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David Ross 99% Certain He Will Retire

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Cubs catcher David Ross is still 99.9% certain he will retire at the end of the season, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers tweets. Ross indicated last November that he would likely retire after the 2016 season, although that was before a strong campaign in which he batted .229/.338/.446 in 205 plate appearances while playing his usual strong defense.

The 39-year-old Ross explained his thought process in some detail last week, as Rogers described at the time. “I just don’t want to be that weak link,” said Ross. “I don’t want to be the guy that holds everyone up. I want no regrets on my end.”

Ross did go on to say that he might consider continuing to play if the Cubs “blew [his] socks off,” although he seemed to be at least half-joking. He listed not being able to play with outfielder and fellow catcher Kyle Schwarber, who missed almost the entire season due to a knee injury, as one of his regrets about leaving the game behind.

For now, Ross appears to be concentrating on winning a World Series with the Cubs. “People ask, ’Where does my retirement stuff rank?’ Winning a World Series is way better than that. It’s an amazing thing to dog pile out there while no one else can do that,” he said last week.

Ross has played parts of 15 seasons in the Majors, suiting up with the Dodgers, Pirates, Padres, Reds, Braves and Red Sox before signing a two-year, $5MM deal with the Cubs prior to the 2015 season. He’s collected just 2,644 plate appearances in his career, since he’s generally played as a backup, and batted .229/.316/.423. He won a World Series as a member of the Red Sox in 2013.

Theo Epstein, Dexter Fowler Reflect On February Deal

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  • Cubs president Theo Epstein revisited the team’s late-February re-signing of center fielder Dexter Fowler, telling Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, “It wasn’t like we swooped in at the last minute and stole him from Baltimore.” It appeared that way at first, as Fowler reportedly had a three-year, $33MM agreement in place with the Orioles. But Fowler told Sullivan, “I actually didn’t know where the report came from. That thing is still a mystery to me. But the right people knew what the deal was.” The Cubs actually kept in contact with Fowler all along, and Epstein even offered to call other teams to vouch for Fowler during his unemployed stint. “I wanted the best for Dexter,” said Epstein. “I kept getting updates, and then when we got into spring training, I told (agent Casey Close) ’No promises, but look, if it ends up he’s looking at any one-year scenario, stay in touch because we might be able to make a trade or do some things that would put him back in play for us.” After Fowler’s deal with the Orioles didn’t materialize, Epstein cleared $4.8MM in salary by trading fellow outfielder Chris Coghlan to the A’s (the Cubs re-acquired Coghlan in June). Epstein then brought back Fowler on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2017. At $8MM ($13MM if either side declines the option), Fowler was a bargain for the Cubs during the regular season – he hit .276/.393/.447 with 13 homers and 13 steals and accounted for 4.8 fWAR in 551 plate appearances – and will now attempt to help the NL Central champions to their first World Series title since 1908.

Cubs Extend Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, Jason McLeod

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FRIDAY: The Cubs have now announced the Hoyer and McLeod contracts, which run through 2021.

“Jed and Jason are simply the best at what they do and have played fundamentally important leadership roles in helping the Cubs build a healthy and thriving organization,” said Epstein. “We feel honored to have the stability and support that we enjoy throughout Baseball Operations and look forward to many years of working together in Chicago.”

WEDNESDAY, 8:13pm: FanRag’s Jon Heyman reports that Epstein’s deal actually guarantees him a bit less than $50MM, but it can exceed the $50MM threshold based on incentives. ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers tweets that both Hoyer’s deal also goes through 2021, and Heyman tweets the same regarding McLeod.

3:12pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Epstein’s contract is believed to be worth more than $50MM in total, which would make him the highest-paid baseball executive on record. Additionally, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that both Hoyer and McLeod have received extensions with the Cubs as well (Twitter link).

3:06pm: The Cubs announced this afternoon that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has signed a five-year contract extension that will run from 2017-21. Epstein had been in the final season of his current contract and was widely expected to receive an extension to keep him in his current position atop Chicago’s baseball operations hierarchy. In the press release announcing the extension, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts offered the following statement:

Theo Epstein

“In the five years under Theo’s leadership, he has brought in a strong executive team and acquired and developed some of the best players in the game.  Now, the results are on the field.  My family and I have no doubt that we have moved closer to our goal of delivering Cubs fans the World Series Championship they deserve.”

Ricketts also added that the extension “ensures the baseball operations team assembled by Epstein will continue its remarkable tenure of building a consistent championship contender.”

Epstein, 42, has been at his current post with the Cubs since Oct. 2011. While the early stages of his tenure were mired with losing clubs, he, alongside general manager Jed Hoyer, senior vice president of player development Jason McLeod and the rest of the Chicago front office have taken the Cubs from a cellar-dwelling team to a powerhouse that will finish with the best record in baseball this season after finishing with 97 wins a year ago.

The Cubs appear poised not only for success in 2015-16, but for the foreseeable future, as the core of Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester, among others, are all controlled through at least the 2020 campaign. While certainly not all of those players are locks to remain productive — specifically Lester, who will be 36 by the time his current contract expires — the Cubs have the payroll capacity to supplement that enviable core group of players as needed.

While the Epstein/Hoyer/McLeod regime has had the occasional misstep (see: Edwin Jackson and, so far anyway, Jason Heyward), the Epstein-led Cubs have been largely successful in their moves, be they free-agent signings, trades or draft selections. Since Oct. 2011, the Cubs have acquired Hendricks and Christian Villanueva in exchange for half a season of Ryan Dempster; acquired Carl Edwards and Justin Grimm for half a season of Matt Garza; acquired Addison Russell in exchange for a year-and-a-half of Jeff Samardzija and a half season of Jason Hammel (whom they later re-signed with solid results); and, of course, most notoriously, acquired 2015 NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta and setup man Pedro Strop in exchange for a half season of Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger.

The team has also picked up Hector Rondon in the Rule 5 Draft and made a number of savvy free-agent additions including Hammel (twice), Lester, John Lackey, Ben Zobrist, Dexter Fowler (after initially acquiring him for Luis Valbuena and Dan Straily) and David Ross. Beyond that, the Cubs have drafted well, landing Bryant and Schwarber as well as top prospects such as Ian Happ and Albert Almora. Chicago has also been active on the international front, outbidding the competition for Jorge Soler and spending aggressively on prospects such as Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres, the latter of whom was used as the centerpiece of the trade that brought Aroldis Chapman to Chicago this past summer.

McLeod has been an oft-rumored candidate to join another organization in a higher role and was recently one of the prime candidates for the Twins as they search for a new president of baseball operations. And Hoyer, conceivably, could have drawn interest elsewhere for a team willing to bestow the president title upon an experience general manager. While the length of the extensions for Hoyer and McLeod aren’t yet known, the trio of extension ensures that the same brain trust that architected the current Cubs roster will be in place for several years to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cubs' Front Office Lieutenants Likely To Draw Interest From Other Teams

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While the Cubs have locked down the top three leaders in their baseball operations department by agreeing to extensions with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and senior vice president of player development Jason McLeod, the team’s front office could still see a number of executives poached by other clubs in the coming years, writes Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Scouting director Jared Porter and assistant GM Shiraz Rehman were both mentioned in connection with the Twins recently, and both figure to come up in future front office searches. “Porter will be a GM and soon,” writes Passan, who also lists director of player development Jaron Madison and director of baseball operations Scott Harris as rising stars within the field.

Could Cardinals Ever Copy Cubs' Rebuild?

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  • The Cubs completely rebuilt their roster from scratch to become a powerhouse team both this season and potentially for years to come, though Cardinals GM John Mozeliak tells ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon that such an extensive rebuild would be unlikely for his club.  “They were able to do so without being overly concerned about how they finished for a couple years….I’ve always said St. Louis has been a place that demands winning,” Mozeliak said.  “[Owner Bill] DeWitt Jr. and myself, we’re not ever looking at a season where we want to take a timeout or two and try to reshuffle the deck.”  Mozeliak implied that the Cards would only explore such a strategy if their minor league system totally dried up, which doesn’t seem like an impending issue given how well St. Louis has drafted and developed young players over the last two decades.

Latest On Twins’ Front Office Search

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9:34pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (via Twitter) that while Mets assistant GM John Ricco has recently been linked to the Twins’ job, Ricco is no longer in the running at this point. Berardino adds to that report, tweeting that Ricco was never under heavy consideration.

9:28am: The Twins appear to be homing in on a handful of possibilities for their open president of baseball operations position, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports. Though the team could still conduct interviews with additional executives, it may be that the slate of candidates is already set, he adds on Twitter.

One outside option who has impressed, per Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Twitter link), is Cubs vice president of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod. He is “well-regarded” and “well-positioned” in the Twins’ search after impressing in his early interactions with Minnesota’s top brass, according to the report.

McLeod obviously isn’t the only highly-regarded young executive under consideration. Prior reports have suggested that Rays AGM Chaim Bloom, Indians AGM Derek Falvey, and Royals AGM J.J. Picollo are also in the discussion.

Then, there’s sitting Twins interim GM Rob Antony, who rounds out the five names known to be in the hunt. Per Berardino, he’s the only internal candidate who will receive an interview. The club did consider VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff, scouting director Deron Johnson, and special assistant (and former Reds GM) Wayne Krivsky, but elected not to hold meetings with them.

Cubs Notes: Epstein, Arrieta

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ESPN.com’s Wright Thompson provides a worthwhile profile of Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. While it’s mostly an interesting look at the veteran executive, the piece also contains an intriguing look behind the scenes in the Cubbies’ front office and a few bits of information on the team’s recent maneuvering.

  • The Cubs are aware of, but not particularly concerned over, a decline in Jake Arrieta’s fastball velocity (and recent predilection for surrendering long balls), ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers writes. Skipper Joe Maddon suggested that Arrieta was looking to dial in his command in exchange for some velo, and noted that Arrieta’s exceptional movement made him difficult to hit regardless. As for the bigger heater, Maddon says that he “really believe[s] it’s in there” for the postseason.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/19/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves, each coming courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted…

  • The Rays have outrighted Tyler Sturdevant to Triple-A Durham. The right-handed reliever was designated for assignment last week despite a solid 3.93 earned run average and a 14-to-6 K/BB ratio in 18 1/3 innings. That small sample represented the first Major League work of the 30-year-old Sturdevant’s career. The former Indians farmhand signed a minors pact with the Rays last offseason and had a nice run with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, posting a 3.66 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 39 1/3 frames. Set to turn 31 this December, Sturdevant can again opt for minor league free agency this winter.
  • Lefty reliever Jack Leathersich will forgo minor league free agency and re-up with the Cubs on a minors pact for the 2017 season. The former Mets reliever had a successful debut in 2015 when he posted a 2.31 ERA in 11 2/3 innings, but Tommy John surgery derailed his rookie campaign. The Cubs picked him up on waivers this past November, but he wound up being removed from the 40-man roster and re-signing a minors deal with Chicago. The 26-year-old Leathersich made it back to a minor league mound this year and tossed 23 1/3 innings of 1.93 ERA ball with a hefty 34 strikeouts, though he also issued 13 walks and hit a batter as well. Control has never been a strong point for Leathersich, but he’ll work on reining in the walks as he hopes to bring his career 15.0 K/9 rate back to the Majors at some point next season.
  • Eddy’s post contains several players from teams all throughout the league that elected to skip minor league free agency and sign 2017 deals with their 2016 organizations, though Leathersich is the only one of the bunch with MLB experience under his belt.

Brewers Won't Have Cubs' Advantages In Trying To Return To Contention

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Time will tell whether the Brewers can follow the Cubs’ path back to contention, but it would help if Brewers GM David Stearns ended up with Theo Epstein’s trade record, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. The Cubs acquired Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell in a series of terrific trades. They’ve also added Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist via the free agent market, but the smaller-payroll Brewers won’t be able to depend on a similar infusion of talent. Here’s more from the NL Central.

Cafardo: Cubs To Pursue Jose Fernandez Trade?

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The Marlins and agent Scott Boras appear unlikely to negotiate an extension for ace Jose Fernandez early in the offseason, according to the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, who reports the team could shop the right-hander as a result. Several of the majors’ high-payroll clubs, including the Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs, would have interest in acquiring and extending Fernandez, per Cafardo. The 24-year-old is scheduled to hit free agency after the 2018 campaign and has thrown a career-high 174 1/3 innings this season. Along the way, Fernandez has posted dazzling numbers – 2.99 ERA, 12.44 K/9, 2.84 BB/9 – which has been the norm since he debuted in 2013.

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