The Cubs’ Front Office is Frustrated and Other Bullets

This morning’s very hot Sean Marshall/Travis Wood rumor delayed the Bullets…

  • Yahoo’s Jeff Passan confirms what we probably already knew (and what we’ve certainly assumed): the Cubs’ front office is pretty frustrated by the changes in the CBA. Those changes, you’ll recall, dramatically restrict the money a team can spend on amateur players, both in the draft and internationally. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer’s best laid plans were jammed up on a dime.
  • Word out of Boston is that the Red Sox are no longer expecting to get anything more than “a run-of-the-mill prospect or two” from the Cubs as compensation for hiring Theo Epstein. Finally, the Boston media has resigned itself to the reality that we’ve long known: they aren’t getting a windfall for allowing Theo Epstein to be promoted.
  • In addition to adding new National Crosschecker Matt Dorey from the Red Sox, the Cubs picked up pro scout Kyle Evans, who recently left the Red Sox (thus, it was not pilfering in violation of the teams’ agreement that the Cubs wouldn’t take anyone else from the Red Sox for three years). The Cubs may also look to pick up recently-replaced Red Sox VP of International Scouting and Player Personnel Craig Shipley in some role.
  • Christmas Day at 4:30pm CT, an interview with Tom Ricketts (conducted by Dave Kaplan) will air on CSN. That press release has a number of teaser quotes from Ricketts, which includes this interesting note on the transition from Jim Hendry to Theo Epstein: “The period between when Jim left and when Theo came in was a little awkward, because you couldn’t really tell people what you were doing, but there was never a moment where I didn’t really feel like we had it under control. I think the only moment when I was a little nervous was when if we could ask the Red Sox for permission, and it’s entirely likely, it’s possible they could say no, and then we’d have to go on and look for another candidate, and that’s embarrassing because that candidate obviously wouldn’t be the first choice and you can’t keep those kind of requests secret. But we just hung tough, consistent … and played through it, and I think we’d done as best as we could.”
  • A Christmas/Holiday Card from the Cubs. Thoughtful. I also read somewhere recently – though I can no longer find where I read it – that the Cubs sent personalized Christmas/Holiday cards to their minor leaguers. ‘Tis the season.
  • Notice how the Yankees haven’t really done anything this offseason? How they aren’t really attached to any big names? Grantland’s Jonah Keri says it’s because the Yankees are learning spending top dollar isn’t necessarily the best move.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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