(670 The Score) After parting ways with their championship core in recent years, the Cubs have built anew.
The Cubs are seeking to open a window for contention with a new core of players, and those aspirations have been made clear with contracts for players like Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and Jameson Taillon – and now strengthened with contract extensions for Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ.
While the Cubs' goal is for sustained success built through the farm system, general manager Carter Hawkins told the Bernstein & Holmes Show that the new key players on this roster are there to help this team win now.
"A lot has been said about the players that we have in the farm system right now that are a little bit further away," Hawkins said on Friday afternoon. "I think the last thing that Jed (Hoyer) or I or Tom (Ricketts) or Crane (Kenney) want to have anyone interpret is that this group of players is a bridge to that group of players. Like, no. We're looking to compete now. We understand that it takes incremental steps to do that.
"But bringing in a Happ, bringing in an keeping a guy like Nico for an extra year, Seiya, Dansby, Taillon, the other guys that we have for a couple more years, for us, that's are the building blocks for a team that should be a competitive playoff team here soon. That's what we're working towards every day. We realize that Rome wasn't built in a day and we have to make sure that take it step by step. But so far, it's been encouraging results."
The Cubs signed Hoerner and Happ to three-year contract extensions that keep each player under contract through 2026. An All-Star in 2022, Happ signed his $61-million contract extension with the Cubs this week.
The Cubs (6-5) travel to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers (7-6) in a three-game series beginning Friday night.
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