Full press conference: Jed Hoyer looks back at the 2025 Chicago Cubs season

Full press conference: Jed Hoyer looks back at the 2025 Chicago Cubs season

Looking at your season, would you uh call it a success? Many people always say it’s not a success unless we’re the last team standing. How would you uh sum it up? Yeah, I mean, I think my um emotion today um has been disappointment. And I think that um you spend time thinking about plays and pitches and and at bats and I think that whenever you get into the playoffs, you start moving forward and you have elimination games. I think that’s the I think that’s the kind of the natural emotion is to think about the the last thing that happened and obviously that was that disappointing and so we didn’t reach all of our goals. Um, I think when I think back on 2025 as I get away from it, um, I think my biggest emotion will be like pride. Honestly, I think I’m I’m really proud of of this team. I think that, you know, kind of from day one, uh, they were really, um, consistent. I think the effort of the players was amazingly consistent. The way they treated each other was was really consistent. I thought our coaching staff uh was remarkable all year, not just in preparing our guys, but also just finding edges all the time, like constantly being hungry to find edges to to beat our opponents. Um I thought this group connected incredibly well um with the fan base from day one, not just in the postseason, which was amazing to be here, but also all season. I think the crowds were great in this cuz this group and the fan base really connected. Um and I’m proud of the organization. I think we have a real foundation to keep building from. So, um, you know, obviously I’m disappointed now. I think you’d be it’ be impossible to, you know, play that elimination game and and you know, you know how close the margins are. It’d be impossible to to not have disappointment uh from kind of falling short of the ultimate goal. But I am really proud of this group and proud of our season. Go ahead, Jed. When when you’re looking over, you know, the playoffs and everything that happened, did you find yourself thinking about maybe second guess? You’ve done this a long time, but second guessing yourself on moves you didn’t make, holes you didn’t fill, like places you, you know, you could have maybe made certain parts of the team stronger. Does that does that kind of stuff cross your mind during that? I think you always, I mean, I think if you do this job and do it well, I think you’re constantly thinking about what else you could do or and that’s natural. Um, but I do feel like um when I think back on the most obvious thing that people talk about when it was starting pitching uh at the at the trade deadline and honestly like I haven’t really thought about that much since early August because I know what the market was. Um I know how tight the starting pitching market was. I know um to acquire players I thought could impact a pennant race it would have cost us players that impacted our second half in a in a in a big way on the team. And so, um, certainly that there’s moves going back years that you think about, um, in terms of how you can continue to get better. And I think that, you know, my job is to just keep getting better at this job every single year. So, of course, I think about that, but when it comes to the trade deadline, um, I don’t just because I know that what the market was and I know um, what the prices were and I also know that other teams weren’t able to acquire that kind of pitching talent either. Go to Megan. Just kind of off that, what do you think needs to happen in this off season to obviously not only get back to the playoffs, but to make a deeper run? Yeah. Well, I think that um you know, the first part I think that um you know, we won we won 92 games in in in pretty convincing fashion. Um I think we were you know, fifth in baseball and run scoring and and they were seventh in runs allowed. Um, and so I think if we can continue to do that, I think that we’ll be in good shape to to move forward and get to the the second part of the season. And then obviously, you know, um, like I said, the margins are really close uh, in the postseason and we just have to continue to strengthen our roster uh, in in different areas to to to withstand that. But um you know I think that that’s that that’s probably the biggest takeaway um for me was that um you know the the for the bulk of the for the marathon part of the of the season I thought we were a really good team in really good position and um obviously at the end um I think you know with with some injuries and just the nature of the series we played um I think that we you know we pro there was probably some some depth that we could have used on the on the pitching staff and I think that’s an area that we’ll always continue to to try to focus on that. Just knowing how the trade deadline played out, does that underline at all when you’re looking at like Marquee starting pitching and like that type of depth how important it is to get that done in the offseason as opposed to waiting? Yeah, I mean I think that um it’s honestly it’s the draft, it’s it’s um the off season, it’s thinking about all the different ways to do that because um it is really difficult to do that mid-season now. And I think it’s becoming even more difficult with the new playoff format uh to do that. There’s fewer teams are the teams are kind of closer together. There’s fewer there’s fewer sellers. um there’s more there’s many more teams in the race that have a chance and then even some teams that weren’t in the race made decisions to to not to not trade. So um I think that’s a fair thing to you know as we think about what’s changed in the game. I do think that that that’s become more difficult and I I do think it puts more emphasis on all other areas of the of the the cycle and how do we just continue to add depth and add add arms. Um, and I think that’s I I don’t think that’s unique to the Cubs. I think when you watch the this postseason and look at, you know, different teams, I think that everyone is is is focused on that because the game has changed. Um, with kind of one team exception, you have a lot of guys going deep in games. You’re using a ton of arms and um the the early rounds of the postseason involve for everyone almost a lot of bullpanning and things like that. So, yeah, it puts a lot more emphasis on on pitching depth than ever before, and it’s something we have to and we I think we we did a good job of that this year in a lot of ways, but I think we have to continue to to push to get better. Jed, what do you make of the offense this year? I mean, started out so hot. Um, you know, kind of had a little bit dip in the second half, especially some guys individually, but then what do you make kind of what the lineup was able to do in the playoffs and maybe some of the struggles with runners in scoring position as well? So, I think the the totality of what our offense did, I think was exceptional. Um, we were fifth in baseball on run scoring in a difficult home offensive environment. So, I think our offense overall was terrific. Um, I don’t know if we have any control over the shape of how that happens to be honest with you. Um, last year we sat here and we had a great second half offensively. You know, I just I think some of that stuff is is random when guys are hot and when they’re not. And I think that, you know, if you look at, you know, the totality we had a really excellent offensive team. Uh we did have some struggles in the second half and those those struggles were just, you know, simply to, you know, we had a collection of players in the first half at the same time that were that were playing exceptionally well and then some of those same players were struggling in the second half. Um, I think in the postseason, you know, I think we’re like fourth or fifth in in in OPS and and and offensive production for the postseason for the teams are in the postseason. You know, we did struggle with runner scoring position. I don’t think that’s um indicative of anything. If I’m being if I’m being honest, I think that’s a it’s eight it’s eight baseball games and I think it’s against, you know, two of the best pitching staffs in baseball. um you’re not getting the matchups you’re going to normally get during the season and you know because of the the nature of the postseason. So I think I think drawing big conclusions based on eight games against really good teams I think is probably not the the the best conclusion to to draw I think for the totality of our season. We had a really good offense and that that’s that’s what I’ll focus on. Go to Steve. Morning Jed. Um, I want to tell me if I’m putting words in your mouth. I’m not trying to do that. But like on the one hand, you’ve got this, I think, guiding principle about essentially like a 90 win threshold, you know, stay in that range, you’re you’re generally going to get into the playoffs and and that’s a goal. But when you go 4 and one at home and 0 and3 on the road in the playoffs, you rethink that at all like maybe we need to turn it up one notch to try to emphasize the division. Um yeah, I mean certainly um you know losing the division put us at a disadvantage um in that regard. You know, I think that we had to um go up there uh on kind of on short rest in that first game and I think that hurt us. And so I think that, you know, the the Brewers got that advantage by winning. Um, you know, I I think I I think I understand your question. Uh, I do think that um, you know, I think it’s focusing on um, building consistently good teams, making consistently good decisions, I think, will will lead to the right place. I think that, like I said, I think overly focusing on, you know, what just happened in in eight games, I think can be really difficult. I think you can saw it draw potentially some good conclusions, but I also think you can make some real mistakes by um by emphasizing that recency. Chad, you made the aggressive move to get Kyle Tucker last winter and you knew it could be a one-year arrangement. Just how are you currently kind of thinking through the different layers to that situation just with some of the young guys you have right there and just the roster construction? Yeah, I do think um when we were at our best, Kyle was at his best and vice versa. You know, there’s no question he had a huge impact on this team. Um obviously he you know, he had dealt with some injuries and and struggled a bit in the second half, but I think when you again, we take the totality of the season. Uh he had a huge impact as as we hoped he he would. Um, you know, obviously now we’re we’re sort of into free agency and, you know, we’ll be, you know, we’ll be talking to Casey and we’ll be having those conversations. And so, I mean, like I said a bunch of times during the season, like everyone can use a guy like Khal Tucker. Everyone gets better by having a player like that. And, um, we’ll certainly be having those conversations. I guess this is a two-parter. Number one is after two years of Wrigley Field playing the way it is, does it give you pause in the front office as to what type of player can be most successful here? If indeed the trend continues where crosswinds and the winds blowing in are dominant. Um, the second part of that question is if that if that is the case, can you can you win with multiple types of uh of Nicoer players? Um, certainly they did up north. So, uh, kind of two-part question there. Yeah, I mean the ballpark thing to me I it’s I don’t really understand that um the focus on the ballpark. I think it’s I’ve been here for 14 years. Um, it’s been a mix of of of seasons. Honestly, 2023 it was one of the best hitting part hitting ballparks in in baseball. The last two years it happens to have blown in. I don’t think anything has changed dramatically that would have that will lead us now to having this happen over and over. So, I think we’re dealing with randomness number one. Number two is um a lot of players put up great numbers. Um, you know, Michael Bush had 38 homers if you include the postseason. And Pete went 3030 and Seiya went 30 and 100. And I just think there’s you can put up really good numbers here. The idea that somehow Wrigley Field is a hitter’s nightmare. I just find that to be, you know, for two years in a row, the wind blew in a little bit. Um, but the idea that free agents aren’t going to want to play here or, you know, hitters aren’t going to want to come here, this is I can’t imagine a better place to play. So, I that’s something I just kind of reject outright. And I think that it’s like I said, I think there’s some randomness we’re we’re dealing with here. That said, and I’ve always said this, like I think the fact that Wrigley can play so differently, it just means you have to have really good players. There’s not a type of player that you can build. Like, you know, you don’t want to go out and get a bunch of flyball hitters because you have a year where the wind blows out. Uh you don’t want to go out and overemphasize, you know, guys the ball on the ground and, you know, don’t have any power because it blows in. I just think we need, you know, we have to be a little bit of a Swiss Army knife of of an offense because we don’t know what our environment is night to night. And that’s every year. I mean, like there’ll be years where it blows in more and years where it blows out more. But the the fact of the matter is we don’t know dayto-day what it’s going to be like. So, I think we have to embrace it. We have to have players that can beat you in a lot of different ways. And I think we have that right now. One one caveat is Tucker’s numbers here in this year down the road pretty significant. I don’t know. I think that you know Michael Bush is a left-hand hitter and he hit a ton of homers you know this year. Pete hit a lot of homers at home. I don’t think that uh you know there are definitely players in an individual year that that can happen. I think Cody had great numbers at Wrigley in 2023 and he struggled in 2024. So, um, the fact that a a left-handed hitter struggled in a given year here isn’t indicative that left-handed hitters can’t perform here because I think we watched Michael Bush perform exceptionally well here and Pete perform well. And I just think sometimes it’s kind of random. I think sometimes home roads um they’re not always environmental. I think sometimes just something that happens. Go to Matt. Uh Jed, you’ve talked about having kind of clean books past 26 as being nice and and a lot of flexibility, but also means you have to have contingency plans to like bring in, you know, those players. Do you expect to have extension talks with some of those guys and and what does kind of laying the foundation for that reality look like right now? Yeah, I think um my hope um and expectation is that we’ll have extension talks with a number of our players this offseason. my hope and expectation is that you never find out about it. Um that’s that’s kind of what I would say. But yes, I think that um you know, we have we have a number of players that we’d love to sort of keep long term and and we’ll have those conversations and um you know, like like using the Pete example, I’d love if those don’t get out, you know, um but um yeah, I think that um we have we have clean books going forward. We have good players and we’ll we’ll have those conversations. You mentioned obviously the importance and value of starting pitching. Showed has obviously been a big part of that the last two years. He obviously has a very interesting contract situation with the multi-year club option. Do you do you consider that a no-brainer situation with that option or were there things that you saw this season that requires some some more thought and consideration? Yeah, I mean I think when we signed Sha um if you sort of shown us his production over the last two years, he would have taken that in a heartbeat. So not only has he produced for us, but um you know he’s just a great teammate, you know, terrific asset to to the organization. Um obviously we have to have we have decisions to make and we have discussions to make and like over the next two or three weeks we’ll do that. But um I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about show [Music] Jad over here. Hi. Um two questions actually. Uh do you see Owen Casey and Moises being a big part of this club barring a trade in the sense that again getting young players in at at a uh cost control is is how you want to do things. I think I think both those guys are really good young hitters. Um, for sure. I think that they have really bright futures. Um, exactly when and how that happens, I’m not sure. But, um, you know, I think one of the things I’m most proud of of this team is I think when you look at at our production and look at the players, you know, I think from a recent standpoint, you’re talking about like Pete coming up and and developing and producing, you’re talking about Cade having a great year, Matt Shaw had a great second half. Um, but even, you know, we’ve even Nico, like I think we’ve, you know, he played his best baseball in the second half, but we’ve seen, you know, the the time has taken, you know, to get there. He’s a homegrown player. I think that’s the lifeblood of of baseball today. You have to have, you know, good young players. I think those are the guys that have real upside that can that can, you know, surprise you, uh, and have, you know, great years even beyond projections. And so, um, I consider you Moises and and Owen in that group. And I think, like I said, I think their their futures are really bright. Second question was about the bullpen after watching San Diego and you beat them and Milwaukee. Do you need to modernize it with with velocity? Do you need to have especially when you get to the playoffs to win three to four rounds? Do do you need to have basically what the Brewers bullpen was made up of in terms of flamethrowers? Yeah, both those bullpens are those are two of the best bullpens in baseball for sure. And um yeah, it was intimidating watching Mason Miller warm up at times in in the postseason. Um our bullpen was really good. I thought I I give our our pro acquisitions group a lot of credit or give our coaches a lot of credit for uh we had a good bullpen all year um with you know Brad Keller was a minor league free agent and you know the other guys were you know um Drew Palmer was acquired on an assignment clause and those guys did an an amazing job you know certainly that’s something that um you take notice of no question um and something like I said before like you know finding pitching developing pitching ing is something that is it never stops and we have to continue to to look at because yeah, there’s no question that those bullpens are really good. But I would also add that our bullpen was really good as well and that’s something we just have to continue to to focus on and um bullpens are volatile. Um there’s no guarantees year to year what you know exactly how they’re going to perform, but you just have to continue to be vigilant. You have to continue to, you know, find guys in in every single area and and, you know, I think that I think I’m confident that our our pitching group will get the most out of guys. Patrick over here, Jed, whether it was in season or like exit interviews, did you get a sense of what Kyle Tucker wants, you know, as a free agent for the rest of his career? Um yeah, I think Kyle like you know I think he’s um I think he had a good experience here for sure. I think that they this was um certainly I think he enjoyed playing in Chicago and I think that our you certainly um Wrigley and our fans made a huge impact. Um but ultimately this you know I think Kyle has a big decision. I think that he’s he’s earned the right to to not only be a free agent, but to be a coveted free agent. And so, you know, I would expect that that they’ll play their cards kind of close to the vest. But I like I said, I know he had a good experience. And um like I said, I know that when we were sort of at our best, he he he played exceptionally well. What could with the CBA expiring after 2026, how does that impact maybe thinking about long-term long range investments? Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously I think we’ve, you know, that’s been some part of our decision- making. I think we that we’ve talked about that a lot in ter if you look at um our contract structures. Um, you know, as we get closer to the end of the CBA is is that that conversation probably gets louder and louder as as far as, you know, how that that goes. But the truth of the matter is we don’t know what the future holds in that regard. And certainly those decisions are going to happen, you know, well well above me and and and those conversations will happen for a long time. So, um I think you can, you know, pay attention to it. I think it’s it’s something that you have to consider, but I also like we don’t know what’s going to happen and there’s there’s real uncertainty there for us and for, you know, 29 other teams. Jed, I know, you know, when it comes to playoffs, like the share of ticket revenue isn’t great. the beginning, you know, in the early rounds of the playoffs, but you guys had five home playoff games and there’s, you know, I walked around there’s a lot of revenue being generated, a lot of beers being sold. Um, do you think that’s going to result in like kind of an immediate Have you talked about it or even immediate spike in the baseball budget for this offseason so you don’t have to worry at the deadline about dealing prospects away? Yeah, I mean certainly um yeah, the those the crowds and the energy and was amazing and I I think that um it was it was really nice to be able to play five home playoff games. Wish we could have played a lot more, but it would it was nice to play five home playoff games for these fans. I feel like they deserve it always, but even more this year. I think the way they responded to this team was great. As far as the budget stuff, you know, I haven’t had those conversations um yet. I think we’ll we’ll sit down over the next two or three weeks and and go through that. But um yeah, I’m confident that we’re going to have enough enough money to to build a good team. I think that that’s that’s the simplest thing I’ll say. But as far as details, I don’t know yet. You know, maybe get more home. That’s how you present it. Uh, obviously you can lean into your defense with your pitch with how you build your pitching step, but is it a priority to get more strikeouts in the starting rotation in particular? Um, yeah, there’s no question. I I think we talked at the beginning about like what I’ll think back on 2025. I think like one of the main things I I I will think back on is our our defense. I do think it’s sort of the backbone of of what we do and you know sometimes it doesn’t get enough attention. You know, we focus on the pitching or focus on on hitting and it’s like, you know, we have exceptional fielders in a lot of different places and and and that certainly helps. But all that said, um when the ball’s not in play, it’s better than when it’s in play, you know, by definition. So, yeah, I think you’re always looking for for stuff and and strikeouts. Um we’ll continue to to push that. Um, but I also will say like it’s nice to know that we can I think um the combination of our pitching infrastructure um and the combination of our defense I think we can get the most out of a lot of pitchers because I do feel like we we make plays and I think that that shows up almost every night in the middle. Hey J. Um, you know, the one of the issues in the playoffs was, you know, five of your regulars hit below 200. Uh, you’ve had two years in a row where the there’s been long ls of offense during the regular season. Like when do you with since there’s no obvious answers to fixing hitting and so how when do you guys get in a room and figure out how do we get better for next year? How do you even start to approach that the hitting side? Well, I think taking that as two separate things, I think that um if you if I’m sitting here in a press conference in 2026 and we’re talking about having a the fifth most runs in baseball and we’re talking about the like that in a pitcher park, like I’ll I’ll take that all day long. So, I think that our overall hitting performance, I’m all in on that. That that’s I think that that part I think is is is terrific. I do think that um there’s no doubt like we’ve had some ups and downs. Uh I don’t know if if we’re actually any more extreme than other teams. We’ve we’ve looked at that. I think that um as a team in general, we were unbelievably consistent all year. Um the offense, you know, when the offense was really good, our pitching wasn’t quite as good and they kind of balanced each other out over the course of the year. Um but we did have some big ls. I will say that, you know, the postseason it’s hard to hit. Um especially in the early series when everyone’s bullpening all the time and so um like I said I think our our overall production I think it was like like fourth or fifth in in among the playoff teams. Um we did have some guys that that struggled. Um but I think overall I just think you know the early the early rounds when when it’s when it’s all bullpen games and no one’s getting any um any matchups I think is is is difficult to hit. And you know, we g we gave up uh three or fewer runs in in six of the eight games in the postseason. So, we kind of matched that. Um but you know, I think it’s it’s hard to hit in the postseason. You’ve got to be able to win the games in a lot of different ways. It’s it’s hard to just come into early round postseason series and think you’re going to score a ton of runs. And I think that uh we’re able to win some games um without scoring a lot of runs. And I I think that’s really a formula you have to have in the early rounds. I think as the rounds go deeper, I think um that the way people use pitching will change a little bit. Um but in general, uh I think our offense is really good. Um and we’ll just continue to have meetings and talk through are there ways that we can potentially uh reduce some of the ups and downs, but uh I think that’s pretty difficult. Go to Bruce and Maddie. uh talking to uh Cody Bellinger in uh September, he said that his experience here in Chicago was one of the best that he’s ever had and him and his wife loved it here. So knowing the free agent, he’s going to be a free agent again. I know you can’t directly address him, but might a player who had been here before be of interest uh to you again, you know, knowing the the unknown with Tucker? Um yeah, I’m a huge fan of Cody. Um, just in general, I think our players have really good experiences. Um, which is a huge selling point. Um, I think that, uh, we treat our players really well. Uh, I think everything is sort of is done first class. Um, and I think that word of mouth is is really helpful. So, um, I know he had a great experience. I but I expect that I expect that our players are going to have that that experience because you know not only the the coaching staff but you know the the city the fans and then I also just think the way we our support staff like that’s our goal is to have people feel that way. So I’m glad Cody feels that way but I think a lot of guys do too and I think that’s something that we pride ourselves on. uh you touched on coaching staff at the top, but just h how would you evaluate what council did this year and does it feel like he was able to kind of implement more of his vision than than in year one? Yeah, I thought I thought Craig had a terrific year. Um I think that uh you know, in particular, like one thing I would I would focus on, I I just thought his use of the bullpen was was excellent. um you know, he did a really good job not pushing those guys too hard. Um and that’s that’s a difficult thing to do. You know, we we play a lot of close games. We’re in a lot of games. Um and you know, whenever I would look during the course of the year, we would have no one in the top 20 in appearances in in in baseball. So, he didn’t push those guys too hard. And I think that takes real experience um to to know the length of the season. you know, you’re not like you’re trying to win every game, but you’re not trying to win every game at all costs. And I think that’s a really difficult thing to do. He you have to be willing to trust all eight guys down there. And and he I thought he did just a A+ job of that. And I know the the bullpen guys all expressed that too, like in the exit meetings, just they knew he was taking care of them. He knew he was getting them the right matchups. And I thought I thought he did an A+ job with that. Um yeah, our hope is that we retain our coaching staff. I thought they they were terrific. I think as I said before, I thought they were really well prepared and we have a really diligent player group. So, I think the combination of those two things were was was really good. But just every day knowing that they’re trying to find the little edges that that may win a game, you know, uh whether that’s a base running thing, whether that’s a tip on a pitch or any any of those things that you’re looking for. I thought those those guys never the whole year they never slowed down in doing that. And uh I know Craig was thrilled with the the coaching staff this year. I think we all were and uh I think it was a really good year in that regard. Jordan and then Andy next. Hey Jed, is Kate Horton set up for a normal offseason just with where he was and then just what was it like to see after 30 odd innings last year what he did this year and to put himself in that rookie of the year race? Yeah. Um you know he he was in a good position. he was going to he was going to be on the roster if we won on Saturday. You know, he would have he would have been on this next roster. He wouldn’t have been stretched out to probably pitch more than a couple innings, but I certainly that was our plan was to was to to be able to use him. His he was throwing bullpens by the end. And so, um the expectation is that he has a totally normal off season. Um he may rest it a bit now to like let that rib continue to heal. Um but he was exceptional. Uh and you know, he wanted to pitch so badly. I think that was one of the the hardest parts of that whole situation was that he tried, you know, he really did. He tried to to push through it and we just realized there was there was no way to do it. Um, he was incredible in the second half. Um, I just felt like start to start, you know, watching him evolve as a pitcher, uh, he picked up new things. I mean, he’s, um, change up was sort of a new pitch when we got him and he and he developed that really well. probably started using a two seamer more. Um, obviously he pounds the zone and and is super efficient. Um, yeah, his second half was was exceptional and he put himself in the, you know, in the in the conversation to be rookie of the year. Um, given how much of a competitor he is, I I was sad for him that he didn’t get a pit pitch in the postseason. Um, and I know that’s going to be his number one goal, you know, going forward. But, um, just a great development year. Uh great job by Kade, great job by the coaching staff with him and uh just excited for things going forward and I expect he’ll have a completely normal offseason. Jud, you touched a little bit on PCA, but what do you make of his offensive campaign, especially in the second half? Like what did you see um from the struggles that that maybe he can correct going into next season? Yeah, I mean he had a in totality a great year, you know, going 3030 and and driving in almost 100 runs and um he obviously the shape of that year and I think he was so good so good early on and then and then he struggled and this is his first full season and that’s something I talked to Pete a lot about during the course of the year that you know this is the first time he’s gone through the entire season. He obviously, you know, plays really hard and, you know, is, you know, is he’s kind of the backbone of our of our defense. And so, you know, there could have been some fatigue there that that that set in. And I do think that, um, you know, going forward, I think, you know, he’s going to he’s going to have to shrink his strike zone and he’s going to have to to focus on those things. But I think he will. Um, he’s still 23 years old. Um, he’s still learning. Um, so I expect him to kind of keep getting better and better. It it it may be gradual. It may come all at once, but I have no question that it’ll continue to get better. And the one thing with Pete that I always focus on is, you know, when he’s not hitting or when he’s struggling offensively, he’s a great player. And when he’s hitting, he’s, you know, a superstar because like what he does defensively night in night out is unbelievable. I think he’s the best defensive player in baseball. and um you know the number of catches he makes head high that other teams center fielders don’t get to is remarkable and he had a he had a not only have a huge role on our team offensively but I think when you think about our run prevention you know he’s right there at the top of it and then Jesse uh Matt Shaw obviously his defensive growth from spring training to the end of the season was pretty remarkable um just how you evaluate him you know in totality especially the offensive side of things. Did you see enough to to feel comfortable with where you’re at third base wise going into the off season or is it an area you feel like especially on the offensive production side you guys will need to consider upgrading? I thought he had I mean overall I think had a really good really good season. Um the shape of that season you know I think you know he played well early on after the injury in spring training and then obviously struggled. We we sent him down, we brought him up, brought him back up. And I think when you look at what he did in the second half, it was really impressive. I think that the most recent thing we just saw was the postseason and and he struggled a bit, but I think as I said earlier, I think focusing on those eight games and knowing that the kind of stuff and velocity he was facing every single night, I think that when you’re in the postseason, you know, there are guys locked in and they feel great about everything offensively that perform really well. But I think if you’re struggling with anything and then you’re facing the kind of stuff that he was facing, I I think it was it was a challenge for him. But overall, like in totality, I thought he had a really good season to to build on. Um I think he proved himself that he could hit in the big leagues with a really good second half. I think he had 11 homers in the second half. And I think defensively, I mean, he really candidly surprised us. I think that was, you know, an area that we we didn’t know how it was going to go for him. he was playing largely a new position and he’s doing it in the big leagues and he was exceptional. I think his his defense was was fantastic. I think when you look at the numbers on his defense, uh it bears that out and he was a big part of our run prevention as well. So, um I think in aggregate I think I think Matt had a really good year and it’s something to build on, but he’s going to be a really good cub for a long time. Jesse, [Music] I’m first. Sorry. Uh, circling back on on a couple things and I know person your position doesn’t always say it, but you know, talk about payroll increases, decreases in general, would you say it it’s likely to be similar kind of payroll situation? Sometimes you can give a fans idea. I’m not I won’t even speculate on it. Yeah, but like I said, we I I haven’t even had um I haven’t even had you meetings about it yet, but um I will and you know, you guys are probably asking me that GM meetings and I’ll probably better sense. Pulling pulling back and basically, you know, you’ve kind of said it, but you know, the Brewers are on a heck of a run here almost a decade. They stumbled once I think in 21. It it do you think this is the door opening to to start at least that? No one knows what can happen in October, but to to be able to say 90 wins is kind of the floor in a lot of ways year in and year out other than that occasional stumble. Yeah, I think that has to be the goal. Yeah, I think we talked about that. We sat here a year ago and talked about, you know, building team, you know, 90 win teams and, you know, we did that and I Yeah, I think that I think expecting the Brewers, you know, to to go away, I think is, you know, they’re a really good organization. They’re on a really good run. And I I think I think we have to expect that that they’re going to be, you know, here. And I think that’s good for us. I think it’s good to, you know, we need to, you know, constantly raise our level and get to that point where we can do that year in year out. Um I think if we consistently win, you know, 92 games and and and sort of get in the postseason, I think that’s when when good things happen. So um we have a really good foundation to build from and we just need to continue to to focus on making good decisions and and building from that foundation. Go Steve and then Sahad. Yeah, this is a big picture question in that same broad vein. Um, and especially just given the timing of you moving into your second term, so to speak, you know, post extension, what it’s it’s about identity. Um, the Dodgers are kind of a world apart and everybody knows it. The Brewers seem to have a really strong identity. Um, and some other organizations have gone for the jugular and worked to varying degrees. Who are the Cubs in this picture in the National League? What do you want them to be? And, you know, what’s their place in the world? Yeah. Well, that’s a good question. Um, you know, I think when I think about the the the number one area that I think you’d probably focus on that that probably sets us apart right now is our defense. I think we’re a, you know, exceptional defensive team. Um, I think that we, you know, we play really good defense. We played really clean baseball. We threw a ton of strikes this year. So, I think that, you know, defensively, like my hope is that going forward, we continue to to build teams that way. I think it’s it’s a really consistent way to build a team and and it’s a really clean brand of baseball. Um, I think as far as identity, it’s just, you know, like I said, we have a good foundation. just continue to make good decisions and continue to to to every every year. I I want to you know build something we we you know is consistent and then you know that when you you know pay for your season tickets at the beginning of the year you know when you’re going to a game that you’re going to see a really clean good brand of baseball and that you’re going to see a really competitive team. I think I think beyond that I think things change. I think that you know what I don’t want to do is is to pigeon hole an organization say we’re going to build this kind of offense or this kind of pitching staff. The goal here is to, you know, going to Jesse’s question, the goal here is to have a foundation and build so that every single year your your your win your projections and your win totals, you know, put you in the tournament. And I think from there, um, good things happen. I I don’t if but if um a good opportunity comes to get a a player that may not be part of an identity, I think it’s a mistake to overlook that. So I I don’t ever want to to be so pigeonhold that you miss opportunities because you know this game there’s a lot of good players in this game and a lot of good players a lot of good different skill sets and I think it’s important to to value all of them appropriately. Um but I want our identity be to be to be a consistently really good team. Um to you know create teams that that the fans identify with way they did this year. And I think if we do that year in year out, I think we’ll be in really good shape. And hopefully we can, you know, continue to move this press conference back a little bit every year, you know, and and I think that would be the goal. Bill Sahad and then Mike. Uh, if Kyle Tucker doesn’t return, would you be comfortable going with internal development and youth, or would it be imperative to add an established starting caliber position player or DH? I think that um it’s probably more specific question. I mean that than I would answer. I mean I think that um clearly Kyle had a huge impact on our on our offense this year and so if he’s not here then that that’s a a void and we have to figure out how to replace that. Um but there’s a lot of different ways to to do that. Um and so um I think that’ll be the focus. But yes, I think that there’s no question that you if you if you don’t retain a player of his caliber, then you have to you have to replace those wins and you know that war in some other ways. And I think that’s something we’ll be really focused on. But I don’t how you do that I think can take many different shapes and forms Mike right here. When you head into the off season with uh Tucker, do you go in with like this is our plan, this is our budget, or do you have to kind of sit back and take the temperature of the league? in because obviously a big factor is going to be whether there are other teams that are coming after him hard or not. Yeah, I think not connected to Kyle. I think in general I think that you know you have to evaluate you have to start the whole everything that we do with the evaluation of the player and like focus on that valuation and then what’s that what’s that worth to the organization. I think that’s the the the backbone. I think that um in my career, I think when when you make decisions that are based on your valuation and how you value the player, then it sort of takes some of that the other stuff out out of it and you you make better decisions. I think if you’re reacting to how things are going around you, I think that that’s when you can make real mistakes. So to me, it’s just that’s going to be our focus is, you know, how do we value not it’s not just Kyle, it’s any player, like what’s the valuation we put on this player? how much is he worth to this organization right now? And I think that if you do that consistently, I think you end up, like I said, making more and more good decisions. And the more good decisions we make, the more it’s additive. Go Bruce and then Patrick. Ched, other than uh Pre-ARB and um you know, players um I think one player beyond that, uh you don’t have anybody uh under contract past next year. Does that concern you? Is that by design? How how or organizationwise are are you looking at that? We we understand what’s December 26 going to look like, but um where where is that big picture for for you? I mean, there’s an there’s an element that’s by design for sure. Um you know, I think that you’ve seen like the way we’ve structuralized contracts, I think, has been shorter and I think that that’s been by design. Um, with that I think I think you know it comes opportunity um that you know we have opportunity to to use those dollars really wisely to continue to get better. So I don’t look at it as a cause for concern. I try to look at it as an opportunity that um you know we we have available dollars in the future that we haven’t committed yet and we just need to continue to commit those dollars wisely as we as we do commit them. Time for about three or four more. We’ll go Patrick and then Jordan and then Uh J, just two quick clarifications. When you say the hope is to retain Craig’s staff, does that mean everyone’s invited back, but maybe they’d have an opportunity elsewhere for Yeah, I mean, you know, I think some of it’s been public already, but I I expect that people are going to ask permission on for various jobs as they as they should, and you never want to lose anyone, but you also want people to be able to continue to advance and we may not have those roles available. So, um, yeah, everyone’s going to be asked back, uh, and they know that. And then the question is just simply like we might not have the exact staff if someone gets an opportunity elsewhere that’s, you know, like I said, an opportunity that we can’t we can’t match. I think last year kind of came out like Nico and Dan, we had surgeries like as you’re heading into the offseason now doing your debriefs. Is there anything similar like that popping up as you’re um we have a medical meeting at 1 actually, so uh I’ll have a better better feel for that. Um those were pretty high profile and I I sort of knew about those at at this point. Um so I don’t expect anything quite that high profile, but there may well be some some surgeries that come out of it or recommended surgeries or second opinions and I can, you know, we can get you that information later. Jed, one of the things we heard from the guys, especially after the season ended, was how special they thought this group was. As you chatted with them through like exit interviews, what kind of takeaways did you get about what made this group so special and also how do you maybe replicate that for next year? Yeah, that it was um it was remarkable like how many guys talked about that. I think they really I think this group really came together exceptionally well. um you know whether whether part of that is starting the season with a you know week-long trip with everyone’s families to to Tokyo and they kind of started the that process earlier or not. I think that regardless of how it happened this was a very um close group. Um I think they really uh enjoyed each other’s company and I think it was just a lot of guys are really good teammates. Um, I think the way I would answer that is like, you know, if we brought back the exact same group of players next year, it wouldn’t have this, it wouldn’t be the same. It it can’t be the same. Like that’s the And I think that’s one of the things that the players were talking about in sadness when it ended on Saturday, which is you don’t want it to end because you know that like this feeling is going to be gone and and now starting whenever we get to spring training, it’s about building that up again. And so, um, that’s just something I’ve learned in my career over and over. I’m really glad that this year was a special, uh, chemistry, but you can’t bottle that up and and bring it into the next year. Like, it’s you have to go, you know, start that from day one and and build that up again because people are in different, you know, places in their career in terms of, you know, contracts or different places in their lives. Things happen differently. And so, you know, I think it’s actually one of the fun parts of the job in a way is like, okay, like I think you want to replicate the feeling, but it’s not going to be done with the same people or the same emotions. And I think that’s what we have to focus on is um how do we build that? I do think you have a better chance to build that if you have consistency in your coaching staff and and some consistency in that room. I don’t think you can, you know, theoretically you’re not going to turn over that many people and have the same feeling. So, we’ll start working on it the first day of spring training. Um, but I was really, like I said, I was really proud of the way that group came together. They really cared about each other. They really worked hard together. Um, and it was it was a really special group. We’ll take one more from Steve. Thanks. I wonder how much you’re going to love this, but I I I I’m just not accustomed to seeing you be like sentimental. And I just wonder if maybe last week, you know, the experience of of being here in this building in the playoffs, how it made you feel, if you felt a level of connection or something sentiment that you hadn’t experienced before. You’re saying I’m unscentimental, huh? Um, yeah. you know, um yeah, I guess I would say I I did feel like um I felt like our crowds in in the playoffs were unbelievably impressive and I feel like they it didn’t sort of come out of nowhere. It was sort of like it felt like sort of a natural build of the way the season was that you know going back to kind of April and May like wow these unbelievable crowds and and people were really into it and then I I just felt like you know against the Padres’s and the two home games we had here. Um it was pretty amazing. I don’t ever remember players commenting on the crowds and the experience right after games the way they did repeatedly. I’d go I’d come down here after games and the players would be talking about the energy or talking about the experience and that was really cool. It was it was really cool to see and you know it it it leaves you wanting more, right? Um I think that’s I think that to me when I go back to the very beginning of this press conference talking about just the disappointment of losing I think the the disappointment in some ways is like not being able to continue to have more of that, right? In some ways it was it was pretty intoxicating just how uh great Wrigley was during the postseason. Um and so uh yeah I think that um if you want to call it sentimental I think that you know I don’t I don’t think we had feelings like that in the building since like 15 and 16 in a lot of ways. And um you know the it makes you want to work that much harder this winter. It makes you want to you know get in earlier. it makes you want to, you know, make that much better decisions because you just, you know, you want to, you know, you want to keep experiencing that because it it was it was it was really cool and it’s where this building is is really special. Um, and our fan base is really special and um, you know, it’s it’s really cool to work for the Cubs. It’s really cool to play for the Cubs and um you know I feel really fortunate to do it every day and like hopefully we can continue to make really good decisions and continue to to play more games like that because that was a that was a pretty awesome experience.

The Cubs came into the 2025 season with an idea of how good they could be. Team president Jed Hoyer addressed the whole season after it came to an end in the NLDS.

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