In his first public words following the trade of Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini for a mid-rotation starter and four very young prospects, Jed Hoyer insisted that the Cubs are merely undergoing a “small reset.” They still plan to compete in 2021, he said, a task make quite a bit easier by the NL Central’s collective race to the bottom. Hoyer also said reports of Willson Contreras being shopped were false, though his comments about the team’s core players as a group may have contradicted him.
“We have not been able to extend a lot of these players to extend that window,” Hoyer explained.