Epstein eager to finish with Red Sox, see some progress
Cubs president Theo Epstein was trying not to make it all about him Friday, when the Boston Red Sox came to Wrigley Field.
Yes, there were plenty of questions about Epstein’s tenure as general manager of the Red Sox, with whom he parted somewhat bitterly last fall.
“We’re just getting started; we’ll see,” he said about this weekend’s three-game series. “But obviously, it brings back a lot of memories and you get to see a lot of great friends so I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s one of those things where you can’t wait for it to come and you can’t wait for it to be over, either. Hopefully three good games, we can get a couple of wins and move on. It will be great to see everybody. We don’t get to play these guys very often, so we have to relish it.”
Both teams are last in their respective divisions, the Cubs in the National League Central and the Red Sox in the American League East.
Epstein came to Chicago charged with turning the organization into a consistent winner. Although the 2012 record is 22-42 after Friday’s 3-0 win over the Red Sox, Epstein said he sees progress already.
“It’s all about wins and losses, that’s what matters in the game,” he said. “If you dig a little deeper, you see a manager and coaching staff who have set high expectations for the players and players who are working hard to live up to those expectations.
“I do think we’re very prepared day in and day out and we play the game hard day in and day out. There’s a little bit of a talent deficit right now, but hopefully, we’ll advance as we move forward. I like what’s being established in the clubhouse.”
A “talent deficit” is Epstein’s way of saying the Cubs aren’t very good, so he bristled just a bit when the term “underachieving” was mentioned.
“I think that would be disrespectful of the effort they’re putting in,” he said of the players. “I think we’re not where we want to be and there are some games we’d like back. We could have won a few more games. But these guys are playing hard, they’re preparing hard and they’re not backing down. I think we’ll find a way to grind our way to a few more wins going forward the rest of the season.”
Under Epstein, the Cubs hired a new manager (Dale Sveum) and coaching staff. They also beefed up their scouting and player-development staffs.
“There is progress in a lot of different areas,” he said. “Some of it is behind the scenes trying to put together a new scouting and player-development philosophy, get everyone on the same page and commit to a vision for the future built around a core of young players we’re trying to identify and develop. There is a lot of work behind the scenes, and hopefully, we can see a lot of progress on the field soon.”
Naturally, comparisons with the Red Sox will come up. Some are valid. Some aren’t.
“I had been with the Red Sox for a year before I became GM, so I had the opportunity to get to know everybody and get a feel for what we did well and what needed to improve,” he said. “Maybe it was a little more of a subtle process, but we made moves at the big-league level and had success right off the bat, and that bought us time to commit to the Red Sox way of doing things, which is what we established there with scouting and player development.
“A lot of the work is similar. Here, I think there is clearly a mandate for change. There didn’t have to be that much convincing. We just got together in the same room and talked about how we want to teach the game, what we want to stand for as an organization and how we’re going to execute at the minor-league level. That was a fun process and it’s nice to see it play out in the minor leagues.”