Cubs President Praises Dodgers Organization Despite Recent Complaints About LA Ruining MLB
While fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers can’t stop celebrating this offseason, fans of the other 29 Major League Baseball teams haven’t stopped complaining.
While fans have called the Dodgers out for “unfairly” signing all the top free agents, Chicago Cubs president Jed Hoyer doesn’t see it that way.
Hoyer had nothing but good things to say about the Dodgers despite his team’s fans moaning and groaning throughout the afternoon at the annual Cubs convention.
“Listen on the Dodgers, people focus on the size of their payroll and the deferments, and stuff like that, but it’s just a great organization that’s kind of running on all the cylinders,” Hoyer said to USA Today. “They do well in the draft. They do well internationally. They make smart trades. They do a good job finding value on the margins. And they also can go sign major free agents.
“So, I just think that focusing on the amount of money they spend does a disservice to an organization that’s running at a really high level.”
The Cubs were reportedly one of the eight teams Roki Sasaki interviewed with during his free agency. The front office spent hours preparing and recruiting him only to see him narrow his list down to the Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays.
More news: Roki Sasaki Chose Dodgers Despite Padres Offering to Pay Him Over $10 Million
“They have such a high profile in Japan,” Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said. “When a player is going to make a decision based on equal economics, it’s going to be tough to compete for a Japanese player against the Dodgers for a long time.”
The way that the process played out with Sasaki had some teams believing the Dodgers and Sasaki had some type of deal worked out ahead of time, but the Cubs admitted that Los Angeles won the sweepstakes fairly.
“It was a fair process,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said. “We had a clean shot to say what we wanted to say to R?ki and his representation. He heard everything that we wanted to say. It stinks not to get him, and it stinks for the 29 teams that didn’t get him.
“Kicking and screaming is not going to do us any good. We just got to figure out where we go next.”
Chicago feels great about their chances to win the National League Central in 2025, and while their goal is to win the World Series, in order to do that, they have to get back winning.
“Everybody’s goal is to win the World Series,” Ricketts said, “but the way you’re going to win the World Series is to make the playoffs as often as possible. If you keep making it to the playoffs, you should have a shot.”
The Cubs haven’t made the playoffs since 2018, marking the end of their four-year postseason streak. With the team playing in the relatively weak division, it’s unlikely that the Dodgers will be the ones preventing them from making another postseason appearance.
More news: MLB Fans Outraged After Dodgers Sign Tanner Scott
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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