Whenever the Chicago Cubs finalize and announce their acquisition of Theo Epstein, current Boston Red Sox GM and future Cubs President of Baseball Operations, they are expected to move quickly to add current San Diego Padres GM Jed Hoyer to the fold as their own GM. Hoyer is young, but already very accomplished, having worked under Epstein in Boston (specializing in sabermetric analysis) and put in two full years as Padres top dog.During that time, despite very limited resources, Hoyer has marked himself as one of theleague's shrewdest and savviest executives. If Andrew Friedman had not had the tremendous farm ...
Theo Epstein might never officially take the helm of the Chicago Cubs at this rate. However, assuming the Cubs and Boston Red Sox work something out and that Epstein eventually becomes the head honcho at Wrigley Field, he will have his work cut out for him.The Cubs have won 75 and 71 games the past two seasons, respectively, and a fan base long weary of losing has grown downright impatient. Epstein needs to provide results soon, be it in the form of a rapid turnaround or simply some forward progress in 2012.Either way, the in-house minor-league talent held by the ...
Theo Epstein might not be named to his new post with the Chicago Cubs until after the World Series, and at this point, perhaps that is for the best. The Cubs remain locked in negotiations with the Boston Red Sox over the poaching of Epstein, who has been GM in Boston since 2002. Now the fun starts, though, because as it turns out, this might be much less a lateral move than anyone previously thought. Epstein would become the Cubs' president of baseball operations, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, and it sounds as though he will try to name ...
Theo Epstein might be one of the best general managers in baseball, and it's perfectly understandable that the Chicago Cubs would want him to fill that (or an even bigger) role in their organization. It's also easy to see why the Boston Red Sox would not want to lose Epstein without getting a good deal in return.It's getting harder and harder, though, to see how the hassle of the haggle is worth the time either side is investing in the negotiations that are still ongoing over what the Cubs will send to complete this quasi-transaction. The Cubs want to send Boston ...
Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein Wednesday forsook that title in favor of a better one with the Chicago Cubs, according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com and other outlets. The move marks a coup for two of baseball’s biggest and brightest brands, and for the game’s most famous intellectual wunderkind.Epstein won the 2004 and 2007 World Series from the big chair in Boston, and he fits each of the criteria Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts enumerated at the outset of his inaugural GM search. Ricketts said he wanted an executive committed to player development. Ricketts wanted someone comfortable and adroit with ...
Bryan LaHair hit about as dramatic a home run as a non-contender can have hit on their behalf Tuesday night, helping the Chicago Cubs reach extra innings by launching a two-out, two-run bomb to tie the score at 2-2. Entering the frame, Chicago had managed just one hit off Cincinnati Reds starter Mike Leake all night.LaHair also recently won the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) MVP award, after clubbing 38 homers during their shorter season. His power tool is well clear of average; of that there is no doubt. Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune highlighted the issue of whether or not ...
Derrek Lee did not hit the ball off the best part of the bat at Wrigley Field Saturday, with his team down two runs and the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth inning. He watched the flight of the ball, but without his usual bop out of the batter's box. Despite the seven years in which he plied his trade at Wrigley, he was not sure the ball was gone until it nestled itself into the basket atop the wall in deep left field.Perhaps what made the ball so hard to read for Lee was the stark backdrop ...
Carlos Pena has been a terrific bargain for the 2011 Chicago Cubs. He has saved untold errors for the infield defense, driven the ball well at times and demonstrated what perfect baseball makeup is even during a lost season.But Pena ought not to be back in 2012. This is one thing about rebuilding a ball club: Sometimes even successful one-year solutions have to remain so. In fact, Pena is just one of perhaps a dozen Cubs who should not be back in 2012. The team needs to start afresh, and while senselessly shoving off talent would be foolish, so, too, ...
Since firing GM Jim Hendry on August 19, the Chicago Cubs have played amid a constant swirl of rumors about who will stay and who will go as the team prepares for 2012.After the New York Yankees claimed Carlos Pena off revocable waivers, there were major whispers that the team would deal Pena and move on with the intent of pursuing Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols this winter.But the new GM is not yet in place, so it's too early to ponder those decisions closely. Moreover, savvy trades and free-agent moves represent just one component of success. The other, often ...
The Chicago Cubs are bad.Starlin Castro, Geovany Soto, Darwin Barney and Brett Jackson form a formidable up-the-middle core around which to build, but oof, do Tom Ricketts and company have much building to do.The team will win 75 or fewer games this season, as it did in 2010, and it might well do the same in 2012.Help is not close at hand. The high minors have been a tale of disappointments this season, from Josh Vitters still not really figuring things out to Trey McNutt scuffling with injuries and command problems. The parent club's injury problems have intruded on the ...
« Previous Page — Next Page »
