CHICAGO -- After giving up the most home runs in the National League during the regular season -- and another four in two playoff games -- Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said on Friday that his focus this winter will be on improving his pitching staff and nothing is off the table.
"From a pitching standpoint this year, it was sort of a struggle from the get-go," Hoyer said in his end of year press conference. "Overall, the quality of the pitching has to improve. The great majority of our focus (this winter) is going to be on pitching acquisition. I think we're in a good, remarkably healthy position on the position player side. I think that we have to focus our resources and energy on the pitching side predominantly."
To that end, the Cubs gave up 12 runs in two games while getting swept by the San Diego Padres in the wild card round earlier this week. First inning home runs by Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado in Game 1 forecasted a short playoff run by Chicago who lost in the division round last year and fell short of even getting there this time around.
"I think I said hundreds of times during the course of the year, we can't catch homers," Hoyer stated.
The home run bug was equally impacted by their starting rotation as well as their bullpen. The latter area of the team was particularly frustrating in the second half of the season when the team blew several ninth inning leads on the way to losing home field advantage in the postseason. Hoyer took the blame for that deficiency. "I did a poor job in the bullpen this year, full stop," he said. "The guys we acquired this winter didn't produce nearly as well as they did a year ago."
Hoyer is referencing pitchers like Hunter Harvey and Phil Maton. Both were signed to free agent deals last winter but spent most of the season on the injured list. In fact, Harvey never threw a pitch for the Cubs while eating up $6 million in salary. Maton appeared in 31 games, compiling a 6.18 ERA, and is signed for another season for $7.25 million.
"Some of that was based on injuries to some guys we were really counting on, but some of it was based on poor performance, some poor acquisitions," Hoyer said.
It wasn't just the bullpen which was hurt or ineffective. Top starters Cade Horton, Justin Steele and Ben Brown all missed significant time due to injuries while mid-season replacements came with mixed reviews. Kevin Gausman, who was acquired from the Blue Jays, had a 4.83 ERA after coming to the Cubs and then gave up three runs in three innings against the Padres in Game 2 of the wild card round. Meanwhile, ground ball specialist Clay Holmes never got into a playoff game after struggling in September, compiling an 8.24 ERA in four starts.
The Cubs sent one of their better prospects to the Mets for him.
"We thought it was a perfect fit," Hoyer said of Holmes. "He had a nice run in August for a while and he sort of tailed off and how much of that was because he came back from injury, how much of that was just the length of the season? Obviously, he wasn't pitching his best baseball towards the end."
He wasn't alone as the Cubs struggled to find stability within both their rotation and bullpen in the second half. Closer Jacob Webb blew three saves in dramatic fashion, giving up late inning home runs in all of them. It helped contribute to a turn in the standings, forcing the Cubs on the road in the postseason. That came after easily getting passed in the division by the Milwaukee Brewers again. The same scenario played out in 2025 as well. Hoyer points to the mound as the difference in the organizations right now.
"I think the area that, from a major league standpoint, their pitching has been exceptionally good," Hoyer said. "I think that's the area that we have to double down and really focus on."
Quantity and quality will need to be a focus for Hoyer as several Cubs pitchers are set to be free agents including Shota Imanaga, David Peterson, Gausman, Holmes and Matthew Boyd. The latter two have options in their contracts for 2027 but both are expected to test the market. The good news for the Cubs is their position player base is in good standing despite outfielders Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki becoming free agents as well. The team has a pipeline to fill those spots but position players were never their problem this year. Pitching is what held them back.
"We had a pretty imbalanced season in a lot of ways," Hoyer said. "Our position playing group was the best in baseball. We had a really balanced offense in a lot of ways. We didn't strike out a lot. We hit homers. We walked. We played fantastic defense...Our pitching needs to improve."
