It's five more years for Epstein and Chicago Cubs
It always seemed to be a matter of when and not if concerning a contract extension for Chicago Cubs baseball president Theo Epstein.
As Epstein entered a "lame-duck" year, speculation centered on when team chairman Tom Ricketts would give Epstein his extension.
Would it be at the Cubs convention last January, in front of a fired-up hotel ballroom full of Cubs fans? Would it be at the April 4 season opener at Anaheim or the April 11 home opener at Wrigley Field?
As it turns out, Ricketts and Epstein moved along at their own relaxed pace, with neither side posturing and both sides expressing easy optimism that a deal would get done.
The announcement finally came Wednesday, with the Cubs in Pittsburgh, basking in the glow of a 100-plus-victory season.
Epstein was rewarded with a five-year contract extension, worth anywhere between $40 million and $50 million, according to reports.
At PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Epstein told reporters to expect similar news soon regarding general manager Jed Hoyer and scouting/player-development guru Jason McLeod.
Epstein and his lieutenants, with no small assist the past two seasons from field manager Joe Maddon, have transformed the Cubs from a baseball operation thin on talent in the fall of 2011 to one that's the envy of the industry, from a now-dominant major-league team to a minor-league system that continues to pump out top young players.
The process hasn't been without pain.
The Cubs suffered through three more losing seasons from 2012-14 before bursting through last year to win 97 games in the regular season. They beat the Pirates in the wild-card game and the Cardinals in the division series before falling to the Mets in the National League championship series.
This season the Cubs clinched the NL Central two weeks ago and subsequently nailed down homefield advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
Along the way, Epstein and Co. drafted players such as Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr., while acquiring current major-league contributors including Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey, Jason Heyward and Dexter Fowler.
The Epstein-Hoyer-McLeod mantra from the beginning was "building for sustained success," and it appears the Cubs are on their way to achieving that.
A native of New York, resident of Massachusetts and former GM of the Boston Red Sox, Epstein seemed to grow more and more comfortable with his time in the Midwest.
"I took a bit of a leap of faith coming here in them, and they've lived up to everything they said they would do," Epstein said, referring to the Ricketts family, which owns the team. "They've been incredibly supportive. They've been incredibly patient. They've been wonderful to my family. They've given me great freedom to operate baseball operations.
"They've given me the resources we've needed to make this baseball operation thrive. It's everything I could have ever asked for. There's no place I'd rather be. I said five years ago, 'It's a great day to be a Cub.' I still feel that way. I envision feeling that way for the foreseeable future, so I'm thrilled this worked out."
Ricketts told reporters serious talks began in spring training of this year.
"I told him I thought he was the best in the game at what he did, and he told me no matter what I paid him he wasn't going to leave Chicago, so we were off to a good start," Ricketts said, as quoted by cubs.com. "We had some good pieces and we had some good players in the beginning, but the organization itself was not in a position where you could believe there was sustainability and consistency and success on the field.
"Obviously, Theo and the guys he brought with him five years ago took the organization down to the studs and started rebuilding. I give a lot of credit to Theo and Jed and everybody on that team, but I also give a lot of credit to all of our fans who basically heard our story, listened to us throughout. I think the time and energy to do it the right way has paid off with a team that should be successful for years to come."
Epstein came to town with a reputation as a new-age, numbers-oriented executive, but he also has brought in "character" players such as back up catcher David Ross and others.
"I think a lot of people have this perception, and I was sort of in that camp, that he was a deeply quantitative, number-cruncher guy," Ricketts said. "But the thing I've seen in the last five years is how well he handles people, how well he chooses people for his team, how well he chooses players for his team.
"I think his ability to judge character and put together the right human resources on the same team has been truly remarkable."
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