FRIDAY: The Cubs have now announced the Hoyer and McLeod contracts, which run through 2021.
“Jed and Jason are simply the best at what they do and have played fundamentally important leadership roles in helping the Cubs build a healthy and thriving organization,” said Epstein. “We feel honored to have the stability and support that we enjoy throughout Baseball Operations and look forward to many years of working together in Chicago.”
WEDNESDAY, 8:13pm: FanRag’s Jon Heyman reports that Epstein’s deal actually guarantees him a bit less than $50MM, but it can exceed the $50MM threshold based on incentives. ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers tweets that both Hoyer’s deal also goes through 2021, and Heyman tweets the same regarding McLeod.
3:12pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Epstein’s contract is believed to be worth more than $50MM in total, which would make him the highest-paid baseball executive on record. Additionally, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that both Hoyer and McLeod have received extensions with the Cubs as well (Twitter link).
3:06pm: The Cubs announced this afternoon that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has signed a five-year contract extension that will run from 2017-21. Epstein had been in the final season of his current contract and was widely expected to receive an extension to keep him in his current position atop Chicago’s baseball operations hierarchy. In the press release announcing the extension, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts offered the following statement:
“In the five years under Theo’s leadership, he has brought in a strong executive team and acquired and developed some of the best players in the game.  Now, the results are on the field.  My family and I have no doubt that we have moved closer to our goal of delivering Cubs fans the World Series Championship they deserve.”
Ricketts also added that the extension “ensures the baseball operations team assembled by Epstein will continue its remarkable tenure of building a consistent championship contender.”
Epstein, 42, has been at his current post with the Cubs since Oct. 2011. While the early stages of his tenure were mired with losing clubs, he, alongside general manager Jed Hoyer, senior vice president of player development Jason McLeod and the rest of the Chicago front office have taken the Cubs from a cellar-dwelling team to a powerhouse that will finish with the best record in baseball this season after finishing with 97 wins a year ago.
The Cubs appear poised not only for success in 2015-16, but for the foreseeable future, as the core of Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester, among others, are all controlled through at least the 2020 campaign. While certainly not all of those players are locks to remain productive — specifically Lester, who will be 36 by the time his current contract expires — the Cubs have the payroll capacity to supplement that enviable core group of players as needed.
While the Epstein/Hoyer/McLeod regime has had the occasional misstep (see: Edwin Jackson and, so far anyway, Jason Heyward), the Epstein-led Cubs have been largely successful in their moves, be they free-agent signings, trades or draft selections. Since Oct. 2011, the Cubs have acquired Hendricks and Christian Villanueva in exchange for half a season of Ryan Dempster; acquired Carl Edwards and Justin Grimm for half a season of Matt Garza; acquired Addison Russell in exchange for a year-and-a-half of Jeff Samardzija and a half season of Jason Hammel (whom they later re-signed with solid results); and, of course, most notoriously, acquired 2015 NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta and setup man Pedro Strop in exchange for a half season of Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger.
The team has also picked up Hector Rondon in the Rule 5 Draft and made a number of savvy free-agent additions including Hammel (twice), Lester, John Lackey, Ben Zobrist, Dexter Fowler (after initially acquiring him for Luis Valbuena and Dan Straily) and David Ross. Beyond that, the Cubs have drafted well, landing Bryant and Schwarber as well as top prospects such as Ian Happ and Albert Almora. Chicago has also been active on the international front, outbidding the competition for Jorge Soler and spending aggressively on prospects such as Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres, the latter of whom was used as the centerpiece of the trade that brought Aroldis Chapman to Chicago this past summer.
McLeod has been an oft-rumored candidate to join another organization in a higher role and was recently one of the prime candidates for the Twins as they search for a new president of baseball operations. And Hoyer, conceivably, could have drawn interest elsewhere for a team willing to bestow the president title upon an experience general manager. While the length of the extensions for Hoyer and McLeod aren’t yet known, the trio of extension ensures that the same brain trust that architected the current Cubs roster will be in place for several years to come.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Media in CHI was freaking out. Glad this is done finally but this is the biggest no-brainer in sports.
Definitely worth every penny of this contract for CHC, he’s one of the best in the business in identifying talent and judging high school and college talent.
“The Chicago front office have taken the Cubs from a cellar-dwelling team to a powerhouse that, for the second straight season, will finish the season with the best record in Major League Baseball.”
Not quite. Cubbies were edged by the Cards last year, at least in the regular season..
Yeah, I’m not sure how that mistake was made here. They weren’t even the 2nd best record in MLB.
Not even the 2nd best record in their own division.
and the pirates
You didn’t even copy and paste correctly! the quote is: “the Chicago front office have taken the Cubs from a cellar-dwelling team to a powerhouse that will finish with the best record in baseball this season after finishing with 97 wins a year ago.” – it did not say for the second year in a row… “THIS Season” NOT “For the second straight season”.. C’mon. Hate if you want to but at least feed the correct info.
Reread the sentence , Chicago front office have taken the Cubs from a cellar-dwelling team to a powerhouse that will finish with the best record in baseball this season after finishing with 97 wins a year ago. Does not state best record last year. Here is an interesting fact — Combined seasons 2012 / 2013 / 2014 —- 200 wins . Two more wins and Cubs equal that win total for the last 2 years.
As is the epidemic on this site’s comment section, before making such comments, consider that by the time you read the section of the article in question it may have already been corrected by the author.
+1
I wonder if McLeod’s extension is just a formality or if he’s out of the running for the Twin’s President position?
Jason McLeod has reportedly already been informed that he is out of the running for the top job in Minnesota although it’s possible he might still be a candidate for the GM position.
mlbtraderumors.com/2016/09/derek-falvey-favorite-t…
It has to be hard to turn down offers of having a team, then waiting for that right offer of managing a team that’s just right can be much better.. As in a team that spends, or has resources to spend and will invest in it’s system properly rather than teams that refuse to for whatever reason/excuse.
McLeoud would be right to turn down the twin’s job. Not anything against them, like them, but he will never in a million years have the resources to spend and build a lasting team there. Better to wait and bide his time under Epstein.
New reports say the Twins turned McLeod down. Not the other way around.
I wanted McLeod, so I was surprised by that.
Cubs are so lucky. Theo Epstein has been amazing for them.
I would not say lucky. I would say smart. Look what he did for the Sox. And I am not a fan of either team.
No surprise here and extensions that were certainly warranted, unlike what may be happening on the South Side of town. LOL
Amazing that this story is the one immediately after the story about the White Sox thinking about re-signing Ventura. Oh, the symmetry.
Joy to the World
Hard to argue with the results from that front office.
Hey Cubbie fans! Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary of becoming a Cubs fan
There’s the ignorant WSox fan (redundant) trying to rain on the Cubs pre-post-season parade.
Hey watch out man, that guy’s been a White Sox fan since September 2005. We better respect him.
This is one of the few times I’ve ever want to high-five you, Just Another Fan. Cheers!
But it does appear that he, unlike the 90% or so who stopped being a White Sox fans in September 2006, decided to hang around..
Kinda funny, someone from the worst big city fan base in American sports taking a shot at Cubs fans. Moronic, but funny
Here’s the bottom line difference between Cubs fans and Sox fans…..bear with me as this is hypothetical….if the White Sox were two games behind the Indians this week (that’s the hypothetical part) and the Indians were playing the Cubs, White Sox fans would still be hoping the Cubs lose the game. White Sox fans care more about the Cubs losing than the Sox winning. That’s the bottom line. The real thing that eats the Sox fans is that the Cub fans don’t even care about the Sox. It’s the apathy that kills the Sox fans. Cubs fans don’t care about the Sox (or care the same for the Sox as they do the Padres, the Marlins, the Mariners, etc.)
Sox fans view the crosstown rivalry with rye humor. To Cubs fans, its a socio-economic culture war between the forces of darkness and light.
actually the difference is Sox fans see it as a rivalry and the Cubs fans don’t even remember Sox fans exist until they start trying to talk trash
kind of like the distant rural cousin you don’t know you have until he posts something crazy on your facebook….
Nah, gotta disagree with you here. The hatred Cubs fans have for the White Sox is real. Cubs fans almost always use insults that are economic or social in nature when confronting Sox fans online. I think it stems from socio-stratification; most Cubs fans live in the burbs. They only come to the city to work or attend sporting events. Hence the distaste for “dirty city dwellers” on the southside.
disagree all you like, but i’ve been a Cubs fan for 20 years and i have yet to meet a single other Cubs fan who cares what happens with the White Sox, and the only interaction i have with White Sox fans is in places like this where they venture in to start trash talking about how much they hate the
Cubs.
which, honestly, makes me care even less. it’s a pretty lop-sided rivalry when one side hates the other and the other side hates the Cardinals instead…
it’s not that we dislike you for socio-economic reasons… it’s just that that’s the best way to annoy Sox fans when they want to start something
It’s the ONLY way to annoy Sox fans, since you have nothing else, including nice things to say. Who knew Cubbies fans could be so bigoted and vitriolic?
White Sox fans loathe the Cubs. They even get delusional and think Cubs fans give a crap about anything that happens on the South side. Its a Cubs town and White Sox fans just cannot handle it. There is no rivalry. That is only in the White Sox fans heads.
that’s not true
we can also remind you of your long and proud history of really terrible uniforms
which, honestly, is what most of the league remember the White Sox for as well
seriously, this would be much more of a rivalry is either side had much of a history to be proud of… the White Sox have been pretty much as irrelevant as the Cubs since the 1910’s as far as the rest of baseball is concerned
on Cubs vs sox fans
I took a high school friend — sox fan from Beverely area to a Cubs vs Mets
@ Wrigley he rooted for the mets
& I took a different sox fan from Beverley to the “Cell” & I rooted for the sox
I texted both guys when Sox beat HOU & won WS & said Congrats.
there is a weird thing there. they cant root for the cubs
well see if they text congrats this year to me.
Hypocrite much? Most Cubs fans showed utter disregard or outright contempt when the Sox won in ’06.
I’m a northsider who made the switch to Sox fan in ’84. Awful personnel moves, lack of toughness and grit, and no personality to speak of drove me away. I mean, who gets rid of Greg Maddux? Lee Smith? Sutcliffe? And that lovable loser crap pissed me off as a Cubs fan. When I discovered that Chicago had another team (as a kid) it was like a ray of hope shinning from the clouds. I’m still a proud Sox fan today, but I’m rooting for the Cubs to finally win a WS because the fan base has suffered enough. Be glad you got Epstein, because what he and his staff has done at Wriggley is nothing short of a miracle.
The White Sox won in 2005, the Cardinals won in 2006.
Do you know what hypocrite means?
I am in same boat Bucknerforhall. White Sox fans will be not just rooting for Cubs to lose but praying for it.
Don’t make me pull out my original die hard Cubs fan card or certificate :-).
I think it’s more like coming out of hiding. Most Cubs fans I know are awesome people. They just tended to not really advertise that they were Cubs fans unless someone asked, until the past few years. They have been loyal though.
Think he would get bored and have moved on to a new challenge. I’m sure he could have named his price somewhere else and built another top team
Why not enjoy the product for awhile. It would feel extremely gratifying for him to win in Chicago after leveling it and starting completely from scratch. Don’t you think??
He hasn’t finished his challenge in Chicago yet, why would he start the process and then leave before it’s finished?
Get bored? No WS yet, he’s still got a challenge.
“USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Epstein’s contract is believed to be worth more than $50MM in total, which would make him the highest-paid baseball executive on record.” Sound oddly like a line from a rather good baseball movie made not too long ago…
Mr. 3000???? Fever Pitch????? Angels in the Outfield????????/
I hope that John Henry reads this news, then walks down the hall and smacks the soul out of Larry Lucchino.
^ Except Lucchino retired.
If the Cubs get a title under his reign (which looks very likely, even this year), in addition to him winning with Boston, he’s a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Lets hope at the end of this deal that he moves on to the last thing he hasn’t done – win a title for a small market team with a long draught. .
His next project, assuming he wins a WS in Chicago, should be to take on a franchise in a completely different sport.
Yeah, if Theo manages to win a title with Chicago he should head east…to Cleveland and win a SuperBowl for the Browns.
The Bears need a ton of help
that’s for sure. lol
some miracles even Theo probably can’t pull off….
Or maybe help the Dodgers who spend $250,000,000.00 and choke every year
He’ll go back to Boston and turn Pawtucket into a World Series contender
Go, Cubs, Go! Theo, we miss you in Boston. I hated how LL pushed you out. DD is pretty good, though. Win the WS this year!
Happy for McLeod. Wanted him to end up with the Twins, but looks like they’re going Falvey instead.
It sure was impressive to see how Theo constructed this team, he not only created a team that wins now, but for years to come.
Classy comment by the Cardsfan
I respect the Cubs, and in general I’m a big baseball fan 🙂
Maybe Houston should hire one of them
Seems like they actually drafted the right ones
Lol your username shows you are an ungrateful stros fan
Well deserved Theo, well deserved.
complete mastermind that deserves every penny of this deal. The guy is just insanely good at what he does
What a waste of money !!!! Keep spending Cubs maybe theo can spend a couple hundred more million and finally buy you a World Series
would you call this a Pablo Sandoval sized waste of money?
(seriously, is a Red Sox fan really complaining about another team trying to buy a championship?)
Epstein did try to pretty much buy via FA only at the end and it got him out of Boston because the guys he brought into town were not productive players for the most part after getting contracts, mostly Crawford and lackey’s arm was bad when he signed anyway. The high upside draft picks where he had been hitting on earlier quite paying off for a few seasons (like since 2007) and he had been forced to give up his best pitching prospect at the time in the V-Mart deal.. Justin Masterson.
In Boston, like in NY (Yankees) there is always pressure to win, so he spent unwisely on some bad deals, then flipped his best 2 remaining prospects in Anthony Rhizzo and Casey Kelly for A-Gone.. He had to take BAD money gambles and they didn’t pay off with the mixture of personalities clubhouse wise, flopping at the end of 2011..
Luckily? Epstein was (still is) surrounded by 1st rate talent and Cherrington took over to keep same policies intact, other than buying as many useless pieces of talent, other than sandoval.
Epsteins not perfect, though i do honestly wonder how much of that failed spending binge was his idea and how much of it was ownership wanting to grab headlines (which may also have been the motivation for the questionable Sandoval/Hanley/Porcello spending binge), i’ve heard the story both ways.
And honestly i have no problems with a big market team flexing it’s financial muscles. if you’ve got the money, it’s an insult to the fanbase to hoard it
i just find it highly ironic that a fan of a team who operates pretty much the exact same way the Cubs have been would feel the need to criticize Epstein for it. I mean, it’s not like Dave Dombrowski built a reputation on thrift… or is working for minimum wage…
Ok Red Sox Rob. Whatever you say bro but its obvious that losing Theo still pains you
As good as he’s been guiding the Red Sox and now the cubs. As a fan of baseball I’d like to see how good he does guiding a small market team.
The truth is with big money teams the issue is how you spend the money. Theo’s mistake in Boston was his big money deals.
Anyone else tired of reading about the cubs??? I mean, espn polishes their shoes every time they put them on. So Dave Roberts does an amazing job with the Dodger injuries this year, VIN FREAKIN SCULLY is retiring and all they care about is “Big-I can’t play a position-Papi retiring. Who else can tell you a story about the time he went ice skating with Jackie Robinson??? Not “Big Papi”!!
I think Scully is a wonderful person. To be honest, I can’t handle more than 3 innings of his monotone style without falling asleep. I digress. The reality is most fans outside of the local markets don’t care about broadcasters all that much. This is true of ALL local broadcasters. A dominant Cubs team with a 70% chance to get off the snide IS news.
Different strokes, I guess … I can’t listen to more than a few ABs at a time from Hawk, but Vin sings to me.
Awww… are you feeling neglected because your Dodgers aren’t getting the top news story every day?
First off the Cubs are going to get attention because they have the longest postseason drought in sports history and they are the top team in baseball. Second, Ortiz has been one of the best hitters of this generation so of course he’s going to get appreciation. That isn’t a Red Sox thing, it’s an individual achievement thing so get over it.
Let’s also face it, if we were to poll MLB fans around the world at the beginning of the season I hate to say it but only seasoned fans outside of LA would would probably know who Vin Scully is before they name Ortiz or half the Cubs. React to that however you want, he’s an announcer not a player and frankly at the beginning of the season several of my best friends who can name the 40 man roster of all 30 teams asked me “isn’t Vin Scully dead?”
As for Roberts handling injuries… who cares. Frankly he’d be a bigger story if the Dodgers were in last place.
So again, get over it.
Sorry, I was out having a life while you were carefully wording your annoying rebuttal.
Well radioball I hope you found your life because if you think Vin Scully (boy you actually used capital letters) is a big news story you need to find a life. And wow that comment on Roberts managing injuries …. wow what a news story. Hahha oh my god are you serious. Espn should do a piece in Roberts managing injuries and not the Cubs Season or Big Papi? Haha. Ok. I guess no one else is tired of it but you! You are the only one pining for the Roberts injury handling story. What a huge story all the sports outlets and papers misses but you.
I said having a life, not looking for one. I love to get dorks going. You guys, or girls, crack me up!
Thanks radioball. I must be a dork since I did not agree with you