Epstein doesn't have to make a splash right now

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DALLASThis is the perfect nugget for the 247 news cycle: Theo Epstein met with the agent for Albert Pujols.

The age of Twitter doesnt leave much room for context. The Cubs president of baseball operations pointed out that Dan Lozano also represents Rodrigo Lopez.

Epstein indicated that the Cubs have interest in bringing back Lopez, who will turn 36 next week and went 6-6 with a 4.42 ERA last season. The journeyman right-hander wouldnt generate any buzz.

But as the winter meetings began on Monday at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Lopez is exactly what the Cubs are looking for now. They absolutely need to stock up on pitching inventory.

The Miami Marlins are rumored to be in the Pujols sweepstakes and want to sell tickets and make a dent in their market. They need the wow factor LeBron James brought to South Beach.

The Cubs are looking to give a megadeal to the right player at the right time. They already made their biggest move of the offseason.

Epstein has payroll flexibility, ownerships full support and the credibility to preach patience after winning two World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox. He said he has zero interest in making a splash just for show.

Five (or) 10 years from now, Epstein said, if we look back on this and say we made any move for any reason other than its in the best short-, medium- and long-term interests of the Cubs, wed have a hard time sleeping at night.

This is hard enough. If you try to serve perception, as well as reality, you end up hurting yourself.

Twelve months ago at the winter meetings, Jim Hendry had to structure Carlos Penas one-year pillow contract across three fiscal years. Pena will receive a 5 million payment next month. The Cubs are supposed to act like a major-market team again and dont have to do those financial gymnastics anymore.

Pena is expected to decline an arbitration offer this week. Epstein believes there are multiple multi-year deals out there for Pena. Epstein said the Cubs havent closed the door on Pena, though theyre looking at all options at first base, some of which wont make big headlines.

Bryan LaHair came to the winter meetings to pick up an award for leading all minor-league hitters with 38 home runs last season. He met with Cubs executives and wasnt promised anything. But he will be given a chance.

LaHair is 29 years old and was a 39th-round pick. He has less than 200 at-bats on his big-league resume. But the Pacific Coast League MVP generated 109 RBI and a 1.070 OPS last season at Triple-A Iowa.

I tend not to buy into the concept of a 4-A hitter, Epstein said. If you can dominate the Triple-A level, get on base and hit for power (and) demonstrate that you can handle different kinds of pitching and cover the entire strike zone, I think given enough time, hell contribute at the major-league level.

Were not giving him the job. And Im not saying were not looking to upgrade at first base. But if it ends up with him playing a significant role or getting a significant opportunity, I think wed all be comfortable with that.

Epstein is uneasy with the state of the Cubs rotation, and thats where hes encouraging his scouts to again think outside the box. Soon all this talkEpstein estimated that you might make one move for every 100 conversationswill have to lead to some action.

If you just get on line with everybody else and say: Were not going to overpay. Were just going to wait for the reasonable pitcher to be out there, Epstein said, youre going to be waiting until the end of spring training, hoping to claim someone off waivers. Because theres way more demand than there is supply for starting pitching.

Were going to have to take some chances and be creative. You need to know who your eight or nine starters are. You have 1,400 innings out there to fill. You want to get 1,000 of them out of your starting pitching. It takes a lot of bodies to do that. We dont have enough (quality arms).

Stay tunedeven if the next move doesnt lead to a press conference.

We just have to work really hard to figure out whats in (our) best interest (and) be disciplined about that, even if its unpopular, Epstein said. Sometimes it will be popular, sometimes it wont. You work towards pleasing the fans every October because I think in the end thats what they really want.

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