Cubs Create a Theocracy: What the Epstein Hiring Means

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogas

(Ed. Note: Former Cubs Fan Report Editor-in-Chief Joel Reese is even more impressed by the Theo Epstein hiring as we are. Here's his analysis. - CS)

At the count of three, let’s all take one last collective breath to enjoy the Theo. Breathe it in, people. Breathe deep.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Man, that felt good, didn’t it? It really did. Wow.

But hey, you can’t blame us Cubs fans for living in a near-post-coital reverie since the team introduced Theo Epstein as President of Baseball Operations. For decades, the team on the field more closely resembled a clown college than a major league franchise that might actually win.

And now, suddenly, the Cubs are players. They are a legitimate major league team with a really smart guy in charge. The 37-year-old Epstein knows what’s up, he’s charismatic, he has two World Series rings, and he refers to himself as Milton from Office Space. All of that is absolutely awesome.

What’s so amazing is that, with this hiring, the Cubs hired the right guy. They absolutely nailed it. And they haven’t done that since, well… ever.

If you look back over the years, the team has had leaders who would botch a bake sale. Dallas Green got the team close in 1984, but the brassy, bombastic boss alienated too many bean counters at the Tribune and he was gone before you could say “Here’s a ground ball to Durham… .”

Then there was the tweedy, sweater-clad Andy MacPhail, who looked more at home with a snifter of brandy in his hands than running a baseball team. The bespectacled baseball lifer was more concerned with becoming the sport’s commissioner than, you know, winning. He left after the team made the playoffs exactly twice in his uninspiring 12 years.

Other front office names inspire nothing but a bewildered shrug: Larry Himes? Ed Lynch? What the hell were those mopes doing running a baseball team? I remember listening, astonished, as Lynch described his strategy as basically hoping to put together a “competitive” team that could sneak into the playoffs and then we’ll see what happens. In other words, throw some guys out there and cross your fingers.

Then there was the Jim Hendry era. Everyone liked the rumpled, amiable GM, who once signed a player (Ted Lilly) while he was undergoing tests on his heart. Hendry was a good guy whose 2003 team came within one of baseball’s most infamous plays of making the World Series. (NOTE: Don’t click that link if you’re feeling especially fragile today.)

But while his teams did make the postseason in three separate years, you got the feeling Hendry’s MO was checking out a player, having a few drinks with the GM, working out a trade and then having a few more drinks. As the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan wrote today, going from Hendry to Epstein is “like ditching your rotary dial for an iPhone.”

But that’s all the past now. The Cubs are officially for real. They have smart ownership that moves deliberately, but eventually makes the right call. As I wrote when Hendry was fired, “Everything the team has done points to an organization that’s building a steady base with the idea of competing every season, not just the occasional lucky year.”

The Epstein signing just confirms that theory — the team has hired one of baseball’s smartest minds, and he will bring aboard some of his best lieutenants to instantly create one of the game’s top front offices. He’s expected to hire former cohorts Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod, both widely respected baseball minds.

But before we get too excited, let me add this: We know Epstein isn't a savior. Not every move he made in Boston worked out (John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, J.D. Drew, etc). And this is going to take some time — the Cubs’ farm system isn’t exactly the envy of the major leagues. It's going to take some time to restock the cupboard. But as the stellar Cubs’ blog Obstructed View put it, “This is a team now led by people who know how to win and owned by a group of people who actually do want to win.”

The most incredible thing to remember is how unlikely this all is. On Sept. 3, Nate Silver’s blog Five Thirty Eight put the Boston Red Sox’s chances of making the playoffs at 99.6 percent. If they had made the postseason, I bet you a dozen goodies from Doughnut Vault Epstein is still there today. But it all changed within a matter of minutes on the night of Sept. 28.

On the last night of the season, Boston’s once-invincible closer Jonathan Papelbon blew a save to one of baseball’s worst teams. Then, down to his last strike, Tampa Bay’s Dan Johnson hit this homer. And when the Rays won the game in extra innings, Boston’s epic collapse was complete and they were officially out of the playoffs. Petulant Red Sox fans demanded someone’s head on a pike, and soon Epstein and Sox manager Terry Francona were gone. Cubs’ ownership saw an opportunity, and they took it.

And now, thanks to that astonishing turn of events, Theo Epstein is now a Chicagoan. What we saw at the Epstein press conference was a smart man who’s been very successful at his job. We saw an owner whose patience paid off with one of baseball’s best minds. We saw the first steps of an organization that now has a plan for success.

We saw a team that has, finally, grown up.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@chicagoist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Joel C. Reese in News on October 26, 2011 2:00 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

twocee

I'd encourage any Cubs fans out there to read the book Feeding the Monster by Seth Mnookin. It is about the 2003-2006 Red Sox teams, and offers some really interesting insight into the Sox's front office and Theo's relationship with owners, Terry Francona, and his general style.

Joel Reese

Thanks for the tip, Twocee. I'll check it out.

sat3911

JJust one quick point, the 2003 Cubs came within one of baseball's most infamous plays of getting out of the damned 8th inning. The team that Hendry put together then let the next 623 consecutive batters reach.

BlueFairlane

I like this hiring, because I know one of two things will happen. Either a.) Epstein's Boston miracle will be proven a fluke, and all the Cubs fans who are so excited right now will be crushed further than they were when Alou failed to catch that ball in 2003, or b.) Epstein will succeed, and the Cubs fans will be forced to abandon their martyr complex, the most cherished piece of their personality, so that in five years when they're bad again, they'll just be regular bad instead of universally cursed.

Also, best use of the word "theocracy" ever.

Joel Reese

Blue: So, let's see... the Bartman play, Cubs' martyrdom, and wishes for losses in the future. You've just about hit the bitter Sox fan (redundancy alert) trifecta. I can see why you'd be a little resentful -- I would be too if my team just jettisoned the only interesting element in favor of a perfectly unremarkable block of wood with no experience.

But thanks for the kudos about "theocracy."

BlueFairlane

I'll point out that I'm not the one who mentioned Bartman, as Bartman had far less to do with that play than Cubs fans screamed over the next couple of years. That was a ball Moises Alou wasn't going to catch. You people blamed a weird guy in headphones for a half-inning of really bad play and amplified it to curse levels ... which is what you guys do.

And my bitter Sox fan trifecta is eased by the warm memories of a World Series victory since the start of the horseless carriage era.

Joel Reese

Yes, one World Series win over the last 100 years. You're a regular dynasty.

BlueFairlane

One's better than none. Heck, I even got to wear the ring once for about a minute.

Who's bitter now?

Joel Reese

Me, of course. I can barely see the screen through my bitterness. Soooooo jealous.

BlueFairlane

That's okay, former editor of a report dedicated almost solely to stroking the Cubs martyr complex by constantly moaning just how bad the team is and how you'll never, ever, ever win. I'm sure you'll find a way to endure. Grab a few crappy beers and everything will be coming up ivy.

(Does that give me the quadrifecta?)

Joel Reese

ChicagoD: True, MacPhail did come in with a golden boy reputation. But between his work with the Cubs and his recent stint with the Orioles, I think he's likely proven that his success in Minnesota was simply an aberration. Maybe there's a reason Forbes said the '87 Twins were the worst World Series-winning team ever.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/...

ChicagoD

It does look like a fluke now. The O's stint is really damning as he brings failed and washed up Cubs in to compete with the Sox, Rays, and Yankees. I mean, they didn't compete with the Cards, Reds, and Brewers, so why not the Yankees?

Anyway, I hope Theo can get this done so we can just be regular baseball fans without this curse crap always coming up. This is where Blue is wrong. I don't know any real Cub fans who want anything more than to be normal and let someone else deal with the "longest streak" crap. I would gladly win with the worst Series winning team ever.

BlueFairlane

I don't know any real Cub fans who want anything more than to be normal and let someone else deal with the "longest streak" crap.

My intensive scientific analysis based on surveys of Wrigleyville bars and several counties in Iowa suggests your definition of "real Cub fans" excludes approximately 83.7% of those who self-identify as Cub fans. Using your rubrik would place the Cub fanbase among the smallest in MLB ... which, considering the history, should logically be the case, but logic rarely has anything to do with the Cubs. Cubs fans are only exceeded in their love of martyrdom by Tea Party Republicans and conservative Christians.

ChicagoD

Trust me, I want to believe more than most people do. However, Andy MacPhail was baseball's Boy Wonder when he came to the Cubs. Almost a Theo before Theo, although that was before Moneyball made front office people "stars" in baseball.

chicagoist_tips

I think the difference here, D, as Joel pointed out, is MacPhail was as hamstrung by Tribune Co. meddling as Dallas Green before him. It doesn't matter what product you put out on the field if you have a guaranteed 3 million visitors to the ballpark.

The Ricketts family are on their own here with regard to financing and debt load. It's why you're seeing more concerts, other athletic events at Wrigley and things like movie screenings. They need to keep the income flowing so as to not be in violation of MLB's debt service.

The Cubs saw a decline in attendance this year but still had more than 3 million people come through the turnstiles. What Epstein is hoping to do here is what the ghosts told Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come. - Chuck

ChicagoD

OK, but what Joel said was "Then there was the tweedy, sweater-clad Andy MacPhail, who looked more at home with a snifter of brandy in his hands than running a baseball team. The bespectacled baseball lifer was more concerned with becoming the sport’s commissioner than, you know, winning. He left after the team made the playoffs exactly twice in his uninspiring 12 years."

I'm just saying that he was the It Girl at the time as well.

StevenVargas

Ok, so maybe I'll start following the Cubs now...

mike_thoms

Epstein's bad free agent signings don't mean a lick to me because he helped Boston win two titles and laid the foundation for the team to be a regular contender.