Posnanski Piece on Cubs/Theo/Rebuild

[David]

CHICAGO — Theo Epstein said this to me a few years ago, just after he got the Chicago Cubs job, and he has repeated the quote to me many times since. It is probably the closest thing Epstein has to an all-encompassing baseball philosophy. Sure, there are other credos for him such as, “Control the strike zone from both sides of the ball” and “Nobody holds a press conference at the END of a big contract,” and “You want a lineup that is relentless one through nine,” and “The best way to cover your bases is to make a series of small bets.”

 

But these are smaller philosophies – sub-philosophies, you might call them.

 

The big one, though, remains this: The game is best understood at 10,000 feet. This was the driving point when I sat with Theo Epstein in his office during spring training in 2012, not long after he became the latest brave soul to take on the Thirteenth Labour of Hercules:

 

1. Bring back the skin of the Nemean Lion.

 

7. Wrestle the Cretan Bull.

 

11. Steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, guarded by a 100-headed dragon.

 

13. Lead the Chicago Cubs to the World Series.

 

As just about everyone noted at the time, there was something poetic about Epstein taking on the Cubs’ test. He had already been a pivotal figure in a baseball miracle; his Boston Red Sox (the team he grew up cheering AND the team he ran as general manager) won the World Series after 86 years of wandering in the desert.

 

Continue at link... http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/theo-epstein-cubs-playoffs-in-reach/

 

EDIT: Apparently Theo is ARCubsfan

 

“This September is going to be enormously challenging,” Epstein says. “September is extremely hard on everyone. They’re so young and inexperienced and we’re being chased by a three-time World Champion and it’s just so tough because there will be times with a young team when you wonder how they ever even won two games in a row and …”

 

He can’t help it. The Cubs began Thursday 7 1/2 games up on the Giants with 17 games to play – their magic number to clinch a Wild Card berth Is down to 10 – but if you bring up such things Epstein will remind you that his 2011 Red Sox seemed like a playoff lock too, and that ended horribly. Epstein needs to worry. He needs a crisis to manage and a dragon to slay. It is in his nature.

 

 

At the start, the Cubs looked raw but interesting. They hovered around .500 until June, and then began to take off. Pitching got them going. Arrieta had improbably developed into one of the game’s best pitchers. Rondon anchored a better-than-expected bullpen. In August, the young lineup turned it on. The Cubs hits 44 home runs, averaged five runs a game, wore pitchers out with (using Epstein’s favorite word) their relentless approach.

 

“Not that it’s a perfect measuring stick by any means,” Epstein says, “but if you look at our pitches per plate appearance, we were 30th and we increased it a little bit each year. Now we lead the league in pitches per plate appearances. Our walks and our on-base percentage have followed suit – it’s the same in the minor leagues. We have a ton of guys who know how to grind out at-bats.

 

“That’s really what makes us tick. We’re very proud of the organization. This was the plan, but it’s a difficult transition to effectuate. We strike out a lot but we walk a lot, our home runs are up … we haven’t had too many starting pitchers get deep into the games against us unless they have a Cy Young on their resume. And you can see in the third or fourth game of series that bullpens are worn out against us.”

 

Epstein smiles: “We view this as the beginning,” he says. “But we’d like to make it to October this year and we’d like to do some damage in October. You can’t take anything for granted. You never know how many times you’re going to get there.”

 

Which leads back to the question of how much Epstein is enjoying the ride. He says that he is enjoying it, but he says it without his voice raising even a little. He tells a cool little story. Every day, he walks back to home after games – he lives fairly close to the park.

 

“There’s a difference from three or four years ago,” he says. “First of all, I did not have that much company walking back with me then. But it felt like part of the ‘Walking Dead’ walking back. There was no energy coming from the game, from the park. It was all about, ‘What are we doing next?’ And that was painful. That was tough, seeing all those long faces. People did recognize me and they gave lots of advice or they questioned what we were doing.

 

“Now, walking back, you feel like you’re part of a party on the sidewalk. People are floating home from the ballpark, really happy. You walk back and you’re walking with a Bryant jersey or Rizzo jersey or Schwarber jersey. It’s a collective experience.”

 

Only then, I ask him about his 7-year-old son Jack. And then, well, his whole face brightens. And he digs in.

 

“He’s had his first real little league season,” Epstein says. “It is his first time following a team, his first time reading the rulebook cover to cover. He has a deep understanding of the game. And he’s in.”

 

Now Epstein’s voice gets louder and more excited.

 

“He loves this team. He came out on the road with us to four games, and it seemed like we won every one of them on a walk-off hit. We hit five home runs. We won four games in a row. And now he thinks that’s what baseball is. Every morning he asks me, ‘Dad, did we win or lose?’ And if we lost, he’s like, ‘What? We lost again? What is happening?’ He thinks we should always win.

 

“It’s been like that all year. Not just for him. It’s like that for the team, if you were to take a snapshot of the season, it would be another young player comes up. He hits a game-winning home run. Oh, hey, we won. Thirty-five thousand people are happy. We get to go celebrate and play softball and have a beer and go out. And oh yeah, we get to to do it again tomorrow with another young player coming up. It’s a surreal baseball paradise.”

 

And with this, Epstein looks out on the field happily as batting practice goes on. Sure, he has to go back to 10,000 feet, has to go back and see what trouble awaits. But every now and again he he realizes, man, it’s true: It really is a great view from the front row.

Edited September 18, 2015 by David

[Guest]

Also it has the best/biggest version of the Bryant walkoff (version 1) picture I've seen yet.

[Sammy Sofa]

Theo knows to use landscape mode. What a cool dude.

[Guest]

Theo's son is totally gonna grow up a Cubs fan

[snoodmonger]

Good article.

[Clem Fandango]

Also it has the best/biggest version of the Bryant walkoff (version 1) picture I've seen yet.

 

Here's the link I dug up from the source code since it doesn't allow you to right click and save it normally.

 

https://nbcsportsworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/150917-cubs-1600.jpg

 

Also, I just noticed Dexter looks like a little kid trying to hold back his excitement from seeing boobs for the first time at a strip club.

[Brian]

yes!, perfect desktop background.

[Guest]

Also it has the best/biggest version of the Bryant walkoff (version 1) picture I've seen yet.

 

Here's the link I dug up from the source code since it doesn't allow you to right click and save it normally.

 

https://nbcsportsworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/150917-cubs-1600.jpg

 

Also, I just noticed Dexter looks like a little kid trying to hold back his excitement from seeing boobs for the first time at a strip club.

 

I TOO AM MAKING THIS MY DESKTOP

 

thanks!

[Banedon]

Epstein likes the roulette analogy. The Cubs didn’t do anything overly bold in those early years. Like he says: They just made a series of small bets. Epstein and the Cubs traded for a favorite prospect of his, Anthony Rizzo. They drafted Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber with their first-round picks. Samardzija took well to starting pitching, so they traded him at top value to Oakland for gifted young shortstop Addison Russell. They made a couple of small pitching bets too – trading for fading pitching prospect Jake Arrieta and drafting a hard-throwing but raw Hector Rondon in the Rule V draft.

 

None of these moves, with the possible exception of the Samardzija deal, made the front page.

 

Mhmmm...yep...that whole Samardzija/Russell trade sure was under the radar. EDIT: I misread this....ignore this part....

 

Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, on and on.

 

One of these things is not like the others...

[Sammy Sofa]

Also it has the best/biggest version of the Bryant walkoff (version 1) picture I've seen yet.

 

Here's the link I dug up from the source code since it doesn't allow you to right click and save it normally.

 

https://nbcsportsworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/150917-cubs-1600.jpg

 

Also, I just noticed Dexter looks like a little kid trying to hold back his excitement from seeing boobs for the first time at a strip club.

 

YOINK.

 

Thanks!

[Guest]

Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, on and on.

 

One of these things is not like the others...

 

Was just coming here to post about that.

[imb]

Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, on and on.

 

One of these things is not like the others...

 

Was just coming here to post about that.

 

soler is black

[Guest]

Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, on and on.

 

One of these things is not like the others...

 

Was just coming here to post about that.

 

soler is black

 

Did we ever figure out what race Russell is? I mean, he might be black also, right?

[weis21]

Also it has the best/biggest version of the Bryant walkoff (version 1) picture I've seen yet.

 

Here's the link I dug up from the source code since it doesn't allow you to right click and save it normally.

 

https://nbcsportsworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/150917-cubs-1600.jpg

 

Also, I just noticed Dexter looks like a little kid trying to hold back his excitement from seeing boobs for the first time at a strip club.

The Logan, you are the best