Carter Hawkins is introduced as Cubs General Manager

Better late than never (and apologies for the service interruption on this and other SB Nation sites this afternoon), here are some notes on the newest Cubs executive hire.

Carter Hawkins was introduced as Cubs General Manager Monday afternoon and the only real news is that there’s no news. He said all the things you’d expect a new hire to say in an event like this, and so did Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer, who spoke first at the event that ran about 20 minutes.

In his opening remarks, Hoyer said the reason it took until now to put someone in the position he had held for nine years was that it took a while to get the right fit for himself and the organization. That’s pretty much what you’d expect him to say, right?

So here’s a further statement from Hoyer that was in the Cubs’ press release announcing this hire last Friday:

“I am thrilled to bring Carter into our organization,” said Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer. “He has earned a fantastic reputation as a leader through hard work, open-mindedness, humility and intelligence. I enjoyed getting to know him throughout the interview process, and it quickly became clear that we share the same passion for team building. I look forward to partnering with him to build the next great Cubs team.”

Hawkins thanked the Cleveland organization and praised what they had built there. He mentioned being at Wrigley for World Series Game 5 in 2016, with the Cleveland bus stopped in traffic, and hearing “Go Cubs Go” over and over and over gave him an understanding what a special place Wrigley Field is.

As you might expect, he then said he can’t wait to get to work: “There’s no secret sauce, everything we do comes back to winning at the major league level.” He’s going to spend his first few days and weeks trying to get to know the organization and what it means to be a Cub. Hawkins added he thought very highly of the Cubs organization from the outside looking in, and said the tough decisions at the trade deadline set team up for future success.

A couple more notes: I noticed he mentioned his family often, his wife and two kids (and a third on the way). He seems quite devoted to them.

Lastly, Hawkins played baseball at Vanderbilt, briefly. He noted he didn’t play much (he was a catcher), and though he had MLB dreams at one point, “until David Price walked through the doors and made it pretty clear to me that one of these things doesn’t look like the other.”

Good to know the guy has a sense of self-deprecating humor.

If you missed the news conference live, you can watch it here: