The Cubs Way/The Plan

[salukifan2]

Yes the tanking netted them draft picks, but also top international money that allowed them to sign Soler, Torres, Candelario, E. Jimenez.

Then how can you forget the trades? Filling roster spots with intention of trading that player? Craziness.

I wish the cardinals would modify some of this to get younger and more athletic

[Hoot45]

This is from the description of The Cubs Way on Amazon:

How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat?

Revisionist history will work to see that the Cubs first championship in over 100 years is remembered heroically, not as the league tarnishing strategy that it really was. While the Cubs deserve credit for drafting the right guys and not spoiling their development, which is not a guarantee, I will still forever be annoyed by the way they went about it... and not just because I'm a Cub hating Cardinals fan, even though that plays a part.

I'm a season ticket holder that paid to watch a half decade of s*** games from the Cubs. Now as a handful of other teams follow suit I've got even more garbage on the schedule. The "tank hard" strategy is cool when you want to build a championship at all costs but it cheapens the product across the league. I'm actually probably more mad at MLB than Chicago that this is a growing concern, but as a consumer and taxpayer of a publicly subsidized entertainment product I am not thrilled with my money going towards watching teams that are literally trying to lose, and then hearing them brag about how great they are when they finally win.

[go birds]

well said. fck the cubs

[Popeye_Card]

The Cubs Way: How an over-hyped young President of Baseball Operations (not the GM) convinced an entire fanbase that it could lose badly for a few more seasons seasons, combined some reasonable drafting with a fairly good trade record, and overcame spotty high-price free agent acquisitions and borderline insane playoff managing to finally win the World Series it by all means should have, given the amount of talent and resources at the team's disposal.

Assuming of course that Theo gets the credit for this.

Imagine how much worse the Red Sox would have beat the Cardinals in 2004 if they'd had a good GM!

Do you think there's a single Cubs fan who's upset about the early losing seasons under Theo now? I don't get the bizarre unwillingness to admit anything good the Cubs have done. Also, if they've got all this talent (which you said yourself) wasn't their drafting a little more than "reasonable"?

Well the Red Sox are a different story. Theo didn't really tear them down to build them back up. He took over an already quite talented roster (Manny, Pedro, Nomar, Damon, Varitek, Nixon, et al were already there). Added Ortiz on a flyer, subtracted Nomar--viola!--World Champs.

As for the Cubs, my only real point is that they've finally broke through with all of the advantages they have had over the years. A number of top ten draft picks thanks to the losing, the ability to trade off good players thanks to losing, vast monetary resources applied to free agent and international signings. Don't get me wrong--good, even great moves were made along the way. The draft picks have been smart. The Rizzo and Russell trades were good. Picking up Arietta was great. Some free agent signings panned out (Lester, Fowler, Zobrist). Others didn't (Jackson, Heyward).

Epstein isn't a bad GM/President. He's pretty good. I'm just a bit annoyed by the narrative that he's worked magic with both the Red Sox and Cubs. Sure, they both broke historic streaks. But they really both just finally won what they should have a while ago, given their respective resources.

I recognize that the aim of these books is to capitalize on Cub fan euphoria after finally winning. Hell, there were similar miracle narratives sold after the 83 win Cardinals won in 2006 and the crazy run in 2011. I would have expected Cub fans to be annoyed by those just as we are by these.

[a_smith]

But they really both just finally won what they should have a while ago, given their respective resources.

This. The story should be that they finally overcame decades of inept ownership and management to win titles. They finally had a GM who could execute a plan and take advantage of the resources they had not been using.

[davhern]

Theo Epstein is far more than just pretty good. This is silly.

[Farewell Friends]

Theo Epstein is far more than just pretty good. This is silly.

Would you say he's the world's greatest leader?

[mul21]

This is from the description of The Cubs Way on Amazon:

How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat?

Revisionist history will work to see that the Cubs first championship in over 100 years is remembered heroically, not as the league tarnishing strategy that it really was. While the Cubs deserve credit for drafting the right guys and not spoiling their development, which is not a guarantee, I will still forever be annoyed by the way they went about it... and not just because I'm a Cub hating Cardinals fan, even though that plays a part.

I'm a season ticket holder that paid to watch a half decade of s*** games from the Cubs. Now as a handful of other teams follow suit I've got even more garbage on the schedule. The "tank hard" strategy is cool when you want to build a championship at all costs but it cheapens the product across the league. I'm actually probably more mad at MLB than Chicago that this is a growing concern, but as a consumer and taxpayer of a publicly subsidized entertainment product I am not thrilled with my money going towards watching teams that are literally trying to lose, and then hearing them brag about how great they are when they finally win.

I mean this is all pretty much garbage, but "publicly subsidized"? You're completely insane. The city and state told the Cubs to pound sand and made the entirety of what they're doing as difficult as possible.

[Popeye_Card]

Theo Epstein is far more than just pretty good. This is silly.

Is it? He's built some very good teams. He gets credit for not poorly spending most of the vast resources he is handed. And he has built championship teams two different ways--tweaking an already championship-caliber roster in Boston, and a complete re-build in Chicago.

I'm not trying to be a hater. The story of how the Cubs were built is probably very interesting and satisfying to long-suffering Cub fans. Just like we all love reading and watching how awesome Game 6 was. But I don't expect non-Cardinal fans to care much about Game 6. Cub fans shouldn't be too surprised that we don't think the way the Cubs were built was anything special. I doubt they have copies of the Cardinals Way on their bookshelf.

[pioneer98]

I mean this is all pretty much garbage, but "publicly subsidized"? You're completely insane. The city and state told the Cubs to pound sand and made the entirety of what they're doing as difficult as possible.

This is true. And I have no problem with it considering who owns the Cubs (a far right wing billionaire who now sits on Trump's cabinet). They should make it even harder on him.