(670 The Score) Over the weekend that changed everything, Anthony Rizzo homered twice for the damn Yankees, Javy Baez performed magic in his opening act off Broadway for the Mets, Kris Bryant made a Giant entrance and Craig Kimbrel dangled his dangerous right arm for the home team at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Life comes at you fast, as Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer famously said earlier in July.
But not even those words of warning adequately prepared anyone in town for the dizzying, dramatic pace of the 24 hours before the MLB trade deadline Friday. The Cubs committed to rebuilding, trading seven players Thursday and Friday, most notably legendary figures Rizzo, Baez and Bryant. The White Sox commenced rejoicing, acquiring Kimbrel and Gold Glove second baseman Cesar Hernandez to legitimately improve their chances to win the American League pennant.
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Let nobody say Hoyer can't build a World Series contender; he just provided the potential missing piece to four of them. Such is the plight of an MLB seller.
Around Chicago, you probably could debate which team's transactions carried more significance, but the journalism adage says "if it bleeds, it leads'' – and the Cubs were hemorrhaging hope after Hoyer's handiwork. Hoyer traded nine players in total in July. The folks in the Cubs department missed an opportunity: #EverybodyOut.
This was a well-organized, well-executed and thorough dismantling by Hoyer. This was a methodical disposal of the Cubs' most valuable resources, an exercise in bartering that had to be as exhausting for Hoyer as it was exhaustive. This was Hoyer auditioning for the role of auctioneer, a concept surely coming this fall to Marquee Sports Network.
But it wasn't the quantity of players involved in the transactions as much as the quality, so many special memories walking out the clubhouse door sooner than anybody expected back when the Golden Age of Cubs baseball began in 2015. The mass exodus was as incomprehensible for many Cubs fans as it was unprecedented, anticipated yet impossible to prepare for, a bad dream disguised as baseball's economic reality. It was the punch to the gut you see coming and brace for but hurts no less, taking your breath away and rendering you helpless.
An 11-game losing streak in late June and early July created a series of decisions likely to affect the next 10 years for the Cubs, the bad news coming one click at a time as the hours and minutes dwindled away. Perhaps no image summed up North Side sentiments better than the video of Bryant receiving the phone call Friday in the Cubs dugout at Nationals Park in Washington D.C., hugging hitting coach Anthony Iapoce and wiping his moist eyes before retreating to the clubhouse. And they said there was no crying in baseball. In Cubdom, this was a low point comparable to the depths of the 1969 September swoon, the 1984 playoff flop and one awful October night in 2003.
Emotionally, for many, the metamorphosis will remain hard to accept and difficult to process. Analytically, it's easier to understand and, for Hoyer, defend.
Essentially, Hoyer concluded Bryant, Baez and Rizzo no longer were good enough to carry an offense that broke far too often since 2018. The consensus in the industry from those who study baseball prospects for a living says the 12 newest Cubs represent a good haul for Hoyer, though it will take considerable time before anybody knows for sure. Any fault came in the Cubs failing to strike a long-term deal with their most popular core players in recent years – or not successfully adding complementary pieces around them – more than unloading their expiring contracts in recent days. This beat the alternative of letting them walk out the door with little but draft compensation coming back in return.
Blame for the Cubs' inability to hammer out contract extensions with their most talented players the way the White Sox have goes well beyond Hoyer. Theo Epstein, prescient enough to seek professional shelter last winter before the storm hit this summer, failed to lock up Bryant, Baez or Rizzo. Chairman Tom Ricketts, who owes Cubs fans more than an 84-word prepared statement, never will use this experience as an example of how to successfully manage assets.
Never forget that the painful process that culminated this weekend began last December with the salary dump of ace Yu Darvish, the kind of ownership edict you simply don't see from, say, the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox. Obviously, Ricketts doesn't believe that big-market teams have an obligation to field a competitive, contending team each and every season.
Unfortunately for Hoyer, any sports executive who trades players with individual legacies all but writes his own in the process. Fair or not, that's how it works. The Cubs will have to win another World Series with Hoyer in charge for him to be best-known for anything else. A timetable for that remains ridiculous to consider for an organization forced to start over after failing to take advantage of its unique position in the market.
Meanwhile, as the Cubs set their sights on an uncertain future, the White Sox seized the present opportunity. Speaking of legacies, Sox general manager Rick Hahn came one step closer to enhancing his by aggressively addressing the team's most glaring needs. Manager Tony La Russa receives most of the attention and could get much of the credit if his season ends with a parade, but it will be Hahn who deserves it most given how deep the Sox's roster and system have proved to be. Now this, three trades overshadowed in Hahn's own market but not to be underestimated in their importance.
Recent history says reliever Ryan Tepera will be more effective than his first two Sox outings suggested. Hernandez stabilizes the Sox infield defensively, a Gold Glove upgrade better than other options, including Nick Madrigal – who was part of the Kimbrel trade. Kimbrel simply gives the Sox two of the game's most feared closers in the same bullpen. These are relevant questions worth asking: Who gets the ball in the ninth inning of a playoff game to protect a one-run lead? How might Kimbrel respond to non-save situations, an issue early with the Cubs?
This is another one: Does the addition of former Cubs relievers Kimbrel and Tepera give the Sox the best bullpen in baseball? The right answer fills a Sox fan with excitement and a Cubs fan with regret. The correct response reveals something obvious on which almost everybody in a baseball city can agree with the trade deadline passed.
The Cubs and Sox are two organizations headed in opposite directions, both teams meeting next weekend for the latest Crosstown Classic at Clark and Addison, an intersection where hope will meet despair.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.
