Or, are they encouraged?
The Cubs hired Theo Epstein to be their president based, I
assume, quite a bit on his time with Boston. Really, who could blame them? Sure
looked like he was doing pretty well as the Red Sox GM. Then, he left to go to
the Cubs, and things sort of unraveled at Fenway Park for a bit. Was it because
Theo left, or because of what Theo left?
The Sox are certainly making it seem like they needed to
clean up the mess Theo ran out on. They traded away his two biggest free agent
signings. Not just traded. Jettisoned. They cleared out Youkilis. Scutaro.
Basically erased his time here. Does that worry Cubs fans? Do they look back
and think the 2004 team was really mostly players he inherited. The MVPs of the
two 2007 playoff series were acquired when he wasn’t GM. And, by all accounts,
wasn’t a trade he would have made. Sure, he signed David Ortiz…but he signed
him to back up Jeremy Giambi for crying out loud. Was it all smoke and mirrors?
Was it luck? What did we get ourselves into?
Or, are they encouraged? Look at the mess that happened once
he left! They couldn’t find a decent manager, once Theo stole their top choice.
They traded away three great players once he wasn’t there to stop them. They
even were able to dump an aging third baseman because of the young stud that
Theo drafted. Clearly the rest of ownership was a bunch of clueless buffoons
that only won two titles because Theo was there to steer the ship.
What’s going through
their heads?
Hard not be hopeful after a 100 loss season. Things can only get better, right? Well, there's the Pirates and Astros so maybe I'm wrong. Honestly there are some good signs, Rizzo for example. Need mucho pitching, though.
ReplyDeleteTheo is going about the rebuilding of the Cubs in a completely different way then he did with the Sox.
ReplyDeleteHe's not signing big deals and is only picking up contracts of undervalued, or rehabbing, pitchers who are cheap and could have a chance to bounce back.
As for the bottom end of the organization the Cubs are entrenching themselves in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere to build a pipeline of production that hopefully comes to fruition.
We have some really good players coming up but they are only good on paper right now.
Watching this past season was bad but I understand what they are doing and I am not expecting much improvement next year but it will be one less year before the presumed core of the team builds its resume.
This Cubs fan has no problem with the current approach but, as we know, what can you do if you do have a problem with it?
We need mucho grande pitching!