(CBS) As speculation swirls that the Yankees desire slugger Kyle Schwarber, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer on Tuesday made it clear the organization won't mortgage any part of the core for any single year run at a championship, this one included.

"Our philosophy has been you want to be aggressive in the moment, but at the same time, you have to realize the idea of 'this is the season' or 'going all in' is exceptionally dangerous in our sport," Hoyer said on the Spiegel and Goff Show during a fan luncheon. "Because you're probably only increasing your odds a little bit with any one move to win the World Series. It's so difficult to get through three (postseason) series in a sport as random as baseball. So the way we look at it is the best way to win a World Series is to get to the playoffs every year with a good team and if you can do that, you hope to have that magic October. I think any one move is probably unlikely to shift your odds as much as people think it might shift them. So you want to be aggressive, you want to address your weaknesses, but you also want to be aware the best way to win a World Series is simply by getting there every single year."

Epstein isn't inclined to use the word "untouchable" when referring to his players, because stopping a conversation with another team before it starts could prevent the Cubs from learning how a foe values its own players. That said, the Cubs "love their core," Epstein said -- and to hear the Cubs brass talk, Schwarber is absolutely part of that core.

Schwarber is out for the season with a knee injury suffered during the first week of the season. The Cubs are in need of a reliever, and Yankees left-hander Andrew Miller is on the market. In any potential Yankees-Cubs swap revolving around Miller, New York desires Schwarber, ESPN's Buster Olney and others have reported.

If you read between the lines, that doesn't sound enticing to the Cubs.

"Obviously, there are guys that we're building around, these core foundational guys," Epstein said. "We believe in their talent. We believe in their makeup. We believe in everything they've done to get us to this point and everything they're going to do for us over the next many years. We'd be really foolish to be short-sighted and break that up just so we can incrementally increase our chances of winning the whole thing this year. We're going to do everything we can to win it this year, but as Jed said earlier, we want to get there every year, and we want to do it with guys you believe in, guys that we believe in. And we're lucky enough to have that group, so to break it up, we'd be really foolish."

Added Hoyer specifically of Schwarber: "We see him as an elite middle-of-the-order run-producing bat with great makeup. Those don't come around very often. He was a huge catalyst of our team last year."

Listen to the full interview with Hoyer and Epstein below.

Epstein, Hoyer on the Spiegel and Goff Show

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