CLEVELAND -- The Cubs announced on Friday that the former assistant general manager for Cleveland, Carter Hawkins, will take over as general manager for Chicago -- an answer to the Cubs’ year-long search for a GM.

Hawkins has spent the last five seasons as an assistant GM for Cleveland, but his time with the organization dates back to 2008, when he served as an advance scouting intern before taking on a full-time role in professional scouting in 2009. In 2010, he became an assistant director of player development and was the director of player development for one season in 2015.

Hawkins helped Cleveland’s president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff in all aspects of baseball operations, including player and staff procurement and development, negotiations, rules and administration and player personnel decisions at the Major and Minor League levels.

Cleveland still has assistant GM Matt Forman left after Hawkins’ departure. Forman has overseen the club’s scouting departments (amateur, professional and international) and the player acquisition processes, while Hawkins handled the player development department. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the team promote another staffer into an assistant GM role this winter to make up for the loss of Hawkins.