Jed Hoyer went on live radio and threw Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez, and Kris Bryant under all 18-wheels of the bus.
In the aftermath of the MLB Trade Deadline on Friday, Cubs fans are still trying to catch their breath after a weekend of heaving and sobbing. The World Series core of Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez, and Kris Bryant was dismantled in a matter of hours, and what remains is one of the worst teams in the National League.
Jed Hoyer and the Cubs front office insist that it’s all part of a soft rebuild and that the players acquired will help the team put together another title-contending team in short order.
When Hoyer isn’t selling that snake oil, he’s showing his true colors.
Hoyer went on ESPN1000 and absolutely torched Bryzzo as well as Javy Baez, essentially blaming them for trading themselves.
“I don’t know why guys didn’t want to sign. I don’t know why guys didn’t want to even counteroffer,” Hoyer said on ESPN1000. “Every one of these guys would say they wanted to stay in Chicago, ‘we wanted to be a Cub,’ but then we would sit down and do negotiations, that wasn’t how they acted.”
Big yikes.
Hoyer tried to play the victim, claiming that he did all he could to convince the fan-favorite core to stay in Chicago but they wouldn’t do it.
“That will probably be my greatest source of frustration from this era,” Hoyer said, probably contemplating if he should turn on the waterworks for extra effect. “I put my head on the pillow every night knowing we put our best foot forward. The extensions we offered these guys will hold up exceptionally well…against the open market.”
Not only did Hoyer dismantle the Cubs core, trading away some of the best players the franchise has ever had, but he chased that by potentially nuking any bridges that might have still remained.
There was hope among Cubs fans that at least part of the trio might return on free agent contracts in the winter. Bryant expressed as much before being traded, and Baez hinted at a possible return after being shipped to the Mets.
But Hoyer flaming them to prop himself up as some sort of tragic hero of the trade deadline might do more long-term harm than short-term personal good.
Much of what the Cubs have done recently is incredibly self-serving — from turning Wrigleyville into ‘Ricketts City’ to now this. Cubs fans were already in a dark place following the destruction of their team, and this is the knife twist nobody needed.