View Poll Results: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

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  • Yes: At some point during his tenue they'll win it all.

    5 41.67%
  • No: Theo won't have the resources to get the job done.

    0 0%
  • No: He won't make the right decisions to get them over the hump.

    3 25.00%
  • No: I just dislike the Cubs.

    4 33.33%
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Thread: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

  1. #1
    Broadcaster DMBZeppelin's Avatar
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    Cubs Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Now that Theo is officially coming to Chicago. Will he end the curse for the Cubs as well?

    Some things to consider.

    He'll have Jed Hoyer as his general manager. That deal was apparently done before the Theo compensation was resolved. He's bringing Jason McLeod, who was Theo and Jed in Boston, to Chicago as well. We won't know till later, but it's possible some people could be coming with Theo. When Hoyer and Byrnes left there were each allowed to take two people with them. Only one significant person apiece (in Hoyer's case it was McLeod). Barry Rozner of Chicago's Daily Herald reported yesterday: " Epstein has been trying hard to bring with him Jonathan Gilula, a Red Sox VP of business affairs for nine years and a man in the center of the Fenway Park renovations." that won't matter in terms of evaluating talent like Hoyer and McLeod will be able to, but if he can help in the Wrigley renovation that's huge.

    Jeff Passan a MLB writer for Yahoo Sports said the following on twitter:

    JeffPassan Jeff Passan
    I loved Theo Epstein going to the Cubs. Getting Jed Hoyer's like splitting aces and hitting two face cards. As I said: Cubs, sleeping giant.
    20 Oct

    You may not hold Hoyer in a similar high regard. Here's what Theo will have to work with resource wise:

    No one spent more on amateur players last year. The Cubs spent about $20 million on signings. $7 million of it on international signings. In the draft they signed 9 out of the first 10 picks, 18 out of the first 20. Our scouting director, Tim Wilken, was told to draft the best available players regardless of signability. Wilken said he hadn't seen that type of commitment to the draft since the early 90's when he was in Toronto. They paid over slot for a lot of them. They were even giving 1st round money ($2.5 mil) to their 14th round pick.

    The Cubs are building a state of the art complex in the Dominican Republic. It will allow them to attract the biggest talent in that region, and have top notch training facilities to help their development.

    They are also building a state of the art spring training complex that's suppose to be the best in Arizona. It's going to span 96 acres, and even have a Wrigleyville setup around the park. It will have living quarters for up to 100 players.




    Ricketts personally visited every minor league facility the Cubs own last season. He wants to make sure every Cubs affiliate has the best training facilities available. He's really big on player development. That's one of the reasons he wants Theo. He values those things as well. Though Ricketts did tell Theo during his interview the Cubs would always have the top payroll in the NL Central (per David Kaplan). That should be an easy promise to make for two reasons: 1.) Cubs are far and away the largest market in the NL Central 2.) The Cubs already have the highest payroll. It's just not well spent. They have the 3rd highest payroll in baseball.

    No one in the NL Central should be able to compete with how much the Cubs can spend on their payroll or the draft.

    The final thing that's going to open up revenue is the Wrigley Field renovations. That's why it will be a big deal if Jonathan Gilula comes with Epstein. Ricketts was a big fan of the Fenway renovations. Once that's completed the big league club should have all the modern amenities afforded to players in newer parks. Most importantly creating a significantly better fan experience for a team that sees 3+ million people show up to an old run down park. The revenue streams that could open up as a result will be a great thing for ownership.

    Just for good measure here's the plans for the Wrigley renovations.







    So far I've approved of everything Ricketts has done. Instead of coming here and just throwing money at the big league roster to try to turn things around. He's taken his time to visity and survery every aspect of the Cubs organization. From getting a new facility in Mesa, to visiting our minor league facilities from Iowa to the Dominican. He's building it from the ground up. He seems to have found someone who's now going to build the front office you'd want giving all this a direction.

    Under Jim Hendry the Cubs had the smallest front office in baseball. They'll now have one of the biggest. Not just the decision makers. Scouts and everything else will be expanded. Also Hendry never gave the minor leagues a clear vision. Depsite giving Rudy Jaramillo a nice contract. His appraoch to hitting was not spread to our minor league teams. Stuff like that has to change. Everyone at our facilities should be learning the Cubs brand of baseball, whatever Theo decides that is, to make for much smoother transitions to the bigs. I know the Twins are great at doing that.

    I'm going to vote yes in the poll because I believe in the way the Cubs have approached building this organization.
    Last edited by DMBZeppelin; 10-22-2011 at 05:54 AM.
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  2. #2
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Thank you DMB, that's one of the best posts this site has seen in a while! I do think Theo and Co. have the ability to make the Cubs into a perennial contender but winning the World Series is really a crapshoot. The Cubs have a long way to go and this offseason will definitely be an interesting one for them. I love the renovation plans for Wrigley as they look great!! It's about time they joined the 21st century.

  3. #3
    Broadcaster DMBZeppelin's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by love_that_reefer View Post
    Thank you DMB, that's one of the best posts this site has seen in a while! I do think Theo and Co. have the ability to make the Cubs into a perennial contender but winning the World Series is really a crapshoot. The Cubs have a long way to go and this offseason will definitely be an interesting one for them. I love the renovation plans for Wrigley as they look great!! It's about time they joined the 21st century.
    Thanks!

    My life is starting to clam down some to where I can spend time on the internet more often. Combine that with huge Cubs news and I just had to post over here where people understand my love for baseball. I also have a typo in the poll it should say tenure

    Ya I agree it's a crap shoot. In the past 39 years the Cubs have made it 7 times: 1969, 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007, and 2008. I'd like to get to a point where a Cubs post-season trip isn't easy to remember because of how rare it is. You just have to get in and give yourself a chance. The best team doesn't always win. I do think the Cubs have the resources to win the NL Central more years than not.

    Also I edited it with another picture. The other one I found was very low quality. Look at what current Wrigley locker room looks like compared to the Yankees. It's laughable. The sad thing is the Ricketts improved the current version a lot. Even adding a spot for a very small kitchen to get the players better food. The locker rooms used to be even more cramped than that and didn't have HD TV's.

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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Well it's great to have you back and thanks for all the info I like Wrigley Field a lot but damn, it has been needing a facelift for a while and glad to see Ricketts has a plan and from what it looks like a good plan! Getting an All Star Front Office will definitely go a long way for this team. Like you pointed out, the money is there not only for FA's but for the draft and international signings where I think Epstein and Hoyer will excel. The Cubs will have a nice spot in the draft come June. I just hope the Cubs don't try and rush to be a contender making ill-advised big FA signings to make up for getting this brand new FO.

  5. #5
    Broadcaster DMBZeppelin's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by love_that_reefer View Post
    Well it's great to have you back and thanks for all the info I like Wrigley Field a lot but damn, it has been needing a facelift for a while and glad to see Ricketts has a plan and from what it looks like a good plan! Getting an All Star Front Office will definitely go a long way for this team. Like you pointed out, the money is there not only for FA's but for the draft and international signings where I think Epstein and Hoyer will excel. The Cubs will have a nice spot in the draft come June. I just hope the Cubs don't try and rush to be a contender making ill-advised big FA signings to make up for getting this brand new FO.
    That's my greatest fear. That they give Pujols 8-10 years and we get stuck with another bad contract. Obviously he'd be great at first, but he'd never live up to that deal. I'm hoping with the situation Ricketts inherited he realizes you can't buy yourself out of bad contracts.

    Sometimes bad contracts happen, but you can only survive them if you have a deep farm. At the moment the Cubs can't afford to give away compensation picks.
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    Hall of Famer cjkalt's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    If they give him 5-6 yrs he'll do it eventually... If not no shot

  7. #7
    Administrator HollywoodLeo's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by cjkalt View Post
    If they give him 5-6 yrs he'll do it eventually... If not no shot
    I thought he was overrated?
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Just cause he has struggled in FA doesn't mean he can't develop a farm system

  9. #9
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Fantastic thread, DMB. I really hope you stick around and continue to post!

    First of all, once the Cubs build the new facilities in Mesa, and once I can actually I afford it, I am definitely going to have to head down there and check it out. It looks really cool!

    I also hope that in the near future, the Cubs will get the money they need for renovations of Wrigley Field. Those would be some much needed upgrades. Don't get me wrong, I still love Wrigley, it just needs a LOT of work.

    I think this offseason is a big test moving forward for the new front office. The only way the Cubs can compete next season is if they pull a 06 offseason out of their ass again (Soriano/Lilly/Resigned Aramis/DeRosa etc.). I'm really hoping they are smart enough to stay away from that. The only really big FA acquisitions I could stand is somehow prying C.C. from New York (very low percentage of happening, I know), and no longer than a five year deal for Prince or Albert (I know, also unlikely).

    Personally, I believe that if Theo can build the Cubs into consistent playoff contenders within this five year deal (or pulls it off within), they will throw him a blank check to stick around much longer. Eventually, he'll get it done.

    This thread has me all sorts of pumped up!
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  10. #10
    Furcals Designated Driver realmofotalk's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by DMBZeppelin View Post

    You may not hold Hoyer in a similar high regard. Here's what Theo will have to work with resource wise:

    No one spent more on amateur players last year. The Cubs spent about $20 million on signings. $7 million of it on international signings. In the draft they signed 9 out of the first 10 picks, 18 out of the first 20. Our scouting director, Tim Wilken, was told to draft the best available players regardless of signability. Wilken said he hadn't seen that type of commitment to the draft since the early 90's when he was in Toronto. They paid over slot for a lot of them. They were even giving 1st round money ($2.5 mil) to their 14th round pick.

    The Cubs are building a state of the art complex in the Dominican Republic. It will allow them to attract the biggest talent in that region, and have top notch training facilities to help their development.
    Big deal. The Dodgers had the poorest owners, the dumbest GM, and Angel Berroa for Dominican "talent" and still kicked your asses in the NLDS.

  11. #11
    B/S Leader Trendy Bastard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by realmofotalk View Post
    Big deal. The Dodgers had the poorest owners, the dumbest GM, and Angel Berroa for Dominican "talent" and still kicked your asses in the NLDS.
    And your point is?
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    Furcals Designated Driver realmofotalk's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Anything the Cubs can do to be consistent playoff contenders, the Dodgers can do just as well if not better, provided the franchise is turned over to successful people like Mark Cuban and Andrew Friedman.

  13. #13
    B/S Leader Trendy Bastard's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Well keep your fingers crossed that Mark Cuban buys your team. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

    As a Cubs fan, it's pretty damn exciting to have an owner that is willing to hand out as much money as it takes to sign all of our draft picks, and to go out and get international talent. It's also exciting to have a President of Baseball Operations that has a track record for building strong farm systems. Two things Cubs fans have never seen before.
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  14. #14
    Furcals Designated Driver realmofotalk's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trendy Bastard View Post
    Well keep your fingers crossed that Mark Cuban buys your team. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.
    Of course you say that now when you were probably left blue in the face holding your breath that Mark Cuban would buy your Cubs at the time.

    It makes sense that fans of every other team in the NL are rooting for McCourt to retain our team so they don't have to compete against the 2nd largest market in the league.

  15. #15
    B/S Leader Trendy Bastard's Avatar
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    Re: Will Epstein win a World Series in Chicago?

    Quote Originally Posted by realmofotalk View Post
    Of course you say that now when you were probably left blue in the face holding your breath that Mark Cuban would buy your Cubs at the time.

    It makes sense that fans of every other team in the NL are rooting for McCourt to retain our team so they don't have to compete against the 2nd largest market in the league.
    Sure, I was excited when Mark Cuban first expressed interest in buying the Cubs, but seconds later reality hit me. MLB will probably never let the guy in.

    Maybe teams in your division feel that way. I feel bad for Dodger fans. I wouldn't wish that on even the Cardinals. I'm sorry your ownership sucks, we've been there. But it's not going to stop me and other Cubs fans from celebrating that ours fucking rocks.
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