This weekend, CSN’s Dave Kaplan went on an unprompted – but apropos, given the Winter Meetings – Twitter rant about the state of the Chicago Cubs’ organization over the past several years. It was a thing of beauty, and useful to keep in the back of your mind as we observe the events this week in Nashville.
Away we go, in chronological order …
Honest truth is that the state of the organization was so bad when Theo arrived he realized he couldn’t patchwork while rebuilding minors.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
I’m not sure people really realize how broken the Cubs system was when Epstein was hired.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
How about this: When Cubs drafted Vitters the guy that Tim Wilken wanted but wasn’t allowed to sign was Orioles star catcher Matt Wieters.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
That was before Ricketts took over and money wasn’t there for over slot signings. Wilken loved him.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
In addition 2 Wieters, Cubs were close to drafting Jarrod Parker that draft. Mgmt didn’t want risk of HS arm They had Vitters below other 2
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
Look, here’s the deal. Hendry was told in ’06 to spend + try to win immediately. He spent and came close. That came at the expense of draft
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
While the great organizations spend to add to system every year the Cubs have NEVER had that approach until Ricketts.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
Hendry/MacPhail draft record was brutal. Bad drafts from 1996-2009 w/a handful of exceptions. Traded Jon Garland for nothing. Prior blew out
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
Consider this: Cubs drafted approximately 800 players 1996 draft thru 2009 draft. Signed several Intl. FA and had bad system when Theo hired
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
Thinking about this: Cubs had 3rd overall pick in 98′ the 3rd in 2000 the 2nd in 01′ the 6th in 03′ and came away with 2 yrs of Prior. Wow.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
Amazed that many still think the Cubs just need a few additions to compete in big leagues. Yeah, Ruth, Schmidt, Bench, Gibson and Marichal.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 1, 2012
I would love to have been listening to Theo/Jed in their offices when they started going through the Cubs system. #Ididntrealizeitwasthisbad
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
Look, when Theo/Jed took over they had bad ML team and awful system. ZERO PITCHING. How is that possible when you draft 60+ players a year?
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
Theo/Jed have added some excellent prospects so far. They need to improve ML team some this year to keep fans hopeful. Gotta show progress.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
Cubs had one of smallest front offices in game, very little analytical work being done, poor job on background of players personal habits.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
Combine all of that with lack of financial commitment to draft, no long term planning whatsoever and some incredibly poor decisions.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
From Todd Hundley to Milton Bradley to Fukudome to Z’s deal that is 190 million in wasted money. I could go on and on.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 2, 2012
Whew. Throw in some cursing and a “Hallelujah, holy sh*t. Where’s the Tylenol?” and I would have been reminded of ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ (which, incidentally, I watched last night, in an annual tradition).
Kap’s rant didn’t go unnoticed by others in the Chicago media. The Daily Herald’s Bruce Miles gave Kaplan a gentle ear flick:
When #Cubs were winning division titles, nobody had Jim Hendry on air more or praised Jim Hendry more than @thekapman
— Bruce Miles (@BruceMiles2112) December 2, 2012
Miles later made clear that he likes Kap, and Kap emphasized that he wasn’t try to rip on Hendry, just the organization as a whole.
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan was a bit more blunt:
Hey @thekapman You can stop now. We get it. Ricketts, Theo and Jed are all the greatest.
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) December 1, 2012
And that was before 50% of Kap’s rant was completed.
(I suppose it’s worth pointing out, without too much comment, that Kaplan works for CSNChicago, an entity partly owned by the family that currently owns the Cubs (and hired the current front office), and Sullivan works for the Tribune, an entity that used to own the Cubs (and hired/employed the former front office). I’m not saying their employers prejudice their respective positions, but I’m sure they partly inform those positions.)
In the end, the tweets made for meta gold, but it’s not like anything Kap said was incorrect. The organization was in shambles two years ago, bloated by useless commitments, understaffed in the front office, uninterested in modern analytics, and unable to consistently acquire and develop future MLB talent. As Theo Epstein said last year, you can’t turn an ocean liner on a dime. It takes time.
Prior got hit by a pitch coming back to him and a few other things? Seems more like a freak injury rather than being able to stay healthy. Also I would hope that Hendry had more credible prospects than Theo and Jed have. It has been 1 draft and 1 season which they actually tried to get reasonable players out in trades. If they had more credible prospects than what Hendry left then we would of had an even bigger problem Kyle
WOW! I love reading this sh**! I would love to read a business review of the Cubs turnaround in a few years. Hell, the book would be a great read. Merry Christmas
Any coincidence that Kaplan is on ‘vacation’ this week and is not hosting his CTL Live show or the Hot Stove show on CSN, live from the Winter Meetings. I think he might have gotten in a little trouble over this.
Nah – he was already headed out on vacation at the time.
Brett, Follow my thinking here. I’m a huge Cubs fan, suburbanite of Chicago, follow your site reiligioiusly. Its great BTW. But CTL live is Chicago Tribune Live and that’s who he was bashing even though he is a CSN employee they are tightly linked..I think there is some fallout here. It”s clear Sullivan – who I can’t stand, dislikes him and so do many of the Trib reporters if you ever watch the show, no matter the topic. Cubs, Bears, Sox, Bulls etc Rogers an Sullivan need to go away. Patrick Mooney does the best job of all from a local standpoint. as an fyi…my Dell keyboard sucks to type on…skips letters all he time
He had to at least get a slap on the wrist for his twitters….