GM meetings, roster moves kick off defining offseason for Cubs president Jed Hoyer

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer could sense about a week and a half ago that outfielder Cody Bellinger was leaning toward opting into his contract for 2025.

News of Bellinger’s decision came out during the weekend, but Hoyer already had talked with his baseball-operations group about how it figured into the Cubs’ offseason plan.

‘‘It adds clarity to what we need to do, and now it’s just a matter of gathering the information,’’ Hoyer said as the general managers meetings kicked off Monday in San Antonio. ‘‘I always say [that] everyone comes here with a lot of great ideas, and they usually get squashed within the first cocktail party. Then you go back to the drawing board. But we’ll talk to everyone here. We’ll be super-active in discussions and see where it leads us.’’

This will be a defining offseason for Hoyer, whose contract expires after the 2025 season. After the Cubs narrowly missed the playoffs in 2023 and whiffed again this season, anything but a postseason run in 2025 would be a disastrous outcome for a rebuild that began midway through 2021.

In his public comments, Hoyer has struck a balance between expressing optimism and pride for the way he and his staff have repositioned the team and taking accountability for the Cubs missing the playoffs the last two seasons.

Laying the groundwork for success won’t mean anything if the Cubs can’t take that next step.

The Cubs are expected to make pitching a priority this offseason. On the offensive side, they have little wiggle room as the roster stands right now — although they could shake things up with a trade. Bellinger opting in for another season brought back one of their most consistent hitters but didn’t fully answer questions about the lineup.

Hoyer said it was ‘‘unclear’’ whether the position-player group was settled.

‘‘I felt like it was a productive group in the second half, but [we’re] certainly looking to improve,’’ he said.

MLB announced Silver Slugger finalists Monday, and outfielder/designated hitter Seiya Suzuki was the lone Cubs player on the list. His .848 OPS ranked eighth among all qualified National League hitters, and he ranked fourth among NL outfielders in FanGraphs’ weighted runs created at 94.

‘‘In general, Wrigley suppressed offenses here, and baseball’s offense was suppressed,’’ Hoyer said at the end of the season. ‘‘Sometimes we have to readjust our numbers in our head. He was a top-10 guy in OPS in our league, and I just don’t think we think about it that way because the numbers aren’t .975.’’

The winners will be revealed next Tuesday.

Suzuki essentially became a full-time DH in the last month and a half of the season, with Pete Crow-Armstrong claiming an everyday role in center field and Bellinger moving to right. But Hoyer said it felt ‘‘premature’’ to talk with Suzuki about what Bellinger’s return would mean for his role.

‘‘Seiya did a great job when he was DH-ing,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘We didn’t have injuries down the stretch, but any time you have depth at a bunch of positions . . . is really nice.’’

While the GM meetings generally feature more talking and planning than action, Monday did bring a series of roster moves.

The Cubs announced they had claimed left-hander Rob Zastryzny off waivers from the Brewers, bringing him back to the team that drafted him in the second round in 2013. He appeared in 18 games with the Cubs in 2016-18.

Zastryzny posted a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances this season with the Brewers but was limited by elbow tendinitis.

In a corresponding move, the Cubs designated right-hander Jimmy Herget for assignment. They claimed him off waivers from the Braves in mid-September but assigned him to Triple-A Iowa, and he never pitched for the major-league squad.

Monday was also the deadline for teams to reinstate players from the 60-day injured list, which made a series of moves necessary to clear room on the 40-man roster. Catcher Christian Bethancourt and right-handers Yency Almonte, Colten Brewer and Enoli Paredes cleared waivers and elected to become free agents.