Jed Hoyer must have the magic touch, because when he trades players away from the Chicago Cubs, they tend to do pretty well.
Just look at Christopher Morel, who’s already off and running with his new team.
After going just 2-for-18 in his final six games with the Cubs, he promptly bashed a solo home run in his Tampa Bay Rays debut on Tuesday, helping them rout the Miami Marlins 9-3.
On its own, Morel homering in his first game with his new team wouldn’t seem particularly notable.
But when it comes to players that Hoyer has traded away, it’s a quantifiable trend.
The pattern dates back to 2021 — Hoyer’s first year as Chicago’s president of baseball operations following Theo Epstein’s departure.
The Cubs were bad that year, finishing 20 games below .500 and spurring a midseason fire sale.
With several of the team’s stars set to become free agents that winter, Hoyer moved most of them at the trade deadline, dismantling the aging core of the 2016 World Series champs.
He sent Kris Bryant to the San Francisco Giants, Javier Baez to the New York Mets and Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees in a flurry of deals, hoping to replenish Chicago’s farm system.
