Cubs’ Epstein calls for urgency in ’19
CHICAGO — Theo from Wrigleyville did everything but hang up and listen for his answer when weighing in on the Cubs on Wednesday.
Channeling his inner sports-talk radio caller, Cubs President Theo Epstein all but declared that the team prematurely eliminated in October needed more fire and passion.
“If you just show up, playing it cool, knowing you’re talented, knowing it’s a long season and trusting that the talent will manifest over the course of 162, sometimes you’ll end up one game short,” Epstein said. “We could’ve done more from Day 1 to 162 as far as a complete sense of urgency every day, being completely on mission every day, showing up with that assertiveness and that edge every day.”
Meatball fans all over Chicago rejoiced, creating a chorus of I-toldyou-sos. See, every game does matter. Since April, the most-asked question about the Cubs season that just crashed and burned was this: Is it time to panic about an inconsistent team losing winnable games? Now here was Epstein, the epitome of patience and perspective, saying the answer always was yes.
That subtle but significant shift in philosophy from Epstein empowers every Cubs fan to start worrying as early as they want in 2019, when he vowed things will be different. The Cubs organization just lost the right to complain about anybody panicking over a bad stretch of baseball. Expect the second-guessing that Manager Joe Maddon likes to mock to intensify beginning with the March 28 opener against the Rangers. Must-win games in May? The idea might make Maddon and players scoff, but Epstein practically prepared everyone — including his manager, and perhaps especially him — for that inevitability.
“Sometimes divisions aren’t lost on that last day of the season when you only score one run and you don’t get in,” Epstein said. “They’re not lost in that last week and a half when the other team goes 8-0 and you go 4-3 and you needed to go 5-2. Sometimes they’re lost early in the season when you have an opportunity to push for that sweep, but you’ve already got two out of three and you’re just not quite there with that killer instinct.”
Not even Epstein can cite any metrics that measure killer instinct, but he also knows better than anyone what the Cubs lack.
In a game without a clock, the ticking just got louder on Maddon’s tenure. The former Lafayette College quarterback must adopt a football mentality that adheres to Epstein’s established criteria for 2019. Nothing about Maddon’s what-me-worry personality appears terribly urgent, yet now he finds himself forced into managing every series next season as if it might be his last, not necessarily a media exaggeration as much as an Epstein edict.
Epstein made clear he believes the Cubs’ problems revolve around production more than talent. He portrayed the Cubs as a team falling short of its potential, despite winning 95 games again. Without naming names, one could surmise Epstein was alluding to the stagnant second-half growth of young players such as outfielders Ian Happ, Albert Almora and Kyle Schwarber, catcher Willson Contreras and even shortstop Addison Russell, whose career had started going south even before Major League Baseball suspended him 40 games for violating its domestic-violence policy.
The day-to-day aspect of player development falls on the leaders in the dugout, not the front office. Everything about the dugout revolves around Maddon, who threatens to become a victim of the loosey-goosey, let-it-be culture he created. Something about that environment has led to an overall lapse in performance. Something about it interfered with the Cubs’ focus. Day in and day out, something intangible was missing that the Cubs need to rediscover before next season.
That’s not a knee-jerk reaction from a fed-up fan base. That’s the presidential response from a guy with three World Series rings, who just enabled the overreaction bound to follow every Cubs loss next season.