One can understand the panic amongst Chicago Cubs fans. After all, going more than a century without winning it all can severely test peoples’ patience.
Just not the Cubs front office.
Cubs President Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer made their first significant move this offseason by hiring new manager Joe Maddon. That appointment came one month ago. Since then, the Cubs have been the shy kid at the party. No trades, no free agents, no pizzazz.
And that is perfectly OK.
This is the most important offseason the Cubs have had in a long time, and it could shape where the franchise goes in the next 10 years. Rushing something this critical would be dumb.
“The definition of 'patient' varies from person to person, as it should,” Epstein told Carrie Muskat of MLB.com at the start of the 2012 season. At that point, Epstein and Hoyer had a clear plan for where they wanted to take the team entering this offseason.
While they knew they could end up with significant money to spend in free agency, they also wanted to walk into the winter meetings in a position of strength when it came to personnel, not just cash. Looking across the game’s landscape, the men understood that offense was dipping, pitching would become slightly devalued, and having a surplus of hitters would shortly be the envy of all major league decision-makers.
The first rounds of the Cubs’ next three drafts went like this: hitter, hitter, hitter. Later rounds in those same drafts also saw the Cubs stockpile offense, and they went nuts on the international market to do the same, including signing Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2288335-france-should-grant-legend-thierry-henry-a-farewell-appearanceSo.
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