The Cubs 2015 Opening Day payroll was a whopping $3 million less than it was this year. Man, Theo is slinging cash left & right at FA's, right?????? And Opening Day 2014 the Cubs had the 23rd highest payroll in the majors.

CORRECTION: This year's payroll is actually $3 million LESS than 2015.

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I don't agree about the Cubs having a "limited checkbook." The Cubs have as much $ to spend as anyone.

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Well you can choose to ignore facts if you want but that doesn't make it true. Sure the Cubs aren't operating on a shoestring budget but Theo has absolutely been working under financial constraints since he arrived in Chicago.

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Proof? Link?

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http://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm

Well as of Opening Day 2016 they had the 14th highest payroll in baseball. Is that enough? Seriously, if you followed the Cubs at all since Theo took over it was common knowledge that he was absolutely working with a limited budget. Otherwise he would have spent plenty of money on the big league club while also rebuilding the minor league system. Why do you think they sucked so bad for the first few years of his regime?

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To tank for higher draft picks?

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I don't agree about the Cubs having a "limited checkbook." The Cubs have as much $ to spend as anyone.

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Well you can choose to ignore facts if you want but that doesn't make it true. Sure the Cubs aren't operating on a shoestring budget but Theo has absolutely been working under financial constraints since he arrived in Chicago.

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Proof? Link?

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http://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm

Well as of Opening Day 2016 they had the 14th highest payroll in baseball. Is that enough? Seriously, if you followed the Cubs at all since Theo took over it was common knowledge that he was absolutely working with a limited budget. Otherwise he would have spent plenty of money on the big league club while also rebuilding the minor league system. Why do you think they sucked so bad for the first few years of his regime?

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To tank for higher draft picks?

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Yeah, no. I don't have the time to search for articles now but he had a limited amount of money to spend. He chose to use that in scouting, infrastructure, minors, etc. I honestly don;t even care at this point to prove anyone wrong. You go show me proof that he had unlimited cash to spend at any point in his tenure with the Cubs.

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I could argue for Daniel Murphy over Zobrist, Marcell Ozuna over Dexter Fowler, and [insert at least 5 shortstops] over Addison Russell.

Ballot stuffing.

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Just because you can make an argument doesn't mean the person voted to start doesn't deserve it.

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LOL ok

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He chose to use that in scouting, infrastructure, minors, etc.

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Oh ok. Not tanking. Got it. Just "spending wisely."

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I could argue for Daniel Murphy over Zobrist, Marcell Ozuna over Dexter Fowler, and [insert at least 5 shortstops] over Addison Russell.

Ballot stuffing.

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Just because you can make an argument doesn't mean the person voted to start doesn't deserve it.

And what is "ballot stuffing" when people are encouraged to vote multiple times every day? They do cap the number of times you can vote per day at 25, I think. Zobrist beat out Murphy by 88 votes. It's not like New York has a small fan base compared to the Cubs. Why didn't Mets fans vote more?

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Just for the record, Daniel Murphy plays for the Nationals now.

Nationals fan here. Carry on.

Oh yeah, I remember that now.

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Lets suppose he wins a World Series with the Cubs, he'll have broken the two "curses."

He didn't take over a Boston franchise that was in shambles, but he was the man behind a period of success that franchise hadn't seen in about 100 years.

If the Cubs have any staying power whatsoever, he'll just about do the same thing in Chicago.

That seems pretty good.

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This is slightly misleading.

Theo wasn't behind the moves to build the 2004 WS team. His predecessor (Dan Duquette) made many of those moves (Manny, Pedro, Varitek, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield, Johnny Damon).

His big moves for the 04 team was getting Ortiz (who was in the bargain rack at that time), Bill Mueller, Schilling and Kevin Millar. His gutsiest move of all was sending fan favorite Nomar Garciparra to the Cubs in a 3 way move that landed Orlando Cabrera to beef up the defense. He deserves a ton of credit for that one as OC was a true catalyst and the cost, if it backfired, would have been big.

The 07 team had a lot of hold overs from the 04 team, but his temporary replacement added Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett.

Theo was also responsible for HUGE loser contracts like JD Drew, Edger Renteria, Matt Clement, Carl Crawford and Julio Lugo.

However, he does get credit for hiring Joe Maddon. But is hiring Maddon really an example of brilliance? I mean when Tampa Bay hired him for his first managing job, that is clearly an example of talent recognition! But, Maddon was an already a proven commodity when the Cubs signed him and he would have been hired by 20 (or so) other teams as well.

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But, Maddon was an already a proven commodity when the Cubs signed him and he would have been hired by 20 (or so) other teams as well.

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I remember Maddon left TB like a week or so after the Rangers got Bannister

Well, I said "period of success" and not just the 2004 World Series.

But anyways, re: 2014, he brought in the starting 1B, 2B, both guys who started at SS, 3B, RF, the ace SP, #3 SP, and almost the entire bullpen including its best pitcher and its closer.

By 2007, even more of the players were new to Boston (or had Epstein had made the decision to re-sign them).


As much as one can discount the 2004 World Series, I think he would perhaps more than make it up with his impact on the 2013 club. Ortiz, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, Lackey, Buchholz, Doubront...

...arguably its 3 best hitters and 4 best starters.

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Theo was also responsible for HUGE loser contracts like JD Drew

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JD Drew who started on a World Series team was an All-Star the next season, was even better the next...? The one that had a .824 OPS while in Boston? That JD Drew?

Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo made about $9 million or less a year...and he was able to move them to another team within about 1 to 3 years.

Which GM hasn't had that problem outside of Oakland or Tampa where they can't afford to sign free agents. And on that note, lets get real. Those were hardly crippling the Red Sox.

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But, Maddon was an already a proven commodity when the Cubs signed him and he would have been hired by 20 (or so) other teams as well.

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I remember Maddon left TB like a week or so after the Rangers got Bannister

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I remember a bunch of Ranger fans collectively groaned that they missed out on this.

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JD Drew who started on a World Series team was an All-Star the next season, was even better the next...? The one that had a .824 OPS while in Boston? That JD Drew?

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JD Drew who would have his period and then sit on the bench. JD Drew who would sneeze and tweak his back and sit. JD Drew who never really fit in but got paid like he was an MVP candidate.

Renteria was earning about 500K per error!

Lugo was just plain awful no matter how much he was earning as was Crawford.

Some of you will only tip your cap to greatness if wine is literally made from water.

What Theo did in Boston was remarkable. If it was easy to build a team when you have the luxury of an open checkbook, every World Series would be a huge salary vs a huge salary. Certainly, he benefitted from having the money at his disposal, but they made some incredible under the radar moves, which was the difference between his WS teams and previous Red Sox squads.

Simply building the Cubs into the perennial playoff team is equally, if not more impressive. The Cubs were not just bad, when he came on board, they were annually trending worse.

Then you take into consideration the financial restrictions of the new ownership, and the fact it has been done with SOOOO much youth - opening the club's window of opportunity as wide as one could imagine possible.

If the Cubs break the curse, Theo would be in the conversation of greatest GM's in baseball history.

They acquired Arrieta, Wood, and Hendricks in incredible low risk trades and let them mature, almost on the backburner, as the initial attention was given to the stockpiling of young bats.

Then, only when they felt like they had the right keystone pieces in place, they went out and landed Maddon to do what he does so well and make the pieces work so well together.

For those unfamiliar with the situation the Cubs were in when he was hired, I recommend reading the following article (written prior to the 2014 season):

http://grantland.com/features/chicago-cubs-boston-red-sox-theo-epstein/

(worth mentioning, it also makes mention that a large number of scouts had Jonathan Gray pegged as the #2 talent in the draft, ahead of Bryant)