CHICAGO — There has been a decent amount of angst within the Cubs fanbase right now as the team has hit some uneven play while the trade deadline did not produce the major boost many had hoped for.

And sometimes when that happens, it can only take one innocuous comment to start a firestorm.

That’s exactly what happened when Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins spoke to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers earlier this month about the team’s roster.

In explaining the team’s approach at the trade deadline, Hawkins told ESPN:

“Teams are trying to find that guy that can lock down the eighth or ninth inning but that also costs a lot. That costs a lot of future wins. We have a responsibility to the 2025 Cubs but also the 2032 Cubs. That’s not always popular in the moment, but it’s decisions we have to make.”

It’s the “2032 Cubs” line that has since become a flashpoint within the fanbase and on Chicago sports talk radio.

When Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer met with the media before the five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, he was asked about the 2032 comments and the ensuing reaction.

“I think putting a year on it was something that people reacted to,” Hoyer said. “But I think the reality of this chair is that you’re trying to balance something that is very hard to balance. And I think that’s the challenge — it’s the urgency to win now. It’s also the realization that the players that are being asked about are impacting us right now. They’re impacting us next year.

“And we also know the angst of a fan base when a prospect is traded away that ends up performing elsewhere. It happens quickly. Part of being a fan is the second guessing. Part of being a fan is the desire to win now. And I understand that. But also I think my job is to make sure that this place is full for a lot of years.”

Hoyer’s point is that in particular, fans latched on to the number – a season that is seven years from now.

But Hawkins’ point was one both he and Hoyer have made often over the last few years: The Cubs are balancing trying to win now and trying to win in the future.

They don’t want to mortgage the farm to go all-in on any one particular season. Thus balancing the desire to enhance this year’s roster without giving up all of the team’s top prospects.

Hoyer and the Cubs would have loved to pull the trigger and add an impact starting pitcher like Joe Ryan or Mackenzie Gore at the trade deadline. But he also mentioned that teams were asking about several players that are already helping the 2025 Cubs win games – players like Cade Horton, Owen Caissie and Matt Shaw.

Plus, starting pitching has been the least of the Cubs’ worries in the three weeks since the trade deadline. In fact, since July 1, the Cubs boast the best rotation ERA in baseball.

It’s the offense that has struggled to find any sort of rhythm over the last few weeks. The main area the Cubs were looking at to boost their lineup at the deadline was third base but the team’s current third baseman – Shaw – has been the best hitter in the lineup since the All-Star break.

“What I say all the time is it’s my job to keep one eye on the present and one eye on the future,” Hoyer said. “… The nature of these sports is that young players are sort of the lifeblood of what we’re doing. Young players improve quickly. Young players can outperform expectations. I think there’s always instant gratification of a certain deal. But to make any of the really, super impactful deals at a deadline that we were asked to make, it wasn’t going to be one of those guys, it was going to be multiple of those guys that were currently performing for us right now. That’s the nature of these jobs.

“… It’s important to sometimes put names to the players that people want us to or have wanted us to trade, and realize that the currency of the deadline in our sport is prospects. The currency of other sports is maybe first round draft picks. Sometimes trading four or five first round draft picks for a player, it has worked, but [there’s] also times it’s sort of led to organizational demise. And I think that it’s important if you want to compete every year, to keep one eye on the future.”