Jed Hoyer’s refusal to move Jonathon Long during his peak award-winning season backfired. Now, the blocked infielder's plummeting metrics and evaporated power have cost Chicago vital trade leverage.
Being in charge of a professional baseball team is hard.
General managers, chief baseball officers, and presidents of baseball operations have tough jobs navigating both the Major and Minor League teams. These high-ranking executives are constantly working to put their Major League clubs in the best position to succeed while keeping the long-term picture in mind.
Someone like Chicago Cubs' president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has been a big proponent of not trading away his prospects. That has led some fans to even coin Hoyer as the “prospect hoarder.”
While Hoyer has traded away top prospects like Cam Smith and Owen Caissie in back-to-back offseasons to improve their overall Major League roster, there are still times when the Cubs have chosen to hold onto their prospects and not go all in.
Last season, the front office made minimal moves at the trade deadline to improve its roster. Pitching was Chicago’s biggest need, and the team’s big pitching acquisition was Michael Soroka. Soroka eventually got hurt and threw only 10 combined innings for the Cubs (regular season + postseason combined)
Last year’s trade deadline was the perfect opportunity to trade away an emerging prospect in Jonathon Long. The 24-year-old was in the midst of a career year at the plate in his first taste of Triple-A ball.
Long then went on to win the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year Award behind a .305 batting average, 20 home runs, 23 doubles, 91 RBI, 79 walks, 116 strikeouts, and two stolen bases across 140 games with the Iowa Cubs.
The reason why Long could have been such a solid trade piece last year was that he was in the middle of his best season in the minors, and there is simply nowhere for him to play in the big leagues in the near future. Long is blocked by Michael Busch, who is under contract through the 2029 season.
While the Cubs could just trade him at this year’s trade deadline, his trade value has fallen drastically amid a poor start to the season.
Long is slashing just .253/.330/.350 with four home runs, nine doubles, 30 RBI, and one stolen base across his first 59 games with the Iowa Cubs. He’s batting only .154 over his last 10 games, and his metrics are down across the board this year.
Just look at the differences between his 2025 metrics (top) and 2026 metrics (bottom).
His current xwOBA (.296), expected batting average (.231), expected slugging (.343), barrel rate (4.2%), hard-hit rate (42.3%), walk rate (10.1%), Pull Air rate (5.8%), and zone-contact rate (80%) are all major differences from 2025.
The most interesting thing about Long this season is his lack of power. His barrel rate is down almost 7% from last year, his Pull Air rate has somehow gotten worse, and he’s hitting balls in the zone at a lower rate.
Last year’s trade deadline felt like the right time to move a prospect who was having a strong season but didn’t have a clear path to playing time in the big leagues.
Now, Long is likely not as valuable a trade piece as he was a season ago.
