Jed Hoyer makes no guarantees as Cubs continue to shop stars ahead of Spring Training

Cubs President Jed Hoyer is not ruling out a blockbuster trade before the start of the season.

Chicago Cubs fans are still not sure what the state of the team is for the 2021 season. Will they make one last run with the core that won a World Series in 2016? Or will the fire sale begin?

All eyes are on Jed Hoyer as the Cubs executive decides what to do before the season gets underway. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez are all in the final year of their respective deals. That means a big trade or two could still be on the horizon.

Hoyer said as much in a recent report by The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma.

Hoyer not making any promises

“As far as assurances, I’ve had conversations with players and their agents,” Hoyer said in the report. “Obviously I would keep that between those parties, but I think the most important thing is being honest and telling them what those conversations are like and where they stand. We talk about this all the time, we don’t have any untouchables in this game. When you give assurances, you can kind of tell them the status of conversations and try to be transparent about that. But I think giving them complete assurances is probably impossible at any given time just given the fact that a phone call can always come in.”

Hoyer is not directly coming out and saying a trade is coming. However, he did not exactly commit to any of his stars for the long-term either. That is telling in and of itself, as the Cubs could truly begin a rebuild starting as early as next season.

The downside of being so open is it could lead to distractions and have the entire team wondering if the goal is to win or to sell off stars in 2021. A player could be told a trade is imminent, only for that to change, and so on throughout the season.

Hoyer’s comments still avoid a true feeling of doom for Cubs fans. Extension talks should still take place, and it appears his main point is that he won’t turn down an unbeatable offer.