Core No More: Cubs trade Bryant, Baez and Rizzo as team officially starts over

WASHINGTON – When Jed Hoyer took over as Cubs president in November, there was always an elephant in the room. That being the clock on core the franchise built around that had quickly been winding down.

Since 2018, there has been talk about breaking up the team’s core and while his predecessor often alluded to change, for many years that core remained untouched.

But as the Cubs’ season slowly spiraled and the team fell further back in the division with the help of their 11-game losing streak, all the signs pointed to the need for change.

Hoyer didn’t wait around and pulled the trigger on the Cubs’ core and officially ended the Cubs’ 2016 World Series era.

“We lost 11 games in a row, the Brewers took off, and we were never gonna be able to catch them,” Hoyer said on Friday. “Obviously, this year, we’re not wild card contenders, because of what’s happening in the NL West. I think we got to a place where it was, at least to me, a very clear and obvious decision.”

The Cubs changed the course of their franchise over the last 48 hours and sent shockwaves through the organization and the fanbase, trading all three of their superstar infielders, sending Javy Baez to the New York Mets, Kris Bryant to the San Francisco Giants and Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees.

“I want to personally thank Anthony Rizzo, Javy Báez and Kris Bryant,” chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “Together they played critical roles for one of the most successful runs in Chicago Cubs history.”

Since the All-Star break, the Cubs have traded Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Joc Pederson, Andrew Chafin, Ryan Tepera, Jake Marisnick, Craig Kimbrel and Trevor Williams. The team acquired 12 players in those trades over the last two weeks, most notably Nick Madrigal and Codi Heaur from the White Sox.

But it also clearly showed the organization has made the decision to take a step back and rebuild after their core’s time together had run its course.

“I actually think we sped things up a lot the last few days,” Hoyer said. “One of the things I was really aware of and we talked about internally was, when I look at organizations like the Tigers, Giants, Phillies, they had really good runs and got to the end of their cycle and had five plus year, you know, drought, because they basically ran to the end of the cliff and they fell off and had to rebuild.

“We were willing to go to that point if this was a winning team this year, but we weren’t. So with that, we were able to, in my mind, speed that process up dramatically, because we’re able to acquire a lot of young talent, some on the major league team, some that’ll be in the minors.”

The Cubs now find themselves in a position they haven’t been in since 2014 as the team will now go through most of the second half out of contention and looking to next year. As the team begins their version of a rebuild, the search begins for the franchise as they put together what they hope is their next contender.

How long that process will take remains to be seen.

“I think it’s time to get to work,” manager David Ross said. “Change creates opportunity and there’s a real opportunity here for new guys to prove that they’re sustainable big leaguers. … That’s a really valuable next two months that we’re gonna have to continue to keep an eye on the guys that can go out and prove it every single day.”

“We’re gonna sit down and we’re gonna figure out the right path to try to be to try and build a championship team,” Hoyer said. “Sometimes that path might mean letting the garden grow for a long time, because you need to let those prospects mature. Sometimes it may mean accelerating it through free agency…. We’re gonna do the right thing strategically. I think we have to figure that out. Sometimes opportunities are what determine that.”