Jed Hoyer's patient approach should have him on Chicago Cubs hot seat

If asked about looking forward five seasons and wondering who is still a part of the Chicago Cubs' organization between Craig Counsell and Jed Hoyer, the answer is likely Counsell.

Hoyer being a member of the front office that constructed the World Series winning team in 2016 has granted him immunity for several seasons but with the 10-year anniversary of the Cubs winning the World Series only 2 years away, the immunity shield that Hoyer once had should be gone.

Sure, Hoyer should have been granted the space needed after the 2021 sell-off at the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline to rebuild the farm system and to his credit, he has done so.

The Cubs' farm system is one of the best in Major League Baseball, and the fruits of Hoyer's Labor in rebuilding the system are beginning to be seen at the Major League level. Ben Brown and Pete Crow-Armstrong are expected to be the main contributors on the roster moving forward.

The test for Jed Hoyer will arrive this season with the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs have reached the point where they are expected to contend for a postseason spot but the team's miserable play during the month of May has exposed how poorly constructed the roster was entering the season.

The fault lies at Hoyer's feet. Even if Tom Ricketts does impose the first level of the luxury tax as a salary cap for Hoyer's baseball operations, Hoyer still was negligent in how he chose to address the Cubs' biggest needs this past offseason. The Cubs have had a need for power since 2021, and Hoyer routinely opts for an outside-the-box flier instead of acquiring an established game-altering bat.

But this is where the test comes into play for Hoyer.

What made Theo Epstein arguably the best baseball executive in the history of the game is he knew when to pull the lever to move the team's top prospects in order to address needs at the Major League level. The biggest example of that was the team trading Gleyber Torres to the New York Yankees for closer Aroldis Chapman in 2016. Yes, Epstein had his misses with that approach, notably, the trade with the Chicago White Sox in 2017. But here is the thing, a baseball executive has to shoot their shot when in a position to go for it.

Hoyer has proven not to be comfortable taking his shot; instead, he hopes enough free throws will keep his team in the game. It would seem that this current Cubs iteration has Hoyer's philosophy in a position where it is proven to be wrong.