Before the dust could even settle on Alexander Canario's time in the Chicago Cubs organization, his number was plucked from the ashes and donned by fellow outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. How PCA came to make the change, though, is a nice reminder that players - and front office executives - are human beings and the relationships between them are critical to an organization's success.
Crow-Armstrong, Hoyer, Dansby Swanson and Nicky Lopez were shooting hoops at the team's spring training complex when Hoyer started ribbing on his young outfielder about his 'linebacker's number' - referencing the #52 he's worn since making his MLB debut in Sept. 2023. He said if he made his next shot, Crow-Armstrong had to switch numbers. Hoyer drained it and the rest is history, with the Cubs speedy young outfielder switching to #4, which had previously been worn by Canario.
‘‘He was just talking [crap],’’ Crow-Armstrong told the Chicago Sun-Times. ‘‘In a great way. He’s really good at that. He’s good at being around us, and he’s good at the mingling portion of our days. He could be upstairs, but he’s down here and interacting with us. And I always appreciated that about him.’’
Those comments shed light on the dynamic between the Cubs exec and the players he's assembled and developed heading into a 2025 season that may determine whether he's back with the organization next year. By the sounds of it, the players like and respect Hoyer - and may very well be aware that he's playing within the scope ownership has given him, which could partly explain the lack of all-in aggressiveness in free agency of late.
Hoyer has received plenty of Cubs fans' ire during his tenure - and nobody envies the decisions he had to make early in his tenure, tearing down a beloved Cubs core that brought home the first World Series in 108 years in hopes of bolstering a farm system that ranked near the bottom of the league in 2021.
This feels a make-or-break season on the North Side where, if the Cubs fail to punch their postseason ticket at year's end, owner Tom Ricketts may look for a new voice to lead his team's baseball operations staff. A strong showing from Crow-Armstrong, new uniform number and all, would go a long way toward helping Chicago achieve that publicly stated goal.
