Theo Warns, Cubs Willing to Close their Window
Last season officially ended with a 90 minute press conference where Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations answered every question any reporter would throw at him. This is also when he spelled out the Cubs offensive troubles and declared that the Cubs offense “broke,” and how he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that doesn’t happen again. After an offseason of the Cubs passing down a sense that every day is a chance to knock someone out, and instilling urgency, the Cubs front office made minute changes to the roster. Since, there has been votes of confidence in the Cubs roster, the guys that have won an average of 95 games 97 wins over the past four seasons.
Why wouldn’t you trust in those guys? Kris Bryant has a Rookie of the Year award and MVP to his name. Anthony Rizzo has gotten MVP votes in each of the last five seasons. Javier Baez finished second in MVP voting in 2018. There are 10 All Stars on the club, and there are 17 World Series rings sitting in the clubhouse.
But, there has been the idea throughout the league that the young core that the Cubs have isn’t what we all thought it was? Maybe what should have been a seven-year window to win has been collapsed because the league has caught up and the young talent hasn’t progressed as much as expected. With that said, Theo was on 670-AM The Score Wednesday talking to Dan McNeil and Danny Parkins.
During the interview, Theo mentioned how if the Cubs aren’t in a position to compete, for a championship, then he would be open to moving players.
#Cubs‘ Theo Epstein on fans’ expectations:
“If we take care of business and put ourselves in position to be a legitimate World Series contender, we can put ourselves in position to add. … If we don’t play well … there will be open-mindedness to signifcant transactions.”
— McNeil & Parkins (@McNeil_Parkins) March 6, 2019
Theo went on to explain, that it is his belief that this core will compete. He raved about the rotation and their ability to be one of the best in the league. He also made it a point to mention how Kris Bryant looks like he’s ready for an MVP season.
This certainly goes back to Theo’s statement at the end of last season, they will assess that is the players that they have had high hopes for are actually able to reach the potential they believed they would. If they aren’t, and if the Cubs have a slow start and don’t have a real identity by the trade deadline, he’s open to having real discussions on any number of players on the roster.
This is the thing with making large commitments to a roster in professional sports. You cannot have a payroll that exceeds $200 million and not expect them to compete. If they are not in the position to compete, then you look to move on while building up your future rosters with a number of players or future prospects.
But this leads me to the question, is this where we’re really at? Tell us what you think.
