The Chicago Cubs announced on Tuesday, that club President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein will be stepping down from his position effective November 20, after nine seasons with the organization.
He will be replaced by Jed Hoyer, who joined the team as Executive Vice-President and General Manger in 2011.
In a letter sent to friends tweeted out by Jeff Passan of ESPN, Epstein explained he will not be working in Major League Baseball next season in order to spend time with his family and do charity work. He goes on to say, “I do plan on having a third chapter leading a baseball organization someday, though I do not expect it to be next year.”
Epstein has had an extensive baseball career, starting as an intern for the Baltimore Orioles in early 1990s. In 2002, he became the youngest GM in MLB history at 28 when the Boston Red Sox hired him for the role. In 2004 he led to a World Series victory for the first time in 86 years, and then once again in 2007.
He departed in 2011 to become the Cubs’ President of Baseball Operations and picked up another World Series win in 2016, their first in 108 years.
Epstein was someone many in the baseball world had their eye on for the Mets to add to the organization under new team owner Steve Cohen to help end their long World Series drought, but it appears that will have to wait.
