Rozner: Heyward just part of Cubs' plan to end drought

The Cubs would have won the World Series last season if Kris Bryant had been on the Opening Day roster.

The Cubs don't care about winning or they would have traded Bryant and Kyle Schwarber at the trade deadline for Ben Zobrist.

Tom Ricketts is cheap and the world is flat.

Yup, you just can't help some people.

But while they have floundered about, the Cubs stuck to the plan, rebuilt from scratch and are now going for it all with a window that is wide open for the next six or seven years.

Not a coin-flip game. Not a single postseason. Not one and done.

The window is wide open for years to come, just as Theo Epstein had hoped it would be when he explained the plan at his very first news conference.

That opportunity has come and the Cubs have gone for it all, at the same time holding onto all of their best prospects.

It's genius, pure genius.

For those who never understood the plan, the Cubs, coming off a 97-win season, are now considerably better on paper than when they lost to the Mets in the NLCS and will be favored to win the World Series in 2016.

Or maybe you still think they should have traded Bryant, Schwarber, Addison Russell and Javy Baez for Jason Heyward a year ago.

Whatever.

The Cubs have added Heyward, Zobrist and John Lackey without subtracting a single player off their roster.

This is the same Epstein who doesn't care about winning and the same Ricketts who is too cheap to go for it all.

Heyward, Zobrist and Lackey for nothing more than dollars from the Cubs' coffers.

So strategic were these signings that they stole two crucial players from the division-winning Cardinals, prevented three other National League contenders from getting Heyward, and three other N.L. contenders from signing Zobrist.

In the same week, they traded a player they didn't want and didn't need (Starlin Castro) while dumping his entire salary, and acquired a pitcher (Adam Warren) who was the Yankees' best starter in the first half of 2015, and was removed from the rotation only because a veteran returned from injury.

He then pitched well out of the bullpen, which gives the Cubs a versatile pitcher who could be their fifth starter or someone who can be a long man or seventh-inning specialist.

So as you look back to the NLCS against the Mets and think about how the Cubs needed to get better, the boxes needing to be checked are growing fewer by the day.

They needed a veteran starter with postseason experience and they got Lackey on a short-term deal and at reasonable dollars before the market exploded.

They needed to get better defensively in the infield and outfield, so they added Zobrist, who can play everywhere, and Heyward, one of the best defensive outfielders in the game.

They needed guys who can get on base and work counts and run the bases like they have a clue, and they've done that with Heyward and Zobrist.

The Cubs are still looking to deal for more rotation depth and bullpen arms, so it's not as if they're done, and they still have chips to deal, such as Baez and Jorge Soler, chips they held onto at the trade deadline when they had no clue whether they would reach the coin-flip game.

So the Cubs won 97 games in a year in which they thought they would win 81.

The held on to all of their best prospects, reached the NLCS and their weaknesses were exposed.

Now, they have shored up many problem areas and are still working to get better.

The scariest part about all of this is Anthony Rizzo has not yet reached his prime and will get better, especially now with protection in the lineup.

Bryant, Schwarber and Russell have all been here for about 15 minutes and are merely scratching the surface of their abilities.

So if you liked what you saw from those three terrific rookies in 2015, wait until you see them by August 2016, August 2017 and August 2018.

Yeah, while some didn't get the plan and wanted the Cubs to trade those players for veterans, the Cubs now have those veterans and they still have all those kids.

Epstein has put them in a position to compete for a World Series every year for the next six or seven years, and not mortgaged the farm for a single coin-flip.

In other words, consistent chances to win it all with an eye toward maintaining this level of play for as long as possible, giving them multiple opportunities to end the most painful and mind-numbing drought in sports history.

Sounds like a plan.

• Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.