Cubs Promote Farm Director Jared Banner to Assistant GM

As first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Cubs are promoting Jared Banner from VP of player development to assistant general manager. Though titles are somewhat fungible in this front office, Banner will presumably take on some of the duties vacated when Craig Breslow left to lead the Red Sox as president of baseball operations. During Banner’s time in his previous role, the Cubs went from a barren farm with nascent developmental infrastructure to one of the most fruitful systems in the game.

Banner joined the Cubs in 2021 as the VP of special projects after serving as the Mets’ farm director for three seasons. His career in professional baseball began as a fellow in Boston’s baseball operations department in 2007 and he rose to the rank of player personnel VP in 2017-18. In that role, he oversaw professional scouting in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Mexico. This new role will likely involve Banner’s expertise in both pro scouting and player development.

There will be other announcements — like Banner’s replacement — in the coming days as the front office continues to adjust to Breslow’s departure, though it’s helpful that Boston’s new baseball boss can’t hire any Cubs employees for a year. Most of the changes will likely occur behind the scenes, with certain roles being tweaked or reallocated. They just need to remain forward-thinking, however, as both Banner and VP of scouting Dan Kantrovitz are going to be in the running for GM and PoBO jobs in the near future.