NASHVILLE, Tenn.The Cubs sell themselves.
That was the message from team president Theo Epstein, who insists that the organization isnt having issues recruiting free agents to a long-term rebuilding project, where the possibility of a sell-off at next summers trade deadline exists if things dont break right.
The winter meetings kicked off on Monday at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn., where the Cubs will monitor everything, but not feel the same urgency as those teams in win-now mode. Someone else will win the Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke sweepstakes. Dont expect any megadeals on the North Side yet.
But Epstein believes manager Dale Sveum has become a draw, besides the obvious advantages of playing in a great city and for a franchise that has opportunities.
Dales making a name for himself as a manager that players want to play for, Epstein said. Free agents recognize that we had a good clubhouse last year, despite the difficult season that we had. I think generally free agents believe in the positive direction were going.
Elite baseball players are really competitive and I think they like the thought of being part of the solution here. Being a member of the team that finally wins a World Series for the Cubs is really appealing. Ive had a number of players tell me that directly. We have not had to sell our situation much at all.
When we express interest, weve been hearing back: Oh, thats a place weve had our eye on. Which you dont often hear coming off a 101-loss season.
MLB
Sources indicated that the Cubs are not after Michael Bourn, whose options could be shrinking now that Angel Pagan (San Francisco Giants) and B.J. Upton (Atlanta Braves) have signed for a combined 115 million. With players coming off the board, the Cubs could be in position this week to sign their outfielder, possibly someone to play right because David DeJesus can shift to center.
Its starting to come into focus a little bit, Epstein said. As much as any other market, the outfield market this year is kind of tiered a little bit, so theres a domino effect with each move. With each passing day, it becomes a little more clear.
The Cubs will continue looking for starting pitching after adding Scott Baker and Scott Feldman to the rotation, though Epstein admitted we can kind of relax and pick our spots and dont necessarily have to be desperate.
Baker and Feldman were signed to one-year deals, but the Cubs are willing to make a bigger commitment to the right outfielder.
That was based on asking prices, the supplydemand dynamic, Epstein said. We felt those were the best values. In an ideal world, we would have gotten options like we did with (Paul) Maholm, but because the markets a little different this year we werent able to. But if the right multi-year deal were there for a pitcher, we would have acted. Same with the outfield.
We might end up with a one-year deal somewhere. We might end up with a multi-year deal. We might end up with a trade for an under-control player. We just dont know where things are going to take us, but we havent ruled anything out or in. You cant be like so dogmatic about a plan that you cant look at all options, especially when your plan involves acquiring talented young players. Those arent available in free agency.
So the Cubs are going to have to be creative. Epstein is comfortable with the idea of having a platoon in center field andor at third base. They continue talking with Ian Stewarts camp after non-tendering the third baseman last week and havent ruled out re-signing him. They think Luis Valbuena could be in the mix. They could move a middle infielder to the corner, or find a power bat and hope he catches the ball at third base.
Kevin Youkilis is going to go to a much higher bidder, especially now that the New York Yankees need to do something with Alex Rodriguez heading for hip surgery. There are no obvious solutions at third base.
As Epstein said, It would be good to be Mike Schmidt right about now.