SEPTEMBER 12: The Twins have now requested permission to speak with McLeod, GM Jed Hoyer told reporters including Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter links). Hoyer suggested that it is all but a foregone conclusion that McLeod will eventually depart to take over another baseball ops department, though of course it remains to be seen whether there’ll be a match with Minnesota.
SEPTEMBER 7, 9:50pm: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the Twins haven’t approached the Cubs about speaking to either McLeod or Rehman about a front office role. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Twins don’t have interest in the pair of execs. Thus far, there’s been no indication that the Twins have progressed beyond compiling a list of potential candidates, let alone conducting interviews.
Rehman downplayed the reported interest when speaking to Wittenmyer, calling it “flattering” but stressing that he, like the rest of the Cubs’ front office, is focused on bringing a championship to Chicago.
12:50pm: The Twins are “looking closely” at some members of the Cubs front office as they continue their own executive search, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. Specifically, Minnesota has interest in Jason McLeod and Shiraz Rehman, per the report.
We heard yesterday that Minnesota is considering former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos for the post of president of baseball operations. [Editor’s Note: Anthopoulos has since said he is not interested in pursuing the position at this time.] The club is set to institute a two-tier arrangement, hiring a PBOp who will in turn hire a GM.
It is not immediately clear how the Cubs’ executives fit into this still-developing picture. Both of these still-youthful executives obviously carry wide industry respect, but neither has yet been tasked with final decisionmaking authority over an operations department.
McLeod, the senior VP of player development and amateur scouting, has previously drawn consideration for GM gigs but has seemingly been committed first to his work in Chicago. “I really want to be here when we win,” he said back in 2014 after declining a chance to interview for the Padres’ GM opening. “Being a GM is something I still really hope to do in the future, but right now I felt this is where I want to be.”
Rehman is an assistant general manager who has long-standing ties to top Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer dating back to their time with the Red Sox. He worked with the Diamondbacks before coming to Chicago. For more about his background in Arizona — under a regime that prioritized statistical analysis — check out this 2009 interview from David Laurila.
It’s worth noting that the expectation is that no Cubs personnel will change organizations while the season is ongoing, per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (via Twitter). That wouldn’t appear to remove any of that club’s executives from consideration for this or other openings that may arise, but it could impact the timing somewhat.
No. Stay away. I’ve been enjoying this team’s steady stream of impact everyday players each year.
DAM STRAIGHT OUR TIME IS NOW!!!
I want to see the Theo Epstein Front Office tree. Seems like half of the GMs in the league started out under him
I’d like to keep Team Theo 100% in tact at Wrigley!!!
I feel like that’s kind of selfish. Most of these guys dreamed their entire life of being a GM and this is their chance.
I’m not making a claim either way, but it would be interesting to ask executives if they would rather be a GM of or be a non-gm front office person part of the Cubs’ first World Series since 1908 (obviously big assumption there).
We said the same thing in Boston. Except our owners have that thing where they think they can outsmart everybody
It’s a mighty Oak.
I hope whatever front office team that comes on board builds the Twins back up to playoff contenders, quickly. Its a nice part of the country that deserves great teams in their stadium for a storied franchise.
As a Cubs fan I hope McLeod stays in Chicago. But he would be an amazing pickup for an organization that relies so heavily on homegrown players. The pipeline to Wrigley he helped create has been fun to watch
Gotta be honest, that “pipeline” has not been the stars this season, with the exception of Bryant. There are fringe contributors that are homegrown, but the stars are via great acquisitions.
Just tell the current Minnesota’s GM to finish last for 5 years in a row on purpose and get all the number 1 draft picks. Then everyone will think your a genius. It seemed to work for theo.
The last #1 pick the Cubs had was Shawon Dunston in 1982. If you mean 1st picks by Theo’s FO, zero have played a full season and only one has stayed in the majors without going back down after coming up (Kris Bryant). There is a lot more to Theo’s plan than “finishing last” for a few years.
Can we just quit with the Cubs losing on purpose or “tanking” to build this team? There is exactly ONE high pick (Bryant) that has a vital role in this team. Schwarber would have been two.
This team was built on trades:
Cashner for Rizzo
Samardzija and Hammel for Russell
Valbuena and Straily for Fowler
Garza for Grimm and Edwards (Ramirez was part of team early this year)
Dempster for Hendricks
Oh yeah–Feldman and Clevenger for Arrieta and Strop
There’s more than a third of the team in outstanding trades.
And dab in a few free agents: Hammel and Fowler back, Lester, Zobrist, Soler
Them losing more games than they won was a by product of trading the right pieces at the right time to acquire great young talent and a lot of arms. When you trade 40 or 60% of your rotation, you risk losing games. They didn’t lose games on purpose. They built the team on purpose.
So Braves, Twins, etc—go ahead and try to “lose on purpose” and pick right. I’m guessing four years from now you will have one, maybe two players on your roster to show for it. That won’t work. You need to be shrewd (and somewhat lucky) in the moves you make to acquire talent and depth (Braves= Shelby Miller deal) to contend.
Yeah, what you said. They traded 40% of their rotation for three straight years.
All true. They have built a great team so far. Don’t forget about Chapman.
That is a blazing hot take there.
A) They’ve never had a number 1 pick under Epstein.
B) Of their first round picks, exactly one of them has been a major contributor this season.
FWIW the tanking argument isn’t just about draft picks, it’s about selling off nearly everyone that resembles a major league player for prospects giving exactly 0 F’s about the MLB end product for a few years.
No, trading vets for prospects isn’t tanking, it’s smart. Tanking is willingly trying to lose games. It’s about caring about the MLB product that you’re willing to go through some growing pains for a few years. And each team is different in terms of tanking. The Rays HAVE to trade all their major league stars bc they can’t afford them. I’ve always thought tanking was a front office idea instead of an actual on field execution.
That’s how you dress it up, yes. But the reason people talk about a salary floor is so teams HAVE to maintain something resembling a major league roster and can’t completely throw the MLB level to the wind.
The difference between losing on purpose and dumping all of your MLB talent and making little to no serious effort to replace them in the mean time… well, come to think of it, I don’t know.
There’s always been rebuilding but it was kind of implicit in a rebuild that you at least try to put something resembling a big league team on the field in the mean time rather than willingly throwing a bunch of disposable nobodies out there.
Look at what the Marlins did after they won their 2 world series championships
Great fiction story there, you should become a novelist. Too often people hate franchises for all the wrong reasons and don’t even understand baseball.
Themed is a cub hater. Sorry loser but Theo had zero number one picks and the current roster has only one Theo first round pick on it. One! Addison Russell and Arrieta were acquired in trades. Rizzo was acquired in a trade though Theo drafted him in Boston but he was not a first round pick. Fowler was also acquired by trade. Hendricks was acquired by trade. Baez was first round pick of jim hendry
And the first round picks Theo did make shocked everybody. Jon Gray was the definitive #2 pick…until the Cubs took Bryant. Schwarber was ranked something like 18 overall and the Cubs took him way earlier. It’s an eye for talent and following a plan.
Please show me where Jon Gray was the definitive number 2 pick. Appel, Gray, and Bryant were all considered to be the top pick. I believe most of the Gray at 2 line of thinking came from people who were saying that the cubs had no pitching.
Appel Gray and Bryant were consensus top 3. I listened to that draft live. With Cubs on the clock all the moron experts said the Cubs would grab Gray because they need pitching. Taking Bryant was the obvious better pick. But various drafts had Bryant going anywhere from 1-3. Cubs not drafting for the pitching “need” and grabbing Bryant was what was more impressive then just taking Bryant
Lol no, Gray was not the definitive #2 pick. Chesteraarthur is 100% correct in regards to the line of thinking at the time. Bryant was a consensus top 3 talent in that draft – taking him shocked NOBODY.
No one was SHOCKED. Most just expected, predicted, and mocked 1. Appel 2. Gray 3. Bryant
I just checked a few mock drafts and all of them had Cubs selecting Gray or Appel. None had Bryant higher than 3rd to Colorado. Quick google search does the trick
Mock Drafts figure in team needs.
Leading up to the 2014 draft Alex Jackson was supposed to be the best bat in the draft ranked ahead Shwarber, I’d definitely say drafting Shwarber instead of Jackson was a very good move even tho he hasn’t done much in the major leagues it’s probably more than Jackson ever will. So I give Theo Epstein credit for that, although he probably wanted Shwarber more because he was out of college unlike Jackson.
Jackson was best high school bat while schwarber was best college bat
Isn’t that what they’ve done? Buxton , berrios, sano , Meyer . Bad contracts nolasco etc etc .you need coaches who can develop talent
I know, right!
And have the Flubbies won a WS anytime starting with the 1909 season?
Don’t see how that’s relevant
No they have not Nola but what is your point?
Has Theo been their baseball ops president since 1909?
Great News! finally get somebody that puts the team on winning ways again
It doesn’t matter who the Twins hire unless they dump the current manager and coaching staff. None of them seem to be able to connect with all the young promising talent they have. Give the new management a chance to hire their own guys.
Twins Coaches have absolutely zero say in the product represented on the field. Front office procures the talent and makes personnel decisions. How many of the current Twins pitchers or position players are first division players? “Promising talent” is words used for players that haven’t yet produced. Only ML ready talent on the field is Dozier. Santana is their Ace and you think it is coaching?? Molitor should be batting 3rd in that lineup instead of managing it. You must be a angry fantasy league player.
You couldn’t be more wrong. I am not a fantasy player but I am a long time baseball fan. Paul Molitor is not the type of manager to have the right temperament to deal with all the rookies and their rookie mistakes. He has a wealth of knowledge to impart but I don’t see any of that reflected in his current players improvement. While bunting, fielding and other basics should have been learned in the Minors these players are lacking and need coaches with teaching mentalities and encouragement. I don’t see that in the current coaches. Perhaps these players aren’t as good as management thinks but they are here and have to supplemented while in the Majors. The
Lots of crossed-arm, serious-time bro-ing in that picture. And yet, Theo remains unimpressed.
Cubs have assembled a tremendous team most reasonable people would agree. And all methods were used. Draft, FA signings, and trades. But it will all come down to a World Series. Anything else is not a success. Will be a fun October to watch nonetheless.
The idea that nothing but a world series counts as a failure is dumb, imo. The playoffs are a crapshoot. It has been shown time and time again that the best team is not always the ws champion, in fact, I believe it is less that 50% in recent history. Looking at fangraphs playoff odds, the cubs are currently at an 18.6% chance of winning the world series. Less than 1/5. I don’t understand how rational people can think it’s WS or bust.
The FO constructed a team with very good talent, versatility, and depth. They have been the best team in baseball to this point in 2016. That is all they can hope for. If a team loses in a short series, it doesn’t necessarily say anything about the team. We see bad teams beat good teams in a series all season long. Baseball has a ton of variation. Any team that wins the world series relies on a combination of talent, sequencing, and luck.
I disagree Francisco. Theo always said the plan was to build for sustained success. To get to the playoffs on a regular basis gives you the best chance as the team with the best record does not always win but if you do not make the post season you have no shot. If they do not win it all this year it will be disappointing but I would not say its a failure.
I’m just happy to hear they are focusing outside the organization. Loyalty is great, but it is time to move on from the players and execs of the past. This team looks worse today than when the “rebuilding” started 5 years ago.
When you have a strong system with lots of good candidates, it’s called loyalty.
When you have a weak system full of problems, it’s called stagnation.
The Twins are more like the second one. The amount of unrealized talent on the rosters the last few years is ridiculous. Something has to change big time and I’m similarly happy they’re looking to get fresh blood and new ideas in the organization. Hooray Pohlads.
If I’m Ricketts, I come back and offer McLeod double to stay. He’s a fundamental part of the organization, just as much as Theo or Jed. Moreover, he’s also a Senior VP. Taking a GM job is actually way below him.
He’s VP of player development. I think GM is a higher position though I may be wrong. Regardless MN is looking to hire a president of baseball ops which in turn will hire a GM.
President of Baseball Operations will be tough to turn down but I agree McLeod should be paid big bucks by the Cubs
the twins would be the last team I would go to if I was him. no talent no money
there’s only 30 teams… beggars can’t afford to be choosers to a certain extent
the Twins might not be ideal,, but if he’s getting promoted all the way to PBO with full authority to build the baseball ops in the way he likes… not a bad gig.
If he wants to move on to a more lucrative franchise later it puts him in a much better position, a la Friedman going from Tampa to LA
pretty sure he can get the same job with a real team.
how many successful teams are interested in making a change at the top, though? You don’t fire an established PBO/GM to hire somebody unproven, so it’s not like he has his pick of prime spots.
if you have to start at the proverbial bottom, might as well do it someplace where you get to be in charge. that way you’re not the scapegoat for somebody elses failures
Why is it somebody goes out and spends several hundred million dollars signs a bunch a top-tier free agents puts them on a team together and then when the team starts winning suddenly the executive is a genius give me a couple hundred million dollars and I can turn any team into a winner as well theo is not a genius he just went to work for people willing to spend a lot of money to make there teams great
because he went out and spend a couple hundred million dollars to add to a team that had a very young, very talent core of players that same person spend several years putting together to make the team really good for the long haul, not just one season.
i sincerely doubt you could do half as well as Epstein even with the same budget. We’ve seen plenty of professional grade GMs lose their jobs trying to win with just money… and that, as anyone who actually pays attention knows, is very much NOT what the Cubs did
they spent a lot of money to put themselves over the top (after making the NLCS last season without big spending), sure, but the core of the team is built through shrewd trades, good drafting and prospect development.
Theo should go to the twins. Then we will see how well he does. Pretty hard to turn the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs around when you have an endless amount of money. Sure he has made some good trades but it’s a lot easier when you have a endless amount of money. Twins have almost no talent to trade and no money
WHAT?
Exactly !!!!! Theo did it with the Cubs over a couple years sure, because it’s impossible to make that many trades in one year… Most teams have a decent core group, add a half dozen premier players done champions, look again my friend at your core group, tell me I’m wrong
Petrie000 – a few guys with opposing opinions sitting around all day discussing numbers and stats and players with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend it would be tough to screw that up. You and I and a couple other people just pick them I think we could do just as good a job
Rob – no, you couldn’t, because you’re not even very good at rationally evaluating the moves of other GMs
it’s a heck of a lot harder to spend money well than you seem to think. Which is kind of amazing, since you probably watched first hand as the Red Sox failed at it so badly last season….
A little surprised they haven’t checked in on Alex Anthopoulos
they did. He said thanks but no thanks.
Petrie….. Didn’t say I agreed with what the sox did, Plus if I was a GM I would do what best makes sense for my club, to many GMs are worried about what everyone else does instead of what they should be doing
You have just described the basic goals of a good GM but have said nothing that shows you have any baseball knowledge to how you would accomplish fixing all teams with their needs. Draft picks are a crapshoot. So many players to choose and luck of developement through the ranks has a bit to do with it. Who has the best percentage of draft picks that turn into superstars? My guess would be the worst teams with the most early picks but check out the success of even first rounders making a career in majors.