
Cubs announce extension for baseball operations boss Jed Hoyer
But with the Cubs sharing the National League's best record with the Milwaukee Brewers entering Monday's play, Hoyer has been rewarded with a multiyear extension announced prior to the Cubs' series opener at Milwaukee.
Hoyer was hired by Theo Epstein to serve as the team's general manager after the 2011 season. After the Cubs won the 2016 World Series and made five playoff appearances in a six-year stretch with the duo at the top of the organization, Hoyer was asked to assume Epstein's president of baseball operations responsibilities when Epstein left following the 2021 season.
Hoyer signed a five-year contract at the time. Specifics on his extension were not released.
"I'm so grateful for the Ricketts family's trust and support for 14 years," Hoyer said in a statement. "The Cubs are a special organization with an amazing fan base. I'm excited to keep building on the momentum we have and to work with a terrific baseball operations staff to consistently deliver a championship-caliber team for this great city."
The Cubs failed to reach the playoffs and posted a 311-337 record (.480) in Hoyer's first four seasons at the helm. But with trade acquisitions such as All-Star outfielders Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker leading the way, the Cubs have fashioned a 62-43 record and sat atop the National League Central most of this season.
The announcement of Hoyer's contract extension provides extra stability in the final days before Major League Baseball's trading deadline. If any rival general managers believed he might need to be more aggressive in order to keep his job -- and demand more in deals as a result -- then that bargaining angle has been quashed.
--Field Level Media

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Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Luis Robert Jr. in spotlight as White Sox host Phillies
July 29 - Philadelphia Phillies reliever Tanner Banks shared a clubhouse with Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. as Chicago teammates for parts of three seasons. With Robert surging entering Tuesday night's game between visiting Philadelphia and Chicago and rumored to be on the trading block, might a reunion be in the works? Philadelphia was listed in a Monday report from The Athletic as one of three potential destinations should the White Sox trade Robert. Banks said the Phillies could benefit from the 27-year-old. "He's got a sneaky arm, very fast, power, the ability to hit for average," Banks told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "He's the complete package. He's young. He's very toolsy. He's not a guy I like to face. Even if he's having a down year, I don't like to face him. "It'll be interesting to see where he lands." While Robert has navigated durability issues for much of his six-season career, he has starred in July, batting .318 (14-for-44) with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He will turn 28 on Sunday. Robert delivered a go-ahead, two-run home run in the fourth inning Monday to help lift the White Sox to a 6-2 victory in the opener of the three-game interleague series. While Banks is not Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly, he suggested a change of scenery might offer Robert a boost. "Across the board in baseball, sometimes that's what it takes," Banks said. "Just a breath of fresh air." While the trade deadline looms on Thursday, Robert still is batting just .205 this year with the only major league organization he has known. Monday's homer against Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez gave him hits in 10 of his past 11 games, and he has 11 home runs and 43 RBIs for the season. He also contributed a diving catch of a J.T. Realmuto line drive in the fourth inning, showing increasing comfort after missing games Friday and Saturday against the Chicago Cubs with adductor soreness. "I thought that the ball was a lot farther," Robert said through a translator, "but at the end I realized that I was closer. I think I could have got the ball without diving, but I just did it anyways." Chicago is 7-3 since the All-Star break and benefiting from strong efforts from a core of rookies in addition to Robert. Rookie third baseman Colson Montgomery went 2-for-4 with three RBIs Monday, including a tying two-run blast in the third inning. Montgomery has homered in four of his past six games. The White Sox will aim to secure their third series victory since the All-Star break behind right-hander Jonathan Cannon (4-7, 4.48 ERA), who is set to face Philadelphia for the first time. Cannon is 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in four June starts covering 21 2/3 innings. He is coming off a no-decision on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays last Wednesday, when he yielded six runs (five earned) and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings with one walk and nine strikeouts in his team's 11-9 win. Left-hander Jesus Luzardo (8-5, 4.58) will get the call Tuesday for the Phillies in his first career appearance against the White Sox. Luzardo also struggled in a no-decision Wednesday, allowing two runs and six hits in five innings in a 9-8 loss to the Boston Red Sox while walking five and striking out seven. He is 1-1 with a 7.23 ERA in four June starts. --Field Level Media


Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Animal shelters across US seeing rise in 'owner surrenders'
Another troubling sign of economic strain: more Americans are giving up their pets. Animal shelters across the US are seeing a rise in 'owner surrenders,' as families hand over dogs and cats they can no longer afford to keep. Volunteers say it's often an early warning sign of deeper financial distress. 'There are times when the economy has taken a dip or we've had a lot of job layoffs,' Melissa Knicely, a staffer at North Carolina shelter, told CNN . When that happens, '100 percent' there will be a jump in pets given up. Knicely's shelter has seen a 43 percent spike in surrenders this year — with most families saying they simply couldn't afford to keep their pets. They're not alone. Several rescues across the country have reported similar issues. Risa Weinstock, president of the Animal Care Centers of New York City, said her organization has stopped accepting new animals because they're over capacity. 'We're in the business to care for animals that come to us, and we want to help people with their pets,' she told NBC News . 'But when we have 1,000 animals to care for and a capacity to house them that doesn't meet that need, we're in a bit of a difficult situation.' Dog and cat ownership has become significantly more expensive in recent years, with the price of food and veterinary care climbing steeply. Porter County Animal Shelter, an adoption center in Indiana, estimates that dog owners spend between $20 and $60 a month on food alone. Annual costs — including beds, collars, medical treatments, grooming, and other basics — can total any additional $925 to $2,900, depending on the dog's breed and size, they estimate. The increasing pet prices are also coming while Americans continue to struggle with their own day-to-day bills. Food prices have soared since 2020 as restaurants, grocery stores, and suppliers scrambled to rebuild supply chains after pandemic shutdowns. Now, with tariff campaigns, heightened interest rates , growing geopolitical uncertainty, and new price rises, consumers are starting to feel their wallets getting stretched further. Last month, the Labor Department said that prices rose 2.7 percent — the largest increase since February — breaking a months-long streak of slowing inflation. And Americans are increasingly taking out consumer debt to pay for those higher prices. Still, a majority of economic indicators point to a robust economy. Unemployment claims fell again last week, and the latest jobs report showed that Americans are working and earning more than before. Those figures have helped reassure Wall Street investors, who continue to pour money into the economy on hopes that US consumers will keep spending. But for many households, the gap between those promising macroeconomic signals and the realities of rising costs feels impossible to ignore.


The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Higher US tariffs part of the price Europe was willing to pay for its security and arms for Ukraine
France's prime minister described it as a 'dark day' for the European Union, a 'submission' to U.S. tariff demands. Commentators said EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's handshake with President Donald Trump amounted to capitulation. The trouble is, Europe depends mightily on the United States, and not just for trade. Mirroring Trump, Von der Leyen gushed that the arrangement she endorsed over the weekend to set U.S. tariff levels on most European exports to 15%, which is 10% higher than currently, was 'huge.' Her staff texted reporters insisting that the pact, which starts to enter force on Friday, is the 'biggest trade deal ever.' A month after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte ingratiated himself with Trump by referring to him as 'daddy,' the Europeans had again conceded that swallowing the costs and praising an unpredictable president is more palatable than losing America. 'It's not only about the trade. It's about security. It's about Ukraine. It's about current geopolitical volatility. I cannot go into all the details,' EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told reporters Monday. 'I can assure you it was not only about the trade,' he insisted, a day after 'the deal' was sealed in an hour-long meeting once Trump finished playing a round of golf with his son at the course he owns in Scotland. The state of Europe's security dependency Indeed, Europe depends on the U.S. for its security and that security is anything but a game, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. allies are convinced that, should he win, President Vladimir Putin is likely to take aim at one of them next. So high are these fears that European countries are buying U.S. weapons to help Ukraine to defend itself. Some are prepared to send their own air defense systems and replace them with U.S. equipment, once it can be delivered. 'We're going to be sending now military equipment and other equipment to NATO, and they'll be doing what they want, but I guess it's for the most part working with Ukraine,' Trump said Sunday, sounding ambivalent about America's role in the alliance. The Europeans also are wary about a U.S. troop drawdown, which the Pentagon is expected to announce by October. Around 84,000 U.S. personnel are based in Europe, and they guarantee NATO's deterrent effect against an adversary like Russia. At the same time, Trump is slapping duties on America's own NATO partners, ostensibly due to concerns about U.S. security interests, using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, a logic that seems absurd from across the Atlantic. Weaning Europe off foreign suppliers 'The EU is in a difficult situation because we're very dependent on the U.S. for security,' said Niclas Poitiers at the Bruegel research institution in Brussels. 'Ukraine is a very big part of that, but also generally our defense is underwritten by NATO.' 'I think there was not a big willingness to pick a major fight, which is the one (the EU) might have needed with the U.S.' to better position itself on trade, Poitiers told The Associated Press about key reasons for von der Leyen to accept the tariff demands. Part of the agreement involves a commitment to buy American oil and gas. Over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year, most of the EU has slashed its dependence on unreliable energy supplies from Russia, but Hungary and Slovakia still have not. 'Purchases of U.S. energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe's energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of U.S. LNG, oil and nuclear fuels,' von der Leyen said in Scotland on Sunday. In essence, as Europe slowly weans itself off Russian energy it is also struggling to end its reliance on the United States for its security. The Trump administration has warned its priorities now lie elsewhere, in Asia, the Middle East and on its own borders. That was why European allies agreed at NATO's summit last month to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more on defense over the next decade. Primarily for their own security, but also to keep America among their ranks. The diplomacy involved was not always elegant. 'Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,' Rutte wrote in a private text message to Trump, which the U.S. leader promptly posted on social media. Rutte brushed off questions about potential embarrassment or concern that Trump had aired it, saying: 'I have absolutely no trouble or problem with that because there's nothing in it which had to stay secret.' A price Europe feels it must pay Von der Leyen did not appear obsequious in her meeting with Trump. She often stared at the floor or smiled politely. She did not rebut Trump when he said that only America is sending aid to Gaza. The EU is world's biggest supplier of aid to the Palestinians. With Trump's threat of 30% tariffs hanging over European exports — whether real or brinksmanship is hard to say — and facing the prospect of a full-blown trade dispute while Europe's biggest war in decades rages, 15% may have been a cheap price to pay. 'In terms of the economic impact on the EU economy itself, it will be negative,' Poitiers said. 'But it's not something that is on a comparable magnitude like the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or even COVID.' 'This is a negative shock for our economy, but it is something that's very manageable,' he said. It remains an open question as to how long this entente will last. ___