Theo Epstein: Why He Was in the Right Place at the Right Time with Red Sox

When Theo Epstein was introduced as the Chicago Cubs' new president of baseball operations last October, he made it clear that he had very simple, yet very lofty goals for the organization.

Here's what he said at his introductory press conference, via ESPNChicago.com:

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I firmly believe that we can preserve the things that make the Cubs so special and over time build a consistent winner, a team that will be playing baseball in October consistently and a team that will ultimately win the World Series.

"

If he actually follows through on this, Epstein will be just as big a legend in Chicago as he is in Boston. In fact, if he goes into the books as the man who brought world championships to both the Red Sox and the Cubs, a certain title will be placed next to his name:

Best. Baseball Executive. Ever.

We're about a month and a half into Epstein's first season in Chicago, and it's abundantly clear that it's going to take some time to bring a World Series to the North Side of Chicago. The Cubbies enter Wednesday's action with a record of 15-21, which ties them with the Houston Astros for the worst record in the NL Central.

We knew this was going to be the case, of course, and Epstein more or less acknowledged that it would be at his introductory presser. He stressed that his goal was to change the culture of the team and to build a "foundation for sustained success." Such things are not done overnight.

I don't doubt Epstein's ability to deliver on his promises. He's one of the smartest men in baseball, and he's got some smart men working for him. If anybody can break the Curse of the Billy Goat [rolls eyes while typing], he can.

However, this is as good a time as any to note that making a winner out of the Cubs is going to be different from making a winner out of the Red Sox. For lack of a better word, it's not going to be nearly as easy.

Last season, the Cubs went 71-91 and finished in fifth place in the NL Central. They scored 654 runs and allowed 756. They were an absolute mess, and Epstein was brought in to clean it up.

Things were different when Epstein was appointed to be the general manager of the Red Sox in November of 2002. The team's new ownership was still settling in during the 2002 season, but holdover players from the previous Boston regime were able to achieve a record of 93-69, just barely missing out on the playoffs. Those 2002 Red Sox had two 20-game winners in Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe, a batting champion in Manny Ramirez and a shortstop in Nomar Garciaparra who was still very productive.

The point: Epstein, then a mere 28 years old, was taking over a team that was already pretty good. He didn't have to make any promises of building a "foundation for sustained success." The Red Sox already had one. By adding and subtracting, Epstein could very quickly mold the Red Sox into a championship team. All he had to do was make smart decisions.

And he did. The additions of players like David Ortiz, Bill Mueller and Kevin Millar before the 2003 season went under the radar, but they ended up paying huge dividends. Their success showed that Epstein very much understood all the "Moneyball" stuff that was starting to gain popularity both within and without baseball.

Wouldn't you know it, those 2003 Red Sox ended up nearly going to the World Series. Had it not been for Grady Little's legendary brain fart in Game 7 of the ALCS, the Sox probably would have gone to the World Series.

Though the 2003 season had a disappointing end, Epstein still had a great team to work with heading into the offseason. All he had to do was augment it, and he did that by bringing in the likes of Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Mark Bellhorn, Pokey Reese and others.

Epstein continued to tinker at the trade deadline that year, sending Garciaparra out and bringing in two defensive wizards in Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. Strengthened, the Red Sox caught fire down the stretch, and ultimately won the World Series.

So in less than 24 months, Epstein took a solid team, tinkered with it and squeezed a championship out of it. Additional tinkering in subsequent years ultimately led to another World Series championship in 2007.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the Cubs aren't going to be winning a title at any point in the next 24 months. Epstein is not faced with a situation where all he has to do is add and subtract to create a championship ballclub. He's faced with a situation where a team needs to be torn down and built back up on top of a solid foundation, one that is still in the process of taking shape.

The Cubs will win by drafting and developing. As Epstein put it, the idea is to have a "steady stream of talent" going from the minors to Chicago. The Cubs will have to "grind" their way to the top.

This is yet another thing Epstein never really had to worry about when he was in Boston. He really doesn't get enough credit for the way in which he rescued Boston's farm system from the depths of despair, but the idea wasn't so much to use the team's farm system as an incubator for talented young players who would eventually help the Red Sox. Some players (Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury) ended up helping the Red Sox, to be sure, but the farm system was also there so the Red Sox could make trades meant to help the big club, which is perennially in "win now" mode.

Though it wasn't executed by Epstein, the Josh Beckett trade comes to mind. More recently, there was the Adrian Gonzalez trade. 

This is a luxury Epstein and the Cubs aren't going to be able to enjoy until they start winning. Before he can worry about bolstering the big club by trading away minor league talent, Epstein and the Cubs brass must first build a winning team out of minor league talent. They're starting from scratch.

Even knowing all this, I still have confidence in Epstein's ability to build a winner in Chicago. But I must admit, I'd have more confidence in a guy like Andrew Friedman, the current general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. Though the Rays haven't won the World Series yet, Friedman has actually managed to do in Tampa Bay what Epstein is trying to do in Chicago.

It's no surprise, then, that Friedman's name was often mentioned as a possibility for the Cubs before they lured Epstein away from Boston. In fact, Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Friedman was on the Cubs' radar before Epstein was.

Ultimately, the Cubs went for Epstein, who was looking to get out of a venomous situation in Beantown. I believed him when he said that he wanted to embrace the challenge of making a winner out of the Cubs, but he also bolted for Chicago because he needed a breath of fresh air.

But this is not a vacation for Epstein, make no mistake about that. When he took over in Boston in 2002, Epstein was the right man in the right place at the right time. I wouldn't say he's the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time in Chicago, but he's definitely a man in uncharted waters.

If he wants that "Best. Baseball Executive. Ever." title, he's going to have to do a lot of things he's never done before, and it's going to take time.

So patience, Cubs fans. While Epstein and his staff are working their magic in the front office, the best advice I can give is this:

Just sit back and revel in the awesomeness that is Bryan LaHair.