3 things Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer must to do keep his job

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has a pivotal 12 months ahead of him. He is heading into the final year of his contract with the Chicago Cubs, coming off back-to-back seasons in which his team could have easily snuck into the postseason only to fall short.

Recent remarks from Cubs owner Tom Rickets suggest there will not be an extension for Hoyer before the season. With fans frustrated and a lame-duck season ahead of Hoyer, all eyes will be on him this winter as he puts the pieces together for another high-expectation season. There are some bare minimum things he needs to accomplish this year in order for him to keep his job.

1. Fix the bullpen

Arguably the main thorn in the team's side this year was the bullpen, which for the second straight year did not have an identity until the middle of the season. This was partially due to closer Adbert Alzolay and set-up man Yency Almonte going down with season-ending injuries. But the main addition Hoyer made to the bullpen was Hector Neris, who proved to be ineffective in the ninth inning and he was eventually designated for assignment in August.

If it wasn't for the emergence of rookie Porter Hodge and the mid-season additions of Tyson Miller, Jorge Lopez and Nate Pearson, the Cubs bullpen would have been nothing short of a disaster. Thankfully those additions proved to be fruitful and the team boasted the sixth-lowest bullpen ERA over the final three months of the season.

All that being said, if Hoyer had put more assets into the bullpen before the season, maybe the team would not have blown 26 saves and had enough wins to make the playoffs. The best bullpens in the modern game have multiple relievers capable of closing games and the Cubs simply did not have that to start the 2024 season and they honestly still don't.

As things stand, Porter Hodge is the only guy on the team who has proven trustworthy in the ninth inning other than Alzolay, who will miss the 2025 season and could be a non-tender candidate. Lopez is hitting the open market, Miller is a soft-tossing middle reliever and Pearson has potential but needs to do more to earn ninth-inning duties. Needless to say, Hoyer has serious work to do on the bullpen and he needs to add more firepower.