Watch CBS News

Cubs' Jed Hoyer: Winning Championship Allows Us To Think Differently Than In Past

(CBS) As the Cubs ready to embark on a new season and look toward defending their championship, general manager Jed Hoyer acknowledged that breaking the 108-year title drought allows the organization to think differently moving forward.

Hoyer emphasized the Cubs' goal isn't to sell out for a four- or five-year championship but rather to create a team that can win the division every season and then perform well in the playoffs -- for years to come, even if Hoyer and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein were to leave. With that in mind, Hoyer hinted at the Cubs being less inclined to make a blockbuster prospect-for-rental trade like they did last July, when they sent highly regarded shortstop Gleyber Torres, then 19, to the Yankees for closer Aroldis Chapman, who left in free agency at season's end.

"Once the team gets in that mode and really empties out the farm system, you don't want to become one of the teams that has a nice four- or five-year run and then when they finally hit the skid, they can't recover," Hoyer said Wednesday on the Spiegel and Parkins Show on 670 The Score. "We don't want that. It's not what Theo did in Boston. It's not what he tends to do here. We have two high draft picks this year, somewhere around 27 and 30 in the draft. We just really need to keep drafting well and keep focusing on building up our farm system.

"There's going to be times we're going to make trades, they're the right thing to do. You always talk about it -- when you're in striking distance, you need to go for it, because you can't always just count on next year being there, next year being the same. That was a big part of our logic was trading Torres to get Chapman. We had what we thought was the best team, and when you have that, you need to take advantage.

"But you do have to be careful. You can't sell out the future for the present. I think that balance is really difficult. And I will say this: Each championship opportunity going forward, we will take incredibly seriously. But I do think that one of the things that's always been hanging over the Cubs' head as an organization is this drought and winning this title. And I think that weight or that expectation has really made a lot of people go for it and be overly aggressive, whether that's in free agency, whether that's in trades. And I do think we don't have that anymore, and I do think that allows us to think about that balance in a different way than the people have before us."

Hoyer was then asked about what's next: Is the goal a dynasty?

"That'd be nice," Hoyer said. "I don't know what qualifies as a dynasty, I don't know how many titles you have to win before people anoint you with that. Listen, like I said before, we want to win multiple titles. We have a core group that will be here for a long time that should allow us to have a lot of good seasons."

Listen to Hoyer's full interview below. He also reflects on the Cubs' trip to the White House on Monday.

Jed Hoyer on the Spiegel and Parkins Show

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.