Few franchises have had as bad luck as the Cubs, or more loyal, blue-collar fans. So president Theo Epstein’s anecdotes about scribbling the types of lineups that have the Cubs in the NLCS right now are sure to hit home.
“We’d write out the lineups on cocktail napkins at 2 in the morning in some sh—y hotel bar, thinking where we might get them in the draft,” Epstein said. “Then we get them and we put them up on the white board in the board room and we start to get pretty excited.”
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The Cubs have built this team on the backs of high-end position player prospects, and castaway pitchers that they’ve rebuilt. The emphasis on high-end everyday talent is clear. Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler have all played major roles, and Javier Baez is about to, as he fills in for Russell, who is hurt.
“When we were out scouting these guys,’’ Epstein said, “we’d be like, ‘Oh, if we can get Bryant in the draft, if we can get Schwarber in the draft with what we have.’”
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Those stud players have been complemented by Cy Young candidate Jake Arrieta (22-6, 1.77 ERA) and Jason Hammel (10-7, 3.74 ERA), as well as big-ticket acquisition Jon Lester.
Epstein said he’s blown away by just how quickly all of the Cubs’ prospects have become elite players, but he has seen it happen before.
“We saw that in Boston when [Jacoby] Ellsbury and [Dustin] Pedroia had such a great World Series. It ties the whole organization together,” Epstein said. The Cubs’ stars are even younger, which Epstein said is insane.
“I’ve never seen anything like 21- and 22-year-olds and 23-year-olds dropping bombs like they are right now,’’ Epstein said. “Kyle Schwarber was sitting in Instructional League a year ago, and now our scouts and development guys were here — we just wrapped up another great Instructional League — they were here to see those home runs land next to them in the bleachers.”
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