(Audacy) Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer doesn’t think president of business operations Crane Kenney’s candor is making his job harder.
On Dec. 9, Kenney was candid about the Cubs' finances during an appearance on the Mully & Haugh Show, commenting that there there was "a lot of flexibility in the budget" this offseason.
“The business is still healthy, and that left Jed (Hoyer) with a lot of money to spend this year – like last year, where he didn’t spend all the money he had last year because he didn’t see transactions that made sense to him," Kenney said then. "I hope there are transactions that make sense to us this year to spend all the money that he has. He’s gotten off to a good start.”
That led to external discourse that Kenney was making Hoyer’s job more difficult and perhaps putting the Cubs at a competitive disadvantage in a free agency process where leverage is so important. There was also internal tension between the baseball and business sides of the Cubs' operation, the Athletic reported, but Hoyer pushed back at that notion Thursday during an interview on the Mully & Haugh Show.
“It was just one of those distractions," Hoyer said. "I talk to Crane two or three times a day, we have a great relationship, there’s no sense of tension. To me, I think that’s what I was kind of even alluding to before, I brief those guys all the time on what’s going on. They knew, Crane knew that with (Dansby) Swanson, we were in good position, we were talking to them, that there was real mutual interest.
“There was never any sense of additional pressure or anything like that based on the comments. Sometimes with these jobs there’s a soap opera element to them, but we’ve got to do our best to ignore that, But in the building there was never any tension or never any concern, and like I said throughout the whole process, I was talking to Crane and (owner) Tom (Ricketts) the entire time.
“We have a great relationship, and we’re all in this together. As you think about the organization, you win together, and when you have to build things back, you do it together as well. They’ve been really supportive, which is wonderful.”
It has been a productive offseason so far for the Cubs, who have made big additions with Swanson, center fielder Cody Bellinger and right-hander Jameson Taillon. If there has been any tension along the way, it seems like Hoyer hardly has been fazed by it.
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