Ever since the Chicago Cubs announced the dismissal of Jim Hendry, just about every big name you can think of has been suggested as a potential candidate to take over the Cubs’ front office. And who could blame anyone for that? The Cubs are a brand name franchise in a huge market with a vast, loyal fan base; and with so many big contracts coming off the books this year and next, they are going to have huge piles of cash to spend for years to come. In other words, it is a general manager’s wet dream come to life.
Surely plenty of the big name execs like Brian Cashman, Billy Beane and Andrew Friedman will at least explore the possibility of taking over the Cubs, but there is one man out there who should be chomping at the bit to take on the Cubs’ rebuilding project more than any of them: Theo Epstein.
Already a hero to the greater New England region for constructing the Red Sox clubs that finally broke The Curse, Epstein has, in the Cubs, an opportunity to elevate himself from a regional icon to a god amongst men if he were to somehow come to the Windy City and turn the world’s most loveable losers into World Series champions for the first time in over a century.
Just think about that. In our lifetimes (prior to 2004), there have been no two teams in all of professional sports, much less baseball, more closely associated with being perennial losers that torture their fans than the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. We all know that Epstein was chiefly responsible for finally getting the Red Sox their long sought after World Series in 2004, and then again in 2007. It was a feat so impressive that baseball teams have since been falling all over each other to try and hire similar Ivy League wunderkinds as their general manager in hopes of replicating Epstein’s magic. Just imagine what would happen if Theo jumped ship to the Cubs and then pulled off the exact same miracle.
Would we not immediately have to classify him as the greatest baseball executive of all time if he turned the Cubs into champions? They would almost have to induct Theo into the Hall of Fame before the celebratory champagne has even hit the floor in the clubhouse, no?
As if that weren’t enough, it would give Epstein an extra boost of notoriety since he would almost certainly be flying solo in Chicago. As celebrated as he is in Boston, he still works under the oversight of team president and CEO Larry Lucchino, a man he has clashed with over the years to the point that Epstein temporarily quit for a few weeks back in 2006. In Chicago, Epstein would be THE MAN the instant he walked through the door. A fresh new challenge complete with autonomy and a chance at becoming a living legend? I really don’t know what else he could possibly ask for.
