Hey, the Chicago Cubs don’t have a General Manager. Remember that whole thing? The plan has always been for President Jed Hoyer to hire a GM from outside the organization, but with the pandemic making those kinds of processes more challenging this time last year and into the fall, Hoyer opted to wait and try to get through this season without that number two in place. Hoyer didn’t feel he would have an opportunity last year to make sure he really found the right long-term fit.
Well, once you get past the Trade Deadline on the calendar, it pretty much always becomes front office hiring season. Sure enough, this year, Hoyer is ready to go:
As Cubs focus on the future, Jed Hoyer launches search for next GM, story with @PJ_Mooney: https://t.co/mYspnrHzr2
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) September 2, 2021
There is no word on hard-and-fast candidates just yet, but I figure we’ll be getting that soon enough, since interviews are reportedly going to begin by the middle of this month.
The expectation remains that the GM will be hired from outside the current Cubs organization, and you hope – absent any other context – that the Cubs could poach an up-and-comer from one of the most successful organizations. Maybe that sounds lazy, but I mean, don’t YOU want to get as much info as possible on how the Rays or Dodgers or Yankees or A’s or whoever do what they do? At least get them in the door for a deep dive interview session …
Then again, the best up-and-comer might not BE in one of those obvious organizations yet, so I guess that’s the onus on Hoyer and the Cubs in this process. This is a critical hire for the next several years, and the Cubs have to get it right.
We know of at least one other GM hiring process that will be coming, with Jerry Dipoto getting the bump to President with the Mariners. There will be more soon, though, because right along with front office hiring season comes front office firing season.