Jed Hoyer's latest tone deaf comments add another insult to tortured Cubs fanbase

Chicago Cubs fans are beginning to find out why Jed Hoyer returned to Theo Epstein's comfortable arms in 2012 when Epstein joined the Cubs' front office as the new president of baseball operations.

After coming up with Epstein in the Boston Red Sox front office, Hoyer spent two seasons on his own as he was the general manager of the San Diego Padres for two seasons. Perhaps, when Epstein passed the torch over to Hoyer after the 2020 season, Cubs fans should have remembered why San Diego was so quick to let their general manager leave after only two seasons.

As incomplete as it may be, Hoyer's time away from Epstein has been a failure. The biggest move that Hoyer made when he was the Padres' general manager was a deal that sent slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox for Casey Kelly, Reymond Fuentes, Eric Patterson, and Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo, of course, has proven to be the prized piece of that package, but he was dealt to the Cubs before he enjoyed any success at the Major League level.

This would be the reason why Hoyer adds insult to the misery of Cubs fans each time he speaks with reporters this season. He expects to be given the benefit of the doubt for being among the best executives in baseball, but his pedigree without Epstein suggests otherwise.

The latest tone-deaf comments from Hoyer came when he spoke with the Mully and Haugh Show on Tuesday morning.

Jed Hoyer is becoming a part of the problem.

Hoyer continues to preach that the Cubs' internal solutions to their problems will be the reason why the team climbs back in the race. While, last season, the Cubs' internal solutions did prove to be capable of showing resiliency and competing for a postseason, it's a team that still proved to miss the postseason.

That is why Hoyer has insulted the team's fanbase at every level in terms of how this roster was not only constructed but talked about. Going back to the offseason, bringing back Cody Bellinger was the minimum the Cubs needed to do to have any chance of making the postseason. Instead, Hoyer and the Cubs treated Bellinger as if that was the "all-in" move that turned the team into a legitimate threat to win the National League Central division.

Now, there is some truth to the Cubs' need to find answers internally. The offensive struggles of Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, and Ian Happ need to improve. If that core does not improve, there is no external move that the Cubs can make that would put them over the top.

Hoyer did admit that the Cubs will look for external moves but the moves that are needed are the ones that the Cubs' president of baseball operations has gone out of his way to avoid. That is the issue. Hoyer is comfortable with living on the margins despite running the baseball operations of a team in the third-largest market in Major League Baseball.

“I do think that it is very important to look at external possibilities. We always do, we spend all day doing it. Also, I think you have to look to, ‘OK, what can we do internally to fill those holes?’ Whether it’s improving a player’s performance or whether it’s from the farm system.

-Jed Hoyer, 670 The Score

Epstein has long said that no executive should remain with a team for more than 10 seasons. As Hoyer is now in the middle of his 12th year with the Cubs' front office, that is a sobering truth that is starting to be realized.