Jed Hoyer isn’t the first executive to trade or release fan favorites while those players were in or just ahead of their prime years. In fact, you could build a veritable juggernaut of ex-Cubs while you wallow in the dreariness of the players received in return for those moves. It just hurts a little more right now because Hoyer still has several more moves to make and we still don’t know what the 2021 team will look like.
Older fans of Chicago’s North Side baseball team are always happy to remind you of the Lou Brock trade, while newer fans are usually triggered by Theo Epstein’s decision to trade DJ LeMahieu to the Rockies in 2011.