Cubs could lose Carter Hawkins to a National League up-and-comer this offseason

The Chicago Cubs may soon have to brace for a life without Carter Hawkins. A former assistant GM in Cleveland whom Jed Hoyer tapped after the 2021 season to help him create the next great Cubs team, he's now being eyed for another promotion, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale. The Washington Nationals, in their search to find a more permanent replacement for longtime head of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, have Hawkins on their short list for the top job.

For a quick refresher, the Nationals made the stunning decision back in July to fire both Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez shortly before the draft. Rizzo had been with the team for 17 years and, alongside Martinez, helped lead the team to their first World Series title in 2019. Since then, though, they haven't made another postseason and, in the run-up to the firing, endured a brutal 7-19 June. Mike DeBartolo has been at the wheel ever since in an interim capacity, but now, the interviews are about to get underway.

At 59-84, this season is looking like a step back for a Nationals team that hoped its young core would begin to take off. Hawkins might be the right fit for that sort of organization. In his time with Cleveland, he served as a scout and rose to assistant director and eventually director of player development before becoming assistant GM. By all accounts, he deserves some of the credit for helping construct the then-Indians core that would eventually face off against the Cubs in the 2016 World Series. In particular, he had a big hand in constructing their vaunted pitching lab that churned out a seemingly endless line of quality arms.

With the Cubs, Hawkins has been at the heart of the organizational overhaul of scouting and analytics. Like Hoyer, he's more on the conservative side, focusing on finding wins on the margins and scoring developmental wins. Their combined efforts have induced some big scouting wins, with the signings of Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd, in particular, standing out for how they've defied expectations to become borderline aces.

That sort of temperament and strategy is exactly what a Nationals team with the second-worst collective ERA in baseball (5.30) could use. They have some promising young position players, including All-Star James Wood and C.J. Abrams, a former top prospect in Dylan Crews, and an injured potential ace in the making in MacKenzie Gore, but they need more results from everyone around them. Hawkins could be the steady hand that cultivates their collection of talent into something competitive.

Carter Hawkins has earned mixed reviews with the Cubs

There are a lot of Cubs fans who would be perfectly fine with seeing Hawkins go, particularly after a lackluster trade deadline. He understandably caught a lot of flak for his tone-deaf comments about being responsible for the 2032 Cubs when defending the front office's relative inaction. It wasn't the right thing to say to a fanbase primed to believe 2025 was a year to push in the chips during Kyle Tucker's likely only season in Chicago, and after a first half in which they defied all expectations.

Under the Hoyer and Hawkins combo, the Northsiders have yet to reach the postseason following the big 2021 fire sale. 2025 will change that, but their frustrating .500 play in the second half doesn't indicate a long playoff run is in their future. A harsh reality lingers beyond that — one where Tucker leaves in free agency and the Cubs have to find a way to sustain success with a farm system on the downswing.

Hoyer is already locked up on a multi-year extension, but Hawkins' fate has been left up in the air. If the Nationals decide to make him their man, it might be for the best for both teams in the end. Washington could have that steady hand to make the most of a promising young crop of talent, and the Cubs get a new, preferably more aggressive voice to help shape the team's future.