Theo goes to the Cubs

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7091803/sources-theo-epstein-agrees-five-year-deal-chicago-cubs-leave-boston-red-sox

Seems to be done.

Now: Is there any way Quade is still the manager on Opening Day?

Yes.

No.

NWIH.

I say no way in hell.


I say he goes after Sandberg, and goes after Sandberg hard.

 

This is really going to make things tough on the Yankees and Red Sox. Now there will be one more team brainlessly driving up the price of overrated free agents because their beer-soaked fans and talk-radio idiots want them to spend money.

 

Maybe not. Maybe Red Sox ownership will step back a bit. They may have realized that they can't compete on an equal financial footing as the Yankees. They stepped up in weight class a couple of times and were competitive early, but they can't stay there. The Yankees can survive with the Pavano-type contracts and they seem to be able to live with ARod under performing his contractual value, exponentially under perform. But the BOSOX may not be able to or want to throw bad money after worse money.

The Yankees are in a class of their own. They may have to compete against Boston, the Cubs and Angels for a free agent here and there, but the Yankees can be on every FA and still play the amateur free agent market better than everyone; the others have to pick and choose.

 

If Cubs fans are asking the team to spend more money, they're even more braindead than I thought (hi, Armchair!). The Cubs' current problems are a direct result of overspending to make a playoff push (and because the Trib just didn't care anymore, with one foot out the door). I presume Theo was not brought for his skills on spending (hi, Carl Crawford!), but because the Red Sox actually developed players while he was there.

 

As a life-long Cubs fan, I look forward to seeing Mr. Epstein find new, innovative ways to not win.

 

I don't know then if he got strong-armed by ownership or just got intoxicated by all that cash, but Lackey and Crawford were purely "this is the biggest free agent out there and we don't want him going to the Yankees so we are going to pay whatever we have to pay." Ditto Gonzalez, although there was more reason to think he was going to be very good than there was for either of the other two.

I would imagine we will see the Cubs get in on every big "splash" free agent, whether that means Fielder, Pujols, C.J. Wilson or whoever. No thought required except for how many frivolous years to add to the end of the deal. I suppose Ricketts could tell Theo not to spend, but he doesn't seem like the kind of owner who wants to suck for a few years, then be mediocre, then contend.

 

Epstein, will not perfect, is pretty smart. I have to assume he told Cubs ownership that this is a gig that has to start at the foundation level before free agents are relevant to their future. The Cubs' immediate need is to shed payroll, not add to it. If I know that, Theo does too.

 

Theo's first move should be to have Crane Kenney shot.

And yeah, spending more money isn't the answer. Spending money smartly is. Both on free agents and in scouting and development.

By all accounts Ricketts is putting more of an emphasis on development and scouting than the Trib did so that is encouraging.

I said this when Hendry was let go. In many ways this hire is Ricketts' Dallas Green Moment. When the suits at the Trib hired Green they did so with an eye towards changing the way the team operated and it resulted in Green building teams that won a couple of NL East titles (the 89 team was really his baby even though he wasn't around for it).

That's Epstein's job now. He has to change the way the Cubs operate at every level, MLB, minors, scouting, development. Everything. I don't think they're drafting that badly but I do think they're doing a shitty job of developing that talent once its in the system.

 

Agreed, this job requires more responsibility than smarts. There are more smart GMs in the game right now than any point in the last 30 years. That isn't enough to cut it anymore.

 

Epstein must have lost his mind. Either that or he figures the million-to-one shot of making the Cubs world series champions is his ticket to the HoF.

The Cubs are strangled in fat contracts to unproductive players, a weak farm system, and an ownership that has a pretty significant debt load to service.

 

On the other hand, Theo has little pressure and almost carte blanche to reshape the team in the image he wants. Ain't but nowhere to go but up, though that's a dangerous thing to say about a franchise that has found new and creative ways to suck.

 

I like the hiring a lot. Wanted him or see if Moneyball can work in big market.

It will be interesting to see how much cleaning house will be done. I would imagine Quade is gone for sure, Soriano and Zambrano will be shipped off with Cubs picking up a large majority of their contracts. If he ships off Soriano and Zambrano and pay all but just $4 mill per each (low end in my mind of what they could do) that would give the Cubs $40 million to spend this offseason. I imagine he will sign one of Fielder or Pujols and have $15-20 million left for a average SP and 3B.

And as far as Fielder and Pujols go, they won't cost as much as people think. Yankees and Red Sox already are set at 1B and DH. Then you have the Dodgers in their owner mess. The Cubs will be the biggest team bidding and no others will really be able to do more than 20 million per. I bet Cubs take Fielder and Pujols stays with Cards.