NEWSLETTER
Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein addressed the media this afternoon at the Winter Meetings in Orlando. From the outside, it’s been a very quiet set of meetings for the Cubs, but the front office isn’t down there to get a tan.
His remarks were live-tweeted by those in attendance …
Obviously, the first issue on folks’ mind was that meeting with Jeff Samardzija’s agents.
Theo said Samardzija has been informed of three options (trade, sign extension or stay for now), opening day starter, for now.
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) December 11, 2013
Theo re: Samardzija: "There's no trade imminent, and we'll see what happens. We hope he's here for a long time" #Cubs
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 11, 2013
Epstein addressed Scott Boras’s comments about the Cubs not spending, acting small market, etc.:
Theo says won't get into war of words with Boras except to say Cubs know their biz details better than those outside the team.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) December 11, 2013
So, when will the Cubs make some big splashes? Well, it’s pretty much as I laid out earlier:
Theo, on business and baseball syncing up: “I promise you, when that happens, we will be significantly more active.”
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) December 11, 2013
And a little more on the same issue:
Theo: I promise you, when that happens, we will be significantly more active. I’m not going to promise you that we’ll run out and… (1/3)
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
Theo: I’m not gonna promise that we’ll run out & sign the most expensive free agents or do 9-figure deals left & right. But I promise (2/3)
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
Theo: …we’ll be in a much better position to put a very deep and very talented team on the field with lots of depth and redundancy. (3/3)
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
That’s all the expectation, because, well, when the money is there and the young talent is there, the Cubs would have no reason not to be more active. Of course, we all want to know is that next year or the next year or the next year – not that Epstein can answer as openly as he might want to. I’m sure it gets frustrating having to try and express the same thing over and over without being able to go into the details for competitive reasons.
But are the Cubs doing anything right now? Well, yes, le duh:
Theo: Cubs made offers to FA starter and reliever, plus trade offer for position player. “We’re not just hanging out at the old Dolphin.”
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) December 11, 2013
Theo on offers out there: “They would be significant to us and our 2014 team but do I think you would deem them significant? Probably not."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) December 11, 2013
Hey, those are usually the moves that I get excited about. We know of several starting pitchers and relievers in whom the Cubs have interest, and it seems a pretty good bet that the offer out there for a positional player is an outfielder.
As for Masahiro Tanaka, Epstein gave no indication that the Cubs won’t be involved, as we expect them to be:
Theo on Tanaka:"We're waiting for the process to begin and see what the rules are and .. express interest to the people that matter."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) December 11, 2013
And in case you were worried that The Plan merely involves waiting on the prospects to come to the bigs and solve everything, that has never been the case:
Theo says they have to guard against perception that once most talented prospects come up all problems solved. Says that’s not how it works.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
Theo on adjustment period for prospects in bigs: There’s no panacea w 3 or 4 players coming up at the same time. Doesn’t solve your problems
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
Theo on prospects: Might make things more interesting & it’s start of something significant, but doesn’t mean you instantly become contender
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2013
Prospects, alone, aren’t the answer. Expecting all of them to come up and coalesce into a repeat contender over the course of the next decade is an absurd disaster waiting to happen. Do you need to be reminded that the front office is not populated by idiots? They surely recognize that the team needs to have productive veterans in place when the prospects come up (1) to help ease the transition for the prospects and not place so much pressure on them, and (2) to win help win games.
And a quick nod to the lefties in the pen/prospect pitchers, just for the hell of it:
Theo said Rosscup is 'knocking on door' & Raley is transitioning to pen. But they like Russell & Theo envisions him in pen w Wesley Wright
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 12, 2013
I really like the idea of seeing whether Raley can succeed as a LOOGY, because I don’t see a long-term starter there.
