As those of you who read the Cubs articles on this blog know, I have been saying for a long time that the Cubs need to stop trying to win pennants by signing free agents and by trading prospects for other people’s soon-to-be free agents. But the prior general manager (with the support or at least the acquiescence of the prior owner) said that Cubs fans had waited so long, that they had to try to win right now; that we, the fans, couldn’t wait. We can’t wait to build from within, they said. We have to buy what we need with money or prospects – or both. Well, they were wrong two ways. First, their way didn’t work. The Cubs did win the NLDS in 2003, but that was it. They lost the NLCS in 2003, and then went 0-6 in the playoffs in 2007 and 2008. But management still tried to buy what they thought the team needed or trade prospects to get it. And they wound up with Milton Bradley. Second, they underestimated us, the fans. We’ve waited this long. You give us a good reason to wait a little while longer, we will. Just make sure it works.
Fortunately*, in the fall of 2009, the Cubs got new owners, the Ricketts family. At the first Convention the Ricketts came to, in January of 2010, they said that they were in it for the long haul, and they have followed through on that. They didn’t make any moves right away, just to do something. They watched, they investigated and, then, when they saw no progress being made, they acted. Last summer they let the general manager go, and this fall they hired a whole new team.
In the last several months, the Cubs have hired: a President, Baseball Operations; an Executive Vice President/General Manager; and a Senior Vice President/Scouting and Player Development. They also split the scouting job in two, hiring a new Director, Professional Scouting and giving the current prior guy just the amateur scouting job. And they signed a contract with Bloomberg Sports to significantly upgrade the team’s information systems.
With that as background, the 27th annual Cubs Convention was held last weekend. And what I heard, on the baseball side, was encouraging. First thing Saturday morning was “Behind the Scenes with Theo Epstein.” Theo said all the right things about building from within, etc., but some of his predecessors have said much the same thing, and they didn’t get the job done. There are signs, though, that things may be different this time. While I have been a big Sean Marshall fan for a long time (see here and here), I do understand the logic behind the trade of Sean to the Reds: Sean was going to be a free agent in one year. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Cubs would not get a draft pick if he left. The Cubs got a lot of prospects, including a young left-handed starter, who would be under the Cubs control for a long-time in exchange for one season of Sean Marshall. While I feel bad about Sean leaving (and I really wish him well – except when the Cubs are playing the Reds), I can’t disagree with the logic of the trade. Still, the proof is in the pudding (or the winning). In the meantime, here are some of the good things Theo said:
- The two worst times to evaluate players are Spring Training and September. Theo likes to tell his scouts to find two or three guys having a terrible spring. Maybe their GM will panic and sell them cheap.
- The Red Sox strategy was to let free agents go and stockpile extra first round (and sandwich round) draft picks. You can’t do that under the new collective bargaining agreement, so it’s going to be a matter of being the best at scouting. You have to hire the best scouts and pay them well.
- Theo wants to develop a young core of players, and he wants to prepare them for both on the field and off the field matters. The team will hold a two-week seminar in the off-season on things like off-field conduct, etc.
- The Cubs minor league talent was deeper than he thought, especially at the lower levels.
- The Cubs are behind in information technology.
Both Theo Epstein and then Jed Hoyer, in “Meet Cubs Baseball Management,” talked about a “Cubs way.” In the past, if you talked to people, around baseball or elsewhere, about a “Cubs way” they would have thought you were joking – or talking about the wrong way to do something. But Epstein and Hoyer were being serious, and they were talking about the right way to do something. If they can do this, the Cubs will be in good shape.
Hoyer talked about insuring instruction is consistent up and down the system, having the major league coaches talk to the minor league coaches, so things are taught the same way at every level. This is what good organizations do. It is not at all clear that the Cubs have done that in the past. The fact that Epstein and Hoyer are talking about it is encouraging. But once again, while talking is good, accomplishing is what counts.
Sunday morning was one of my favorite sessions: “Down on the Farm”. They had Jason McLeod, new Senior Vice President/Scouting and Player Development, as well as Oneri Fleita, Vice President, Player Personnel, and Tim Wilken, Director, Amateur Scouting, and several minor league players. I have been a big fan of Tim Wilken since he took over back in 2006. I think he has done a great job in the amateur draft. I was wondering how he was going to feel about the Cubs bringing in a guy over him and giving half of his job (professional scouting) to somebody else. Well, he seemed happy. He said that he had been the only person (or at least one of only a few people) in major league baseball doing both pro and amateur scouting. He likes doing the amateur side. I hope that is true because, as I said, I think he does a great job on the draft.
Jason McLeod, who moved over from the Padres, said that what amazed him about Wrigley Field was the lack of facilities, things like places to practice swinging during the game, etc. McLeod also said, echoing Theo Epstein, that with the new collective bargaining agreement, you won’t be able to be as aggressive in drafting and spending in the later rounds. Therefore, it will come down to pure scouting. It will be a scouting competition.
The biggest concerns, as always, came at “Meet Cubs Business Management”. Apparently, the Cubs are going to try “dynamic pricing” in the bleachers. As more seats sell and you get closer to the game, the price will rise – unless, of course, the Cubs are stinking, like the last two years.** They are, in effect, going to price bleacher seats like airplane tickets. Which is appropriate because a lot of the food at Wrigley Field tastes like airline food. Also, airplane crashes are an apt analogy for many of the Cubs’ recent seasons.
The biggest concern, however, may be the 70-foot-wide LED board they are putting put in the far right field corner. They are taking out the bleacher boxes and putting in a deck (like minor league parks have) with an LED board in front of it. Did I just say mini-Jumbotron? I certainly hope not, though with the guy in charge of Cubs business management (I refuse to mention his name because, if I did, I would have to boo him), it is possible. And if it is, then the “view from right field” (i.e., from the right field bleachers) may be the best seat in the house – because it will be the one place you won’t be able to see the stupid LED board.***
But let me end with the high point of the Convention: Friday evening, at the Opening Ceremonies, they introduced all the old-time players, the coaches, the front-office people, etc. – and then they introduced the current players. After all the current players, through Randy Wells, had been announced, Pat Hughes, who was doing the introductions, said, I have a breaking news announcement. And everybody cheered because we knew what it was. Kerry Wood had signed! It was the biggest cheer of the night – and of the whole Convention. Woody was coming back!
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* I think it is fair to say “fortunately” because, no matter what you may think of the Ricketts family, they are better than the Tribune under Sam Zell.
** Apparently, though, tickets will not go below the initial price, no matter how poorly the Cubs are doing. Except, of course, from the scalpers.
*** For you architecture buffs, it is not unlike what Frank Lloyd Wright supposedly said about the hyper-Gothic Harkness Tower at Yale University. If he ever lived in New Haven, Frank said, he would want to live in Harkness Tower – because that way he would not have to look at it.
Update (1/17/12 11:45 pm): Added the Sean Marshall links I forgot to include.
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