Where will the Chicago Cubs be in 2032?
It’s anyone’s guess, and the way the country is heading, we’re not even sure if there will be a 2032.
But at least we know the Cubs are thinking ahead, making sure their fans will be excited about the team’s 2032 stretch run, which presumably will be led by manager Pat Murphy after future Cubs President Carter Hawkins steals him from the Milwaukee Brewers in 2030 to replace the retiring Craig Counsell.
Hawkins, of course, is the current Cubs general manager who made the unfortunate decision to defend the team’s trade-deadline strategy in an interview with ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. The Cubs didn’t get any frontline starting pitchers and missed out on the top high-leverage relievers such as Mason Miller and Jhoan Duran.
“Teams are trying to find that guy that can lock down the eighth or ninth inning, but that also costs a lot,” Hawkins said. “That costs a lot of future wins. We have a responsibility to the 2025 Cubs but also the 2032 Cubs. That’s not always popular in the moment, but it’s decisions we have to make.”
A 7-0 loss to the Brewers on Monday left the Cubs nine games back in the National League Central after spending nearly four months in first place. Hawkins’ quote went viral, which is hard to do when you’re as intentionally vanilla as Carter Hawkins.
Cubs fans were upset that the team was seemingly content with contending this season while other contenders such as the San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies were going for it. The old narrative that the Cubs never would be serious about winning another World Series as long as they could be competitive enough to sell out Wrigley Field was alive and well, thanks to Hawkins.
Cubs President Jed Hoyer once joked that when he was the GM under Theo Epstein, he “felt like a potted plant” during news conferences with his boss because only one reporter would ask him questions.
“Now I’ll probably try to save Carter from that same fate,” he said with a laugh when he hired Hawkins to fill the GM role in 2021.
After causing such a stir with his comment, Hawkins probably wished he would’ve stayed a potted plant and let Hoyer do all the talking to the national media.
But the truth of the matter is Hawkins was only parroting the philosophy espoused by Hoyer, who repeatedly has said over the years you have to “keep one eye on the present and one eye on the future.” Hawkins’ mistake was putting a timestamp on that future.
Hoyer repeated his favorite line before Monday’s series opener against the Brewers.
“I don’t think any team has done a better job of keeping one eye on the future than the one we’re playing,” he said. “And they’re really good at the present. In the past, the players that everyone was clamoring for us to trade to get better in the moment were Cade Horton and (Pete Crow-Armstrong) and Matt Shaw and Daniel Palencia and Owen Caissie, and all those guys are helping us win right now.”
Well, Caissie didn’t even get a start in last weekend’s series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but do continue …
“The nature of these sports is young players are the lifeblood of what we’re doing,” Hoyer said while launching into a soliloquy about the difficulties of making a deal without trading multiple players like the ones he mentioned.
I asked Hoyer if it was fair to say Hawkins was just echoing his philosophy.
“Putting a year on it was something people reacted to,” Hoyer replied. “But the reality of this chair is you’re trying to balance something that’s very hard to balance. It’s the urgency to win now, and it’s also the realization that the players being asked about are impacting us right now, they’re impacting us next year. And we also know the angst of a fan base when a prospect is traded away that ends up performing elsewhere, and it happens quickly.
“Part of being a fan is second-guessing, the desire to win now. I understand that, but also my job is to make sure this place is full for a lot of years.”
Hoyer didn’t seem to have any qualms about 2032 when he included last year’s first-round draft pick, outfielder Cam Smith, in the Kyle Tucker deal with the Houston Astros .
At the time, Hoyer was entering the final year of his contract and needing to win now to justify an extension. He got that extension just before the trade deadline, and now the Cubs look like they’re worrying about 2032 more than 2025.
Certainly no Cubs fan would have been happy had Hoyer dealt away Crow-Armstrong or Horton. There might have been a riot had PCA been moved. And most would’ve preferred they also keep Shaw, Caissie and Palencia.
