Reuters Cubs president Theo Epstein spoke with CSNChicago.com’s Patrick Mooney about the state of the Cubs. The money quote:
“The only way we can thread that needle so to speak is being transparent, and that means not selling a bill of goods,” Epstein said. “I’m not going to sit here and say: ‘Don’t worry about 101 losses because we have a magic plan to win the World Series in 2013. It’s gonna happen, so be there now.’
So, to sum up, the state of the Cubs is … mixed. Mixed like three metaphors in the space of a single sentence.
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- jayscarpa - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:17 AM
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What a load of crap.
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- bla bla bla - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:21 AM
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I feel bad for Dale Sveum and hope he gets another managing gig after this deal goes sour; which it undoubtedly will.
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- paperlions - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:31 AM
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How so? The Cubs hired Theo to take over to completely rebuild the organization…the Cubs were still operating like a team from the 80s. The rebuild isn’t just from a player talent perspective, they are rebuilt everything in the organization, structure, inter-level communication, approach to scouting/analysis….everything…and they inherited an MLB team and MiLB system that were both lacking.
Theo knows this…and he won’t fire Sveum unless he feels Sveum is doing a bad job within that context. In short, Sveum won’t be fired for losing, he’ll be fired if he is a poor team leader and if he strays from the philosophical approach of the organization.
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- bla bla bla - Oct 5, 2012 at 11:21 AM
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How so? Because it’s the Cubs. It’s what they do. Ownership will only let Theo go on a spending binge for a very short time and then they’ll put the clamps on him. They’ll end up with 2 or 3 extremely high priced guys surrounded by a bunch of scrubs. Same old Cubs.
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- deadeyedesign23 - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:41 AM
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I was behind Sveum, but he’s made quite a few really terrible managerial decisions this year. If he has to go at the end of this deal I’ll be fine with that.
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- brewcrewfan54 - Oct 5, 2012 at 12:47 PM
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Every manager makes dumb decisions.
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- kkolchak - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:31 AM
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The Cubs have been “selling a bill of goods” for 105 years now, so why would next year be any different?
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- qcubed3 - Oct 5, 2012 at 2:48 PM
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Technically, it’s been 104 years.
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- chill1184 - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:32 AM
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What else do people want Epstein to say? Baseball isn’t football and cant get fixed in a year.
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- paperlions - Oct 5, 2012 at 11:11 AM
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You can’t actually fix a horrible football team in a year either….it is just that in football teams can improve a lot without seeing much change in their record, and then the record can changes drastically once the team reaches the tipping point.
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- brucewaynewins - Oct 5, 2012 at 11:34 AM
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The 2011/2012 Baltimore Orioles would like to have a word with you sir.
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- indaburg - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:40 AM
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Will his magic plan for 2013 include giving 110% and playing one game at a time?
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- jkcalhoun - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:43 AM
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It takes
foursixeight years. Just ask Dayton Moore.
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- Old Gator - Oct 5, 2012 at 12:04 PM
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Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s wait until 2113, then look back at what Theo was able to accomplish. It’s fairer.
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- whodeytn - Oct 5, 2012 at 9:55 AM
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He destroyed the Red Sox, now he’s putting a dagger in the Cubs. Love it! Looks like they’ll be the new Houston Astros of the NLC.
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- pellypell - Oct 5, 2012 at 10:13 AM
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de·stroy/diˈstroi/
Verb:Put an end to the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it.
Completely ruin or spoil (something).I don’t think that word means what you think it does.
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- lumpyf - Oct 5, 2012 at 10:37 AM
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It’s called a figure of speech. No need to trot out the old dictionary.
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- paperlions - Oct 5, 2012 at 11:12 AM
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Even as a figure of speech, he’s woefully wrong.
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- cur68 - Oct 5, 2012 at 11:27 AM
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Sox ownership destroyed the Sox. Got to believing they could do what Francona and Epstein did. Doesn’t look that hard, right? Well it is.
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- pastabelly - Oct 5, 2012 at 2:46 PM
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Theo needs to get a huge portion of blame for the 2011 and 2012 Red Sox. Do you just credit him for championships and blame others for flops?
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- Sam - Oct 5, 2012 at 10:35 AM
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Yeah he really destroyed that franchise with 2 world series wins, and a contending team every year. Plus he totally hired Bobby V the ultimate team killer.
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- lumpyf - Oct 5, 2012 at 10:38 AM
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Did that happen in spite of Theo or because of him?
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- Sam - Oct 5, 2012 at 12:40 PM
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I’m nominating what you just said for the preposterous statement of the year award. I wish you luck though you likely won’t need it I think you have a head start.
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- papichulo55 - Oct 5, 2012 at 10:45 AM
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Cubs finished with the second worst record in MLB, but was ninth in attendance. Keeping your asses out of the seats will do wonders!
