William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
According to The Athletic's Brittany Ghiroli and Patrick Mooney, Carter Hawkins will be their new general manager.
Since November 2016, Hawkins has been an assistant general manager in Cleveland. This was after Derek Falvey was appointed the Minnesota Twins' president.
After Theo Epstein's departure, the Cubs promoted Jed Hoyer to general manager and made him president of baseball operations.
Epstein addressed the issue by referring to "a number of decisions made this winter that have long-term consequences", which some saw as a future rebuild in the Windy City. The Cubs traded Yu Darvish and Craig Kimbrel to Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant for a non-tender Kyle Schwarber.
Chicago was fourth in the National League Central with 71-91, their worst record since 2013.
Hiring Hawkins would be in line with the current vision of the franchise. Since Cleveland relied heavily on local talent to support its three consecutive division titles, 2016-2018, Hawkins' hiring would reflect that. According to Cot's Baseball Contracts the team's year end payroll has not been more than 15th since 2002.
The Cubs could theoretically be huge spenders each year. They are located in a major market and Forbes predicted them to be the fourth-most valuable MLB team at $3.4 billion in March.
However, Chicago's business performance over the past year shows that ownership is keen to reduce costs. The Opening Day payroll of $147.8 million was the 12th highest in the league, compared to fifth in 2020.
If the Cubs get closer to the World Series, then the free spending could continue for a few more years. The Cubs may be able to continue the free spending even before then, as Hoyer stated in September that they "plan to really engage in free agency" (and "plan to spend money wisely")
Hawkins' main task for now might be to replenish a farm system that Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report ranked 16th after the MLB draft.
