With Major League Baseball's Opening Day just around the corner and Spring Training nearing its end, the Chicago Cubs have been all the rave up to this point. After what could very well end up being a historical off-season for the franchise which saw the signings of one of the top two free-agent pitchers on the market in Jon Lester and arguably the best skipper in the bigs in Joe Maddon, Kris Bryant who is not only Chicago's top prospect but is the number one prospect in the Majors, has been tearing the cover off of the ball this Spring. The 23-year old third baseman which has also seen some playing time in the outfield, leads the league in home runs this Spring and has Cubbie fans licking their chops looking into what should be a very bright future for an organization which hasn't won a World Series title in over a century.
In just 14 games this Spring, Bryant, a Las Vegas native and graduate of Bonanza High School, has belted 9 home runs, while driving in 15 RBIs and logging a robust .425 batting average, the type of numbers that would usually result in a player being a lock to get the opening day nod at the hot corner. But not in this case. Monday, the Cubs made a decision that was sure to grind the gears of Bryant's agent Scott Boras and the MLB Players Association alike when Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein announced the team's plan to have Bryant start the season at the Minor League level. Though the news of the team's decision is fresh off the presses and was finally made official, sources around the ball club say Epstein and company had their minds made from the start which has caused the Cubs front-office to be the target of criticism from those on the outside looking in. But if we're talking solely from a business standpoint while keeping the future in mind, the front-office made the decision every single one of us would make if we were at the helm.
By having Bryant start the year in the Minors, they can delay the start of his service clock and thus gain another full year of his services as he won't become eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season instead of 2020 had he made the opening day roster. To dumb it down some; if the Cubs can wait it out for the first nine games of the season (12 days), they'll have another year's worth of Bryant's services which considering his potential, is a no-brainer. Not to mention the championship drought that lingers on the north side of Chicago. If I'm a fan of the Cubs, I'm thrilled that the brain trust has their eyes focused on the bigger picture and that's the future of the franchise, opposed to the front-office giving him the green light to start the year only to watch him struggle out of the gates and send him back down to the Minors. Or worse, witness him become a free-agent and sign elsewhere a year earlier than he could have had we been patient for an additional two weeks.
Bryant's red-hot hitting this spring is no fluke as the second overall pick of the 2013 MLB Draft also hit a league-leading 43 home runs in the Minors last year which should bring smiles to the faces of fans sitting in the bleachers at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. With such bright young talent as Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler already on the big league roster and prospects Javier Baez and Addison Russell in the Minors and next in line to be the core of the franchise, the Cubs should be a fun team to watch and a contending powerhouse in the NL Central for many years to come.
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In November of 2002 at the young age of 28, Theo Epstein took on the daunting task of becoming the general manager of a Boston Red Sox organization that hadn't won a World Series title since 1918, a drought that became notoriously known as the "Curse of the Bambino." However, two years later Epstein would form a Red Sox team that was finally able to turn the tide and put an end to the black cloud that hovered over Fenway Park for 86 years as Boston soon became a fixture in the Postseason, winning two World Series Championships in four years. With lofty expectations heading into the 2011 season after acquiring not one, but two of the most highly coveted names on the market in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, many believed Epstein had assembled one of the best lineups Major League Baseball had ever seen. Instead, a monumental collapse in September would prove otherwise as Epstein's brainchild lost a nine game lead in the wild card race, missing out on the postseason on the final day of the regular season. Boston's debacle would later result in a number of changes in the Red Sox front-office including the dismissal of former manager Terry Francona as well as the departure of Epstein who now has an even bigger task at hand and will be in charge of ending an even longer World Series drought of 103 years, this time for the Chicago Cubs.
Following the collapse, the Red Sox appointed Ben Cherington as Epstein's successor who's first task was to hire a new skipper to fill the shoes of Terry Francona. After searching high and low with a list that had over 50 possible candidates, Cherington and co. thought they found their man in Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum until he was snagged days later by the Cubs which led them to Plan B. Hired to become the 45th manager in franchise history as well as put an end to the video game playing and fried chicken eating in the Red Sox clubhouse will be Bobby Valentine who's nine years removed from his last stint in a Major League dugout.
Making his third pit stop along his big league journey, Valentine, a New England native who grew up in Connecticut has compiled a 15-year career managing such team's as the Texas Rangers (1985-1992) and the New York Mets (1996-2002) before serving the last of his two stints in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines (1995, 2003-2009). Though Valentine has tasted success overseas, leading his team to a world title in '05 to win the Japan Series, the 61 year old skipper has experienced limited success at the Major League level with his only major accomplishment being a National League pennant in 2000 and a trip to the World Series in which his Mets lost to the cross-town rival New York Yankees in five games. All of that could change, however, as Valentine gets set to takeover a ball club with a plethora of talent and potential.Prior to the announcement of Valentine being selected to manage the Red Sox in 2012, many had the skipper being somewhat of a dark horse and an underdog to land the job, but it was his passion for the game and will to win that turned Cherington and Boston's front-office into believers, offering him a two year deal with options for a third and fourth year. Historically, teams managed by Bobby V have been known to show immediate improvement in the standings following the season in which he took over so if history repeats itself the Red Sox should be playoff bound at least if not be the team everyone projected to win it all last year. You may have seen or heard Valentine's most recent work on ESPN where he served as an analyst the last two season's. Trading in his suit and tie for a jersey, Bobby V gets set to take on a job he's described as a dream come true. "I'm honored, I'm humbled and I'm pretty damn excited," Valentine said during his news conference in front of a large crowd of cameras and reporters at Boston's Fenway Park.Follow me on Twitter: @FraserKnowsBest
