Epstein's optimism overflowing as season nears end
MILWAUKEE - The status looks to be quo for the near-term future of the Cubs.
Team president Theo Epstein gave it an "absolutely" Friday at Miller Park when asked if manager Rick Renteria would be back next year. The Cubs will announce something about their coaching staff in the next few days. It may remain intact, but a tweak is always possible.
As far as his own future, Epstein said he was in no rush to talk about a contract extension. He is finishing the third season of a five-year deal he signed with Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts in the fall of 2011.
"It's really not a concern for me," Epstein said. "I'm focused on growing the organization. I'm sure we'll talk this winter about longer-term plans and how all of the different personnel fit into that mix. It's not really a pressing issue yet.
"I love coming to work each day. I love the people I work with. I love the challenge that we have here. I'm more optimistic right now than I've ever been that we're going to accomplish our goals, and I very much want to be a part of that when it happens."
Epstein covered a number of topics before the final series of the year. The team has completed end-of-season interviews with almost all of its players. Epstein said some of the struggles rookie Javier Baez has endured at the plate didn't come as a shock.
"It's gone very much as expected," he said. "Before we get into the offense, I think it's really important to recognize what he's done defensively. He's played an incredible shortstop. I think he was playing an incredible shortstop in Triple-A. Beyond the tools that he has and the plays that he's made, he's shown a great baseball head on his shoulders - really good instincts, really good focus. He's earned the respect of a lot of the veterans here for the way he plays the game out on the field."
Entering Friday night's game against the Brewers, Baez had 90 strikeout in 215 plate appearances since coming up from Class AAA Iowa Aug. 5.
"Offensively, in some ways, it's gone as expected," Epstein said. "He hasn't quite learned a consistent approach yet where he swings at the pitches he wants to swing at. He's letting the pitcher dictate the approach of the at-bat by not being selective enough. When you do that in the big leagues, it can get ugly in a hurry.
"He's been chasing soft stuff low and expanding fastball up in the zone and out of the zone. He's very aware of that dynamic and how he needs to adjust to fix it, and I think he's looking forward to making those adjustments this winter and coming back stronger."
The Cubs figure to be active in acquiring starting pitching. Epstein said the pitching picture is much bigger than the starting five.
"I think we've seen enough to know that our pitching depth should be in pretty good shape next year," he said. "To be fair, I think there are a number of guys that have had good years that we're going to take a conservative approach and look at as depth. The onus is on them to take a step forward and establish early next season that they're more than depth and deserve to be in the rotation.
"If any team is serious about wanting to compete, they need eight, nine, 10 starting pitchers in their system. That depth is really important. If guys are capable of being big-league starters but you bring in even better big-league starters from outside, that just improves your depth. If we feel good about enough of these guys, I think realistically some of them are going to start out in the Triple-A rotation. The onus is on them to demonstrate that they deserve to be big-league starters that we have to have."