Jed Hoyer could let Cubs down again with an ill-fated bullpen fix

There might not be a bigger villain in the Windy City right now than Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. After all, despite retaining Cody Bellinger, despite hitting a home run by landing Shota Imanaga this offseason, despite the talent on the roster, the Cubs are in last place in the NL Central, five games back of the last Wild Card spot, and seven games under .500 in the 2024 season.

Their positioning in the standings would suggest a potential sale at the trade deadline -- a sentiment that is now starting to creep into the latest rumors around baseball. However, most Cubs fans would likely agree that buying at the deadline could lead to a push as it doesn't seem that this team is that far way. And that only further leads to ill will toward Hoyer.

Hoyer's modus operandi in the 2024 season to this point has not been aggression but, rather, looking for cheap solutions. We've seen the Cubs sign DFA'd reliever Jorge Lopez, off-the-street catcher Tomas Nido, and another DFA'd reliever in Vinny Nittoli. Signing two relievers who were let go by the then-struggling Mets and the lowly A's is not the ideal fix for the mightily struggling Cubs bullpen.

So, naturally, there is now another stumbling reliever who just hit the market who feels destined to be Hoyer's next addition to the Cubs roster and bullpen.

Recently DFA'd Tim Mayza feels like another cheap Jed Hoyer fix for Cubs

After getting shelled by the Yankees on Friday night, the Toronto Blue Jays designated 32-year-old left-hander Tim Mayza for assignment.

When we say he was shelled by the Yankees, it's probably worse than you were thinking. In an eventual 16-5 drubbing, Mayza's contributions -- or lack thereof -- led to that blowout. He didn't record an out while allowing five hits and five earned runs before being pulled for what turned out to be the final time in this run with the Blue Jays. This was also the second straight outing in which he failed to record an out before getting pulled.

At the time of Mayza being DFA'd, the veteran southpaw has an astronomical 8.03 ERA and 1.95 WHIP over 35 appearances and 24.2 innings pitched, by far the worst marks of his career, seven seasons with Toronto.

And despite all of this, it just seems so obvious that the Cubs will be interested in bringing him in under Hoyer's watch. To be sure, Mayza has been good prior to this season. He posted a 1.52 ERA in 53.1 innings last year and had a sub-3.50 ERA in eeach of the previous two seasons. So there is at least some merit or hope that Hoyer could sell about a return to form for the lefty.

It's the pattern, however, that feels like a slap in the face to the Wrigley faithful. This is a team that needs substantial bullpen help to compete, among other things, and Mayza or any signing of a player who was DFA'd is not going to remedy.

Perhaps Hoyer believes deep down that this iteration of the Cubs simply won't compete for any meaningful postseason baseball. Thus, trading prospects for a bullpen upgrade wouldn't make much sense. But fans think differently about this roster than that, and it's this butting of heads that is only going to lead to more ire toward Hoyer.

Mayza being such an obvious connection to the Cubs is indicative of that struggle and those issues. And while it hasn't happened yet, no fan would be surprised if it did transpire. That, however, doesn't mean they would be remotely pleased by the move either.