The first appearance of Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins at Cubs Convention wasn’t their panel on Saturday morning, it was at Ryan Dempster’s recording of “Off the Mound” on Marquee Sports Network Friday night. What was striking about Dempster’s interview was the decision to frame the 2023 offseason as a series of wins. That the Cubs front office had somehow navigated a masterful offseason, where all of their targets signed with the Cubs.
The problem is that just isn’t reality. The Cubs missed on their primary catcher target, Christian Vázquez, who wound up signing a deal similar to the Cubs offer with the Minnesota Twins.