October 26, 2011

Cubs.com Epstein begins Cubs challenge amid excitement Baseball chief plans to bring philosophies with him from Boston By: Carrie Muskat

CHICAGO -- Theo Epstein, who rose to rock-star status in Boston after putting together two World Series champion teams, now begins the next phase of his baseball life with the Cubs.

"I was ready for the next big challenge," Epstein said at a news conference Tuesday at Wrigley Field, where he was introduced as the president of baseball operations.

He leaves the Red Sox after nine seasons as the general manager, signing a five-year deal with the Cubs, believed to be worth $18.5 million.

"To me," he said, "baseball is better with tradition, baseball is better with history, baseball is better with fans who care, baseball is better with ballparks like this, baseball is better during the day, and baseball is best of all when you win. That, ultimately, is why I'm here today."

Epstein vowed to build "a foundation of sustained success," which he said starts with a commitment to player development. He was impressed by the Cubs' aggressive approach in the First-Year Player Draft, and said it made him take notice that the team's owners, the Ricketts family, also believed in developing from within.

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts began his search in August after Jim Hendry was dismissed as general manager. Ricketts said he studied other teams and how they went about their business, as well as talked to about 20 people to find the right person to head the Cubs' baseball operations department.

Ultimately, he settled on Epstein, and Ricketts said he knew after 10-15 minutes into their first conversation that he had targeted the right person.

Giddy Cubs fans have been celebrating since word got out. On Tuesday, they could purchase an "Epstein" No. 12 Cubs jersey across the street from Wrigley Field.

"It's unique," Epstein said of the Cubs. "Boston's not Chicago, Chicago's not Boston. Every city, every market has its own personality, its own idiosyncracies. I don't pretend to understand them all yet. "Having grown up in Boston, I have a better feel for that market. I'm a baseball fan. When I was with the Padres, I'd come through Chicago and we'd go through Wrigley Field and play the Cubs. I got a sense of what things were like here."

What Epstein inherits is a team that finished fifth in the National League Central in back-to-back seasons, and generations of fans who have been waiting to pop champagne since 1908, the last time the Cubs won a World Series. It's the longest drought in professional sports.

"I'm not saying the timetable is immediate," Epstein said. "Over time, we'll get this thing done. It's not going to happen overnight. But we'll take every opportunity to win seriously."

Epstein has talked to manager Mike Quade and wants to meet with him face to face to discuss his "vision." Epstein did not immediately change managers when he took over the Red Sox in November 2002, keeping Grady Little for one season before hiring Terry Francona for the '04 season.

When Francona decided to leave after this season, Epstein realized it may be time to move on. He had set a 10-year time frame in Boston, and didn't feel it was fair to the Red Sox if he interviewed the next manager, and then left.

"The biggest factor of the exact timing was all of a sudden we looked up and had to hire a new manager," Epstein said. "I remember how it was for me, as a young GM, to run the interview process and bond with Terry Francona during that time.

"I didn't think it was right for me as someone likely to make a transition in the next year to run the search process and hire a new manager," he said. "It would've been awkward at best, disastrous at worst."

When Epstein took over as the Red Sox GM in November 2002, he pledged to transform the team into a "scouting and player development machine," and also got the Red Sox into the postseason. That's what the Ricketts want for their team.

Epstein's not afraid to make changes. The Red Sox roster at the end of '03 had 17 players who were not on the team the previous year, and nine of those were not even in the organization when the regular season began.

Epstein's first deal with the Cubs will essentially be for himself. When the Cubs and Red Sox announced Friday night that Epstein had resigned as Boston's GM, compensation had not been determined.

He will pick up negotiations with Ben Cherington, who was introduced as Boston's GM on Tuesday at Fenway Park. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has set Nov. 1 as a deadline for the two sides to settle the matter.

The Cubs did receive permission from the Padres to talk to Jed Hoyer about also relocating to Chicago and becoming the general manager. Epstein and Hoyer were together on the Red Sox, and led the team to two World Series championships in 2004 and '07.

The Cubs also may add Jason McLeod, who was the Red Sox's scouting director, and is currently the Padres' assistant GM. Those hires were expected to be done after the World Series ends.

Epstein started watching baseball on TV when he was 2 years old, and was a Whiffle ball whiz at Central Park in New York growing up. His mother tells the story of how he knew at the age of 12 that he would work in baseball.

"It's always been my passion -- love the game, love the competitiveness," he said.

Now, Epstein starts anew. And so do the Cubs.

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Cubs.com Theo's goal is to change the tune in Chicago By: Anthony Castrovince

CHICAGO -- It began with an icebreaker, submitted through song.

Theo Epstein gathered his newly inherited front-office staff at a Wrigleyville sports bar for lunch on Monday and, as a means to get to know the men and women a bit better, asked each person at the table to tell him where he or she went to college.

Then he asked each one of them to sing their school's fight song.

A few made an earnest attempt, a few laughed and a few blushed, embarrassed that they couldn't come through.

"I owe you one," one higher-up told him.

But Theo, of course, wouldn't have pulled this little stunt if he, himself, had nothing to offer. And so there was the newly crowned king of the Cubs -- Yale-educated, Boston-bred and, now, Chicago-credentialed -- busting out his best attempt at a Bulldog ballad.

Thus began the Epstein era on the North Side. One man singing loud and proud, hoping those around him will one day be singing the same tune.

This is a tall order that Epstein, introduced as president of the Cubs on Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, has inherited. He now finds himself at the helm of a ship well past sunk. The history here is at times tragic, at times comical and, like all things true to life, most often a little bit of both.

That 86-year aridity Epstein helped erase in Boston? Child's play. Heck, 16 years before Theo was handed the Red Sox's general manager's reigns, Boston had been a half-inning away from a World Series title. Would that the Cubs could come so close. The last time they were even in the Series was mere months after the U.S. had dropped a bomb on Japan.

Yeah, it's been a while.

And at least the Red Sox's "curse" -- if such a thing exists -- could be tied to a human being. A Hall of Famer, at that. Cubs fans have a lowly goat and, in particularly pitiful moments, an unfortunate fan named Bartman to blame for their misfortune. And only because that's more fun than simply pointing to the many missteps and mind-blowing bumbles that have paved the way to more than 100 years of futility.

Remember that one of Epstein's predecessors in such an appointment with the Cubs was E.R. "Salty" Saltwell, who, prior to being named the GM in 1976, had been serving as the club's concessions manager. If we look at this from that perspective, Theo doesn't exactly have a high standard to live up to here.

But he does enter with enormous expectations, given the reputation he's earned as a true buster of ghosts. It's why, in the weeks leading up to this official unveiling, reporters staked out Starbucks hoping for a sight of him after a hot tip (one Epstein acknowledged to be accurate), why "Welcome Theo" signs run rampant around Wrigley and why the merchandise store across the street from the famous marquee is selling "Epstein 12" jerseys (with Alfonso Soriano left to wonder how the new guy stole his digits).

Epstein is aware of the savior status he's been branded with, unfair as it might be. He'll do his best to temper emotions and expectations around here, but the fact that Tuesday's presser was the most exciting event at Wrigley in at least three years is telling, in and of itself.

"I should probably have another press conference right now to resign," Epstein joked, "because my popularity is definitely going to be at an all-time high right now."

It will undoubtedly dip at the first misfire, major or minor. Sports fans are inherently insatiable. And Epstein, even with the bling of two rings, is no stranger to slipups. Or haven't you heard about the Carl Crawford and John Lackey contracts?

In an effort to improve the percentages, Epstein is expected to execute the baseball equivalent of getting the band back together. Once an adequate compensation package is agreed to, he'll import Padres GM Jed Hoyer and his assistant, Jason McLeod, reuniting three men who made magic near the Back Bay Fens. And with his elevated assignment as president, with Hoyer and McLeod in charge of the day-to- day, Epstein will have the opportunity to take a broad-based approach to an organizational overhaul that will encompass both the baseball and the business sides.

As is typical in sterile press conference settings, Epstein talked about these things in grand generalities - careful, of course, to note that a GM move has not yet been made and that Mike Quade's status has not yet been decided. He talked about building a foundation rooted in scouting and development for the long-term while also trying to craft a contender in the short.

But Epstein knows, in his heart of hearts, that the work that must be done to make the Cubs a contender is inherently more intricate than the situation he inherited in Boston. The 2002 Red Sox won 93 games and had Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe all at prime ages. This Cubs team, on the other hand, lost 91 games this year, encumbered by the weight of unwieldy contracts and underachievers.

"In Boston, my first year there, we took the payroll down 10 or 12 million dollars or so and improved the team on the field," Epstein said. "That doesn't happen every time. The big thing in Boston was we had a great core when we first got there. We had future Hall of Famers on the roster. But we also, I think, did a pretty good job and got really lucky those first couple offseasons. We hit on every player -- David Ortiz, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Mike Timlin, guys like that. Those players, along with the core that we inherited, put it together on the field. That doesn't recreate itself all the time."

No, it does not, which is why the foundation is the most important element of all. The Cubs made great strides in that department with an aggressive Draft and Latin American approach this summer, and that's one of many facets of this job that caught Epstein's eye.

As far as resources are concerned, Epstein has a lot to like here. The Cubs' drawing power is owed to the allure of its home park, and that pumps blood into the payroll. But further efforts to maximize that advantage can and must be made, much in the same way the Red Sox successfully refurbished Fenway Park for the current century. Get it right on the baseball and the business side, and the Cubs could be a premier powerhouse. Imagine that.

That's what excites Epstein. That's what has him singing.

"After 10 years [in one place]," he said, "no matter how passionate you are, you see the same issues day after day, you're around the same people day after day, you have the same landscape day after day. Eventually, you'll benefit from a new landscape, fresh problems. The goal for the individual is to have some re-invigoration, some rebirth. And I certainly feel that. I feel energized."

He doesn't yet feel the weight of 103 years of history. Maybe he never will.

"I don't believe in curses," he said.

That's the message Theo Epstein brings to Wrigley. For now, he's a soloist singing an old college tune.

But someday soon, he expects to be making sweet music with the many faces comprising the Cubs.

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Cubs.com Epstein addresses manager, other topics By: Carrie Muskat

CHICAGO -- Theo Epstein, the new Cubs president of baseball operations, plans on meeting face to face with Mike Quade before deciding on whether to keep the manager for next season.

"The most important first step is I need to get to know Mike Quade better," Epstein said Tuesday after being introduced at a news conference at Wrigley Field.

Epstein has talked to Quade on the phone, but feels the manager needs to hear his vision for the organization in person. The Cubs went 24-13 when Quade took over in August 2010, but lost 91 games this season and finished in fifth place in the National League Central.

Who will be the GM?

The Cubs have asked the Padres for permission to interview Jed Hoyer, currently San Diego's general manager. An announcement is expected after the World Series ends.

"If we bring in someone as a general manager, it will be because there's someone who I think is one of the best and one of the brightest in the game and someone who can make a real impact on the Cubs," Epstein said. "We have a ton of work to do."

The general manager would run the Major League team on a day-to-day basis, which would free Epstein to deal with other baseball operations matters, such as the new Spring Training facility and the new academy in the Dominican Republic.

What about the curse?

By winning the World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox, Epstein and Co. ended Boston's 86-year "Curse of the Bambino." The Cubs have their own "curse of the billy goat," and it's now been 103 years since the team won the World Series.

"I don't believe in curses, and I guess I played a small part in proving they don't exist from a baseball standpoint," Epstein said. "I do believe you can be honest and upfront about the fact that a certain organization hasn't gotten the job done and hasn't won a World Series in a long time. That's the approach we took in Boston. It wasn't a curse, it's just that we hadn't gotten the job done."

The players

Aramis Ramirez and the Cubs have a $16 million mutual option for next season. Ramirez has said he'll test the free-agent market, but also has said he'd like to stay with the Cubs if they give him a multi-year deal. Ryan Dempster has a $14 million player option for next season, and he must make a decision by three days after the World Series ends.

Epstein said he is in the process of prioritizing what needs to be taken care of immediately, and the two players are on his list.

"Clearly those player decisions and the ones that involve options after the World Series, we'll be sitting down with the staff and talking about those in the next couple days," he said.

Both Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder will be free agents after this season. The Cubs need a first baseman. Epstein wouldn't comment on those specific players, but did caution about long-term contracts.

"I think the impact free agent, the free agent who requires the long-term substantial commitment, there's a time and a place for that type of investment," he said. "I think it's important to understand when the right time is.

"It's also important to understand the player. The player has to check every single box that you look for. He has to be an impact player offensively, you'd like him to be an impact player defensively. In an ideal world, you'd love for him to be an up-the-middle player.

"You'd love for him to be a player of high character who you can put your faith in and will represent the organization well over the years. You want to make sure the player is young, so you're buying a lot of prime years. There will be a time and place for that."

However, he wasn't ready to say if the time was now for the Cubs. He will be active in free agency, though. He got lucky when he signed a released player to a one-year, $1.25 million deal in David Ortiz.

"That's probably not going to happen again," Epstein said. "There's a time and a place for a big impact player, and also a time and a place for the smaller, more nuanced moves."

Will he miss the Yankees?

Epstein switches from the American League East to the National League Central. Will it be easier to deal with the Pirates than the Yankees?

"With the Red Sox, the way we looked at it was with [the Yankees'] resources and their baseball smarts, we're going to assume they'll win 95 to 100 games every year," he said. "That helped us elevate our game, because it set the bar really high. I thought that served us well, taking that approach.

"If you look at what the Cardinals are doing and the Brewers did this year, I think we can take the same approach and assume these teams will be really, really good over the next few years and that, in term, raises the bar for us."

Carmine

The Red Sox were famous for their computer program, known as "Carmine," which Epstein created five years ago to analyze player statistics and tendencies. Epstein said he doesn't rely solely on spreadsheets, but also wants a balance between the statistical analysis and what traditional scouting provides.

"We developed in Boston a program that was simply an information management system," he said. "Every team in baseball has an information management system of some form or another.

"With the Cubs, we're in the process of sitting down and seeing what they have. Information is everything. In the Draft, for example, information is the single most important currency."

Epstein will discuss with the Cubs' baseball operations staff about what they are currently using and try to improve on that.

Celebrity status

Epstein is well aware of his star power.

"I've come to grow more comfortable with the realities of the fact that unlike 20 years ago, general managers are part of the public face of the franchise," he said. "Not only the game has changed, but the fan experience has changed. People relate more to GMs, everyone thinks they can be a GM or president of baseball operations. That comes with the territory."

He does like to protect his privacy and his family's privacy, and finally confessed that it was him in a Chicago Starbucks earlier this month. A fan recognized Epstein when he stopped to buy coffee.

"When I'm somewhere where I don't want to be recognized, and someone recognizes me, I have a couple standard lines," Epstein said. "I usually say, 'Oh no, that's not me, but I guess I look like him,' or I say, 'Theo Epstein? Who's that?'

"I was so excited to be in Chicago and so surprised to be recognized that I dropped both lines on this guy without stopping to think they really don't work well in concert with each other," he said. "My mistake. I'm a little more of a Dunkin [Donuts] guy, and now that I learned that Dunkin supports the Cubs, that's a good thing."

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Tribune Epstein introducing 'Cubs Way' New Cubs president will be agent of cultural change By: Paul Sullivan

When he began talking about "parallel fronts," "supply and demand dynamics" and "information management systems," it was glaringly apparent Cubs baseball boss Theo Epstein was operating on a different plane than his predecessors.

Transitioning from the old school ways Jim Hendry to the techno jargon of Epstein was like ditching your rotary dial for an iPhone.

"Cultural changes don't come easily," Epstein said. "You can't fake them. You have to do it through hard work. We're ready to do that."

Introduced as president of baseball operations at a Wrigley Field news conference Tuesday, Epstein is the Cubs' latest answer to their 103-year-old championship drought.

His hiring has been so well received in Chicago that Epstein seemed a little embarrassed by all the attention.

"I should probably have another press conference right now to resign because my popularity definitely has to be at an all-time high right now," he joked. "It has peaked and it's only going to go downhill because, in baseball, when you make moves, if you do a great job, you're right 55 percent of the time. So the other 45 percent of the time you're going to tick some people off. I understand that."

Epstein signed a five-year, $18.5 million deal to make all baseball-related decisions in the organization, reporting directly to Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts. Crane Kenney, Ricketts' top adviser, has the title now of president of business operations.

Padres general manager Jed Hoyer will become the Cubs' new GM, though Epstein declined to discuss the impending move. Epstein said he would go to Florida to speak with manager Mike Quade about his status, and also said in a "Chicago Tribune Live" interview he wanted to get to know Carlos Zambrano before forming an opinion on the controversial starter.

The hiring of Epstein, whom Ricketts made his primary target after seeking advice from 20 baseball confidants, may be the biggest philosophical change in the Cubs organization since the failed College of Coaches experiment a half-century ago.

"It's time to go to work," Ricketts said. "… We look forward to the day that we have the best team in baseball, and we are confident that our new president of baseball operations will lead us to that day."

Though understanding Theo-speak may be a gradual process for Chicago, there was little doubt Tuesday that a new era had begun. Epstein addressed many topics, and said he expects to implement a "Cubs Way" of doing things, from the bottom rung of the minors to Wrigley Field.

He said his now famous computer program, or "information management system," was being overhyped by the media and obscuring his belief in traditional scouting methods. He also pointed to his goal of working on "parallel fronts" — or building the scouting and player development department while also trying to win in the short-term.

The early scouting reports on Epstein are promising, after one day in office. He has no illusions about the "ultimate challenge" of winning a World Series with the Cubs.

"Rebuilding," however, is not a word in Epstein's vernacular.

"That's just a buzzword in baseball that leads people down the wrong path," he said.

Of course, it would not be an introductory news conference at Wrigley Field without the obligatory question about the curse. Epstein was ready for it.

"I don't believe in curses, and I guess I kind of played a small part in proving they don't exist, from a baseball standpoint," he said. "But I do believe you can be honest and upfront about the fact a certain organization hasn't gotten the job done, hasn't won a World Series in a long time.

"That's the approach we took in Boston. It wasn't a curse. It was just the fact we hadn't gotten the job done, and we identified several things the franchise had done historically that probably got in the way of winning a World Series, and we went about trying to eradicate those. That'll be part of the process here."

Everyone has a theory on the Cubs' long-standing problems, from day baseball to outdated facilities to serial mismanagement over the last century. Epstein vowed to sit down with the current front office personnel and find out what the organization has been doing wrong that needs to be fixed.

Some of those employees may be part of what needs to be fixed, so Epstein will be evaluating personnel on the fly as he builds his inner circle of advisers. Hoyer and Padres assistant GM Jason McLeod are expected to be among those, and if Tuesday's opening remarks are to be believed, Kenney also will remain in the loop.

Epstein said Kenney was "working tirelessly" to get the deal done and referred to him as "my partner on the business side of the organization."

Though Epstein had been rumored as the Cubs' top choice after Hendry's firing in August, he conceded he probably still would be in Boston if the Red Sox had not collapsed down the stretch, leading to the departure of manager Terry Francona.

If Francona had been retained, would Epstein have stayed?

"Yeah, (I'd) probably still there," he said. "That was a big part of the decision."

Epstein said he never thought about leaving for the Cubs until Ricketts asked the Red Sox for permission after Francona's farewell news conference.

"We had a lot on our plate, and more going on than the fans and media knew about at the time," he said. "So we were trying desperately to get through September to right the ship, and unfortunately were unsuccessful.

"Then it was really emotional. I had to deal with Terry leaving, which was hard on me because I have so much respect for him professionally and personally. Then the Cubs asked permission and I had to take a couple of days to separate myself from the emotion of what just happened with the Red Sox.'"

Once he cleared his head, Epstein came to the conclusion Chicago was his next destination. The Red Sox had not won a World Series in 86 years when he helped build a championship team in 2004, overcoming the doubters.

"We didn't run from that challenge," he said. "We embraced it."

Now there's a new challenge to embrace, and an army of fans willing to follow.

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Tribune Epstein has open mind on roster Zambrano and Ramirez won't be cut loose from Cubs without due deliberation By: Phil Rogers

While Theo Epstein was as non-committal on Tuesday about player personnel decisions as the fate of manager Mike Quade, he did offer some tidbits that could mean he's leaning toward additional shelf life for Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez, and possibly giving a shot to 28-year-old first baseman- outfielder Bryan LaHair, the Pacific Coast League MVP and the Cubs' Minor League Player of the Year.

In an appearance on Chicago Tribune Live, Epstein was asked his feelings about the Zambrano situation in light of the team seeming to be set with only two starting pitchers, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster.

"You said it yourself, this is a team that needs pitching,'' Epstein said. "To be the organization we want to be, we're going to need pitching. He's got talent. Obviously things haven't gone the way he would have liked or the organization would have liked the last few years.''

Zambrano worked only 145 2/3 innings last season, spending time on baseball's restricted list after an incident on Aug. 12 when he left the clubhouse in Atlanta in mid-game and told clubhouse employees he was retiring. Tom Ricketts said in September that he had trouble picturing Zambrano pitching again for the Cubs, who owe him $18 million for 2012.

"I need to get to the bottom of that,'' Epstein said. "I think the best organizations get the most out of their players, even the ones that might be harder to get the most out of it. But the best organizations also know when it's time to move on.''

Ramirez was the Cubs' most productive hitter in 2011, hitting .306 with 26 home runs and 93 RBIs. His agent, Paul Kinzer, said he would explore the free-agent market this winter rather than exercise his end of a mutual contract extension for $16 million when interim general manager Randy Bush declined to offer a long-term extension.

Epstein hinted that the Cubs could shift gears and reach out to Ramirez during the exclusive negotiating window that follows the World Series.

"Ramirez, that's a short-time horizon issue,'' Epstein said. "I have my own opinion from afar … We'll sit down and talk about that one.''

While first Jim Hendry and then Bush declined to trade first baseman Carlos Pena, some baseball analysts feel that the unsung LaHair is a better alternative for 2012. He batted .331 with 38 home runs last season and has hit .308 with six homers in 10 games in Venezuela.

"I have a soft spot for guys who hit everywhere they've ever been – hit, hit, hit and continue to hit,'' Epstein said. "There's this myth about the 4-A hitter. Guys who perform all the way up the minor leagues, dominate triple-A, get a cup of coffee, they hit a buck-fifty in the big leagues, and everybody labels them a 4-A hitter.

"The reality is, I'm not so sure there is something called a 4-A hitter. It's just (a) pretty good major league hitter who never got an opportunity.''

On LaHair, Epstein continued: "He's an asset. We'll have to take a deeper look. … There's more to this game, especially in the National League, than just swinging the bat. We'll dig deeper on that one. But, look, we're looking for assets. We're going to scratch and claw and do everything in our power — in the draft, internationally, small trades, waiver claims. We need to build assets because we don't have enough of them. We're not going to look past one that might be sitting right there in our organization.''

Epstein was asked if Ricketts had given him the authority to release underproductive players, with Alfonso Soriano and Zambrano mentioned specifically.

"Yeah, I believe so … I know so,'' Epstein said. "It's also a sign of a good organization to understand the concept of a sunk cost, and to move on. Understand sometimes you're gaining by saying goodbye, when it is time to move on.''

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Tribune Epstein non-committal on manager Cubs top man will give Quade chance to make his case By: Paul Sullivan

Cubs manager Mike Quade will get a chance to lobby for his job, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein confirmed Tuesday.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts left Quade's future in the hands of his new baseball boss instead of letting him go with one year remaining on his contract at the end of the 2011 season. While most expect Quade to be fired, Epstein said he will go visit him in Florida this week to hear him out.

"Mike seems like a great guy, and he has developed a great reputation over many decades in this game," Epstein said. "I look forward to sitting down with him in person, sharing with him my vision of the organization.

"I'd like to hear his vision of the organization. We have to talk about some things that happened over the last year or so. I look forward to that process, to exchanging information, sharing our visions. Then we'll get together as a group and decide where we go from there."

Epstein did not mention who the group was that would get together to decide, but presumably Jed Hoyer would be hired as general manager by then. While Hoyer remains with the Padres, Epstein must refrain from addressing his imminent move.

"Eventually we will (hire a GM), but we're looking for the right people," he said. "Obviously there's some scuttlebutt going on right now about things that are happening. I can't comment on that. But I think it was important to develop a structure that allowed for the hiring of a GM if we got the right person."

Quade's status has been debated since Hendry was fired in August. The former Cubs GM chose Quade over Ryne Sandberg, and never heard the end of it after the Cubs got off to a poor start in 2011.

The players who openly campaigned for Quade's return at the end of the 2010 season were conspicuously silent about it in the final days of 2011. With a new baseball man on the way in, most assumed Quade was toast.

Efforts to reach Quade for comment were unsuccessful.

Former Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whom Quade replaced in August 2010, said he hopes Epstein brings Quade back.

"I thought they played hard for Mike, from what I saw," Piniella said. "I hope he gets an opportunity to stay."

The Cubs didn't play well for Quade, however. Epstein didn't have to watch the Cubs all year to know that. But stranger things have happened. After the 1996 season, White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf made a multi-year offer to Jim Leyland to manage, despite having Terry Bevington still under contract. When Leyland rejected the overture and went to the Marlins, Reinsdorf kept Bevington another year.

Could Quade get a reprieve?

"The most important first step is to get to know Mike Quade better," Epstein said. "I had a great conversation with him on the phone. We're going to get together over the next week. We need to sit down. I need to get a little bit of a 'debrief.'"

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Tribune Match made in heaven? Cubs and Epstein just might be perfect pairing By: David Haugh

For all the deserved attention paid to the detached, analytical skills of new Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, for one brief, shining moment Tuesday, he sounded like a hopeless baseball romantic.

In likening his challenge with the Cubs to helping the Red Sox finally win a World Series in 2004, Epstein recalled the Boston victory parade. He saw joy lighting up faces, flags draping cemetery headstones and construction workers hugging one another. The kind of reaction Epstein dared to envision when the Cubs win the World Series, not if.

"When we build that foundation for sustained success and it ultimately results in a World Series, it's going to be more than just a World Series,'' Epstein said during his introductory news conference. "It's going to (affect) a lot of people, Cubs fans and Cubs families for generations who waited and waited for a World Series. The two best things about my Red Sox experience, I have a chance to try to re-create here.''

Here, at the corner of Clark and Addison streets, the comfy home of futility the last 103 years, where the arrival of Epstein suddenly made the "Cubs Way" something to be admired more than mocked. Here, where a cultured 37-year-old who already changed one baseball city begins the process of changing Cubs culture by … well, the son of a novelist probably can put it more eloquently than I can.

"To me, baseball is better with tradition,'' Epstein said. "Baseball is better with history. Baseball is better with fans who care. Baseball is better in ballparks like this. Baseball is better during the day. And baseball is best of all when you win. That, ultimately, is why I'm here today.''

And so begins Cubbie Camelot.

Young, bright and debonair, Epstein inspired idealism from the masses with a polished rhetorical performance that lived up to the billing. Nobody cared if Epstein's remarks included more Boston references than a rerun of "Cheers.'' Nobody could get enough of the guy who, in terms of style and substance, set a new standard by which sports executives will be measured in the city.

Only a misanthrope would find a nit to pick about Ricketts nabbing Epstein. This isn't the Cubs hiring Andy MacPhail in 1994 as a 41-year-old executive with two World Series rings — MacPhail immediately hired a general manager with no experience in Ed Lynch. Within the week Epstein, in stark contrast, is expected to add Padres GM Jed Hoyer, Epstein's colleague in Boston for two World Series titles.

Strip away any hyperbole, and reality still says Epstein makes a World Series goal more legitimate than any other executive on Ricketts' list and creates instant credibility that welcomes the Cubs back to major- market baseball.

Epstein outlined a clear, proven plan to implement a "Cubs Way'' of playing at every level, vowing an emphasis on player development that turns every decision into a long-term one. He showed humor in comparing himself during employment limbo to a character in "Office Space'' and humility in stressing that winning takes more than one man. He quoted Bill Walsh when explaining why he felt compelled to leave his dream job after a decade and might have referenced Kierkegaard if he had kept talking.

Clearly, Epstein brings intellectual heft into the building. One reporter was so dazzled that he asked Epstein why he never considered being a doctor or lawyer. The Yale grad made points with words such as "paradigm'' and "promulgate,'' suggesting the Cubs should hand out pocket dictionaries with media guides next spring.

With due respect to former GM Jim Hendry, if you considered the Cubs front office under Hendry old school, think of it under Epstein as private school: slicker, newer and equipped to provide the best winning environment the Ricketts money can buy.

Yet ultimately Epstein realizes execution and effort will define how well the Ivy League approach works, a point he stressed in declaring the need "to grind our way to the top.''

As examples, Epstein described an area scout driving an extra six miles to get a last look at a prospect before the draft and a rookie league pitching coach showing up early every day to perfect a young pitcher's grip.

"There are no shortcuts in baseball,'' Epstein said.

Epstein's unlikely path to Chicago, one he never would have gone down if former Red Sox manager Terry Francona had stayed, finally put him in front of Ricketts two weeks ago.

Quickly during their one-on-one meeting, Ricketts was struck by someone who had done such big things in baseball having such a small ego. The appetite Epstein had for proving himself somewhere else also impressed Ricketts. Finally, the collaborative method Epstein encouraged in Boston, even if it created the occasional late-night office madness, appealed to Ricketts.

"After about 10 or 15 minutes, I knew this was the guy,'' Ricketts said. "I cannot imagine a better person for this job than Theo Epstein.''

That's because Ricketts couldn't have hired one.

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Tribune The world according to Theo New Cubs baseball chief will make no small plans By: Dave van Dyck

He proved to be part baseball philosopher, part professorial pamphleteer, part professional pitchman.

Yes, some of what Theo Epstein proclaimed Tuesday during his remarks at Wrigley Field was pure gobbledygook, some of it could have been spit out by the Red Sox's Carmine computer program and some was just a real person coming through the outer shell, humor and all.

So we present to you "The Theories of Theo" in his own words, mixed in with the urban chic culture talk that befits a 37-year-old born in New York with Central Park as his baseball playground, raised near the heart of Boston and schooled at Yale.

On solving the Curse of the Bambino in Boston and now tackling the Billy Goat Curse in Chicago: "I don't believe in curses, and I guess I kind of had a small part in helping prove they don't exist (in baseball). … It wasn't the curse, it was just the fact we hadn't gotten the job done."

On rebuilding the Cubs: "I didn't use the word 'rebuilding' and I wouldn't. That's a buzzword in baseball that leads people down the wrong path."

Refreshing news: "I listen to NPR instead of sports talk radio."

About the Starbucks sighting: "Actually I'm a little bit more of a Dunkin' (Donuts) guy, and now that I've learned that Dunkin' supports the Cubs, that's a good thing."

On being a new-age, computer-only, sabermetrics savant: "You have to balance traditional scouting with objective analysis, and that's not just a line. As far as the (Carmine) computer thing goes, way too much has been made of that. We developed a program that was simply an information management system. Every team in baseball has an information management system in some form or another."

Warning to future Alfonso Soriano-type free agents: "I believe you pay for future performance, not past performance."

Another way of saying the Cubs might sign several low-payroll free agents: "Understanding the supply-and-demand dynamic means discovering small opportunities to make the organization better."

On changing the perception of the so-called Cubs culture of losing among those already on board: "The easiest way to start to change the culture is in the front office. Essentially it involves a lot of hard work, setting standards. … If you're not ready to buy into that, you're probably not going to be along for the ride."

On being a boss who is defined by more than just statistics: "Our goal is to build the best scouting department in the game, as far as player development goes. … We will define and implement a 'Cubs Way' of playing the game, and we won't rest until there is a steady stream of talent coming through the minor league system, trained in that 'Cubs Way.' "

And so we don't become confused between the Cubs Way and a Cubbie Occurrence: "The 'Cub Way' will be a living, breathing dynamic."

On what Dallas Green in 1982 called 'Building a New Tradition' of being a contender every season: "We're not looking for the lucky hit, where you get deep in the postseason and then not be very good for the next couple of years. We want sustained success."

About being a newfound Chicago celebrity (yes, he does have some humor): "I should probably have another (news conference) to resign because my popularity is definitely going to be at an all-time high right now. It has peaked and it's only going to go downhill.

"In baseball, when you make moves, you do a great job and you're right about 55 percent of the time. The other 45 percent of the time you're going to tick some people off, and I understand that. I've come to grow more comfortable with the realities that, unlike 20 years ago, general managers now are sort of the public face of the franchise."

From the there's-something-he-doesn't-know-yet dept., here's his take on the never-ending debate over day-night baseball: "We'll unlock the riddle of Wrigley Field. It just may take some time."

It's not all decision by computers, unless the Wrigley version of Carmine works in a cave: "I like to get into a bunker with a group of people … and work our tails off."

And, finally, about whether he knows what he's getting into, leaving the area in which he grew up and became a folk hero for the unknown of Chicago and all things Cubs: "Oh, yeah. It's unique. Boston's not Chicago, Chicago's not Boston. Every city, every market has its own personality, its own idiosyncrasies. I don't pretend to understand them all yet."

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Tribune Epstein unlikely to pursue Pujols or Fielder; Quade chances slim By: Phil Rogers

First impressions from Theo Epstein’s opening remarks as the Chicago Cubs' new president of baseball operations:

1. The Cubs probably will not pursue Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder with much vigor this winter.

“I’m not going to comment on anybody in particular,’’ Epstein told a group of reporters after the formal news conference broke up. “The impact free agents, the long-term commitments, there’s a time and a place for those type of commitments. But you have to understand the time and place. It’s also important you understand the player."

Epstein went on to talk about “up the middle" players, an area where the Cubs are fairly well stocked at the moment. Look for him to try to steal a run producer from somebody this winter, like he did David Ortiz when he got to Boston, rather than come out of the blocks with a $200 million-plus offer for Fielder or Pujols, which could blow up on him.

“Baseball players have a prime age, an age starting at 26, 27, usually until about 31, 32," Epstein said. “You get the best production, the best bang for your buck with players (in that prime). Of course, the club we have will have a diversified roster. ... Ideally, you’ll have most of your players in their prime, hopefully homegrown.’’

2. Mike Quade has a chance to stay on the job in 2012, although it’s a slim chance. Epstein said he’s only talked to the Cubs’ 2011 manager on the telephone and will visit with him within the next week before deciding whether to keep him or replace him. Epstein also will assess other candidates who are available.

3. It should not be presumed that Terry Francona is off the table. Listening to Epstein, it’s clear he really values Francona’s skills as a manager.

The question is whether continuing to work with Francona -- assuming Francona would continue working for Epstein after he didn’t prevent him from being shoved aside in Boston -- would be the kind of change Epstein says he’s coming to Chicago to find.

He talked a lot about the benefit of being recharged by a different “landscape" after his 10 years with the Red Sox, including nine as general manager.

4. He probably wouldn’t have come to Chicago had the Red Sox not gone 7-20 in September to fall out of the playoffs. That slide caused Francona to be forced to resign two days after the end of the season, and Epstein said he decided to leave the franchise because he wasn’t committed beyond the end of his contract, in 2012, and felt his Boston successor, Ben Cherington, should hire the next manager, not him.

“I was looking at (a decision after) 2012," he said. “That would have been 10 years as the GM … I thought Ben should be able to hire his manager. If I did it and then left it would have been awkward, at the least, and maybe disastrous.’’

5. He doesn’t believe in curses.

“I don’t believe in curses, (and) I guess I played a small part in proving they don’t exist, from a baseball standpoint," he said to reporters after not being asked that question in the public portion of the interview. “I do think we can be honest and upfront that certain organizations haven’t gotten the job done. That’s the approach we took in Boston. We identified certain things that we hadn’t been doing well, that might have gotten in the way of (winning) a World Series, and eradicated them. That’s what we’ll do here."

6. Yes, that was him at Starbucks a couple weeks back. He said he’s not a very good liar, and that he blew his cover.

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Tribune Epstein in driver's seat It's up to new baseball honcho to guide Cubs to World Series By: Phil Rogers

With an air of confidence and an abundance of wide-eyed optimism, Tom Ricketts handed the keys to his baseball operation to the boy genius, Theo Epstein.

Better that than the family Lexus, it seems.

"I hope he gets a house that is walking distance to Wrigley,'' Red Sox Chief Operating Officer Sam Kennedy said, referencing Epstein's driving ability. "No further comment on that.''

Kennedy and Epstein were teammates at Brookline (Mass.) High School. They traveled across the country in 1995 to take their first full-time jobs in baseball with the Padres.

One of the first things they did when they got to San Diego, Kennedy said, was to find a school that could teach Epstein to drive a car. He somehow had graduated from Yale without a class in driver's ed.

While Epstein was learning about keeping his hands at 10-and-2, Ed Lynch was learning his way around the Cubs organization after being hired to replace Larry Himes as general manager. Lynch was paid less than $300,000, barely enough for two minimum-salary players in that era, and was largely left to fend for himself.

Until recently, the organization's practice was to keep the GM it had just fired as something of a "special assistant'' to the guy who replaced him — thus Himes worked for his replacement, Lynch, as Lynch eventually would work in a scouting role for Andy MacPhail and Jim Hendry.

Odd way to run a business, huh? You bet, but these were your grandfather's Cubs — a club that under Phil Wrigley ran for a full season with ballpark manager-turned-GM Salty Saltwell competing against Bing Devine's Cardinals, Bob Howsam's Braves and Al Campanis' Dodgers. Talk about a front-office mismatch.

But roll over, Harry Caray, and tell Ron Santo the news. Those days are as dead as the Red Sox's Curse of the Bambino.

Not only was Epstein formally announced Tuesday as the Cubs' president of baseball operations, signed at an unprecedented cost for a baseball executive (a reported $18.5 million over five years), but he brings with him assurances from Ricketts that he can assemble an All-Star staff.

It will include Jed Hoyer, the sitting Padres general manager; Jason McLeod, a brilliant scout who worked beside Hoyer and Epstein for the Red Sox; and some big hires to be named.

"We plan to bring in some of the best and brightest from outside the organization,'' said Epstein, who guided the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and '07. "We'll also learn from those who have been here.''

Epstein will look for players who do not resemble him.

"Neither of us were very good,'' Kennedy said Tuesday. "When we were working for the Padres, someone tracked down a photo of our 1991 Brookline High varsity baseball team. (Then-GM) Kevin Towers said, 'That's the sorriest group of non-athletes I have ever seen.' He was 100 percent right.

"(But) Theo and I both knew we would work in baseball from a very young age. … He practically has a photographic memory and can remember details from a casual exchange he had … from 20 years ago.''

Epstein certainly is smart enough not to bring in a priest to try to deal with Sam Sianis' goat.

"I don't believe in curses, (and) I guess I played a small part in proving they don't exist, from a baseball standpoint,'' Epstein said. "I do think we can be honest and upfront that certain organizations haven't gotten the job done.

"That's the approach we took in Boston. We identified certain things that we hadn't been doing well, that might have gotten in the way of (winning) a World Series, and eradicated them.''

Epstein and Ricketts, it seems, have bumped into each other at the exact right time. The Cubs chairman said he knew Epstein was the guy he wanted to run the Cubs "after 10 or 15 minutes of conversation.''

Epstein first had thought Ricketts might be a good guy to work for in June, when he saw how the previously conservative Cubs suddenly were drafting players such as Javier Baez, Dan Vogelbach, Dillon Maples, Trevor Gretzky, Taiwan Easterling and Shawon Dunston Jr.

These were expensive, high-risk players in whom only a club with deep pockets and serious aspirations would invest. Toss in a high share of big-ticket signings in Latin America, and Ricketts invested about $20 million in amateur talent last summer.

"As the Cubs' draft went on, we were sitting around in our draft room, and we could tell what they were doing,'' Epstein said. "We said, 'Hey, they get it, they're finally getting it.' … That got my attention, the attention of a lot of other people in the game. … I would say it was a significant moment.''

Epstein wouldn't have been at Wrigley Field on Tuesday if he didn't believe that under Ricketts, the Cubs had set a different course than the one leading them into one iceberg after another. Nor, perhaps, would he have been there if he had to drive his own car.

Don't fear, Cubs fans. Epstein found David Ortiz in the discard pile. He'll find a good wheelman somewhere in Chicago.

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Tribune Sandberg sighting near Michigan Avenue Is it just coincidence 2 Cubs fans believe they saw potential manager here? By: K.C. Johnson

The percentage of certainty dropped from "99.9 percent" to "99 percent." The sighting shifted from a Lincoln Park Starbucks to a Gold Coast street.

And unlike Theo Epstein, who made a surreptitious trip here for an Oct. 8 job interview, Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg already maintains a residence here.

Nevertheless, on the same day Epstein confirmed the Tribune's story that lifelong Cubs fan Noah Pinzur approached him in line at Starbucks as he made his way to Wrigley Field for his interview, two fans came forward to say they spotted Sandberg in town on Monday.

Coincidence? Sure. But with Epstein offering a non-committal answer regarding manager Mike Quade's future and Tribune tipsters as hot as any baseball savant, anything is possible.

"We were coming back from lunch, walking east on Walton toward Michigan Avenue," lifelong Cubs fan Frank Mark said. "All of a sudden, I see three people, two ladies and a guy. I eyeballed the guy and said, 'Holy smoke, that's Sandberg.'

"I'm 99 percent sure it was him. I watched him play throughout his career and follow him now. He had the same build, the same slick-backed hair."

Unlike Pinzur's encounter with Epstein, neither Mark nor friend and fellow Cubs fan Dave Burlak talked to Sandberg. But both had read the Tribune's Starbucks story.

"That's what immediately popped into my mind," Burlak said. "Is it coincidence that he's in town the day before Theo is getting introduced? It just seems weird. Whenever there is a new GM or president, usually they bring their own guy in. My thought is Quade is probably gone."

Sandberg also reportedly dined Tuesday night at Japonais.

Epstein interviewed Sandberg for Boston's Triple-A managing job in Pawtucket last year after Quade beat out Sandberg for the Cubs' top job. Sandberg basically already had committed to the Phillies' Triple-A job at Lehigh Valley and turned it down.

Cubs fans revere Sandberg the player but are split on Sandberg the manager. Along those lines, Burlak calls himself a Bud Black guy, while Mark said he would "love" to see Sandberg return.

The friends agree on one thing: "Theo? Just a great hire," Mark said.

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Sun-Times ‘Curse’ is not in Theo Epstein’s vocabulary BY: JOE COWLEY

Theo Epstein doesn’t believe in curses.

Never has, never will.

Not Bambinos, not goats.

He grew up a relay throw away from Fenway Park, so laughing at myths was unique for a Boston kid. But after being officially named the president of baseball operations for the Cubs on Tuesday, it’s a trait that was a must.

“I don’t believe in curses, and I guess I kind of played a small part in proving that they don’t exist from a baseball standpoint,’’ Epstein said, referring to the 86-year curse he helped break as the Red Sox’ GM in 2004. “But I do believe that you can be honest and upfront about the fact that certain organizations haven’t gotten the job done, haven’t won the World Series in a long time.

“That’s the approach we took in Boston. It wasn’t a curse; we just hadn’t gotten the job done. We identified several things that the franchise did historically that probably got in the way of winning a World Series. We went about on how to eradicate those. That will be part of the process here.’’

Just like that, I’m sold.

Not that the “Dragonslayer’’ can end the 103-year drought with the Cubs, but that the organization is finally moving in a forward direction and has the right man pulling the sleigh.

Two years of watching owner Tom Ricketts bump into walls — and into Crane Kenney — shouted “same ol’ Cubs, different leadership.’’

But not now. Whether it was luck or perfect timing, Ricketts landed a rock star. And a rock star who doesn’t have to let you know he’s a rock star. Epstein is a GM unlike anyone in the city. Maybe a GM unlike Chicago has ever had.

He’s not the hardworking old-school guy who fought his way up through the system. He’s not an inexperienced gamble. He’s not the recycled GM from other organizations.

Smart, well-spoken, cocky, businesslike — pick a good adjective. Epstein exudes “I know what I’m doing,’’ not “I’m smarter than you.’’

A perfect blend of a Yale education and Boston street smarts.

That’s a fine line to walk.

And while there are a few more little Theos running around the big leagues these days, the Cubs’ version is the original.

That’s what Cubs fans should throw their arms around. For the first time in a long time, your organization has hired the best guy available to put together the product the best way possible. That guarantees nothing in October, but it gives hope. Not throw-it-up-in-the-wind-and-hope-it-sticks hope, but real hope that Ricketts has now tossed his hat in the ring to finally be a big-boy owner.

The refreshing thing about Epstein’s meeting with the media was he didn’t act like he had all the answers but was confident with the answers he did have.

Asked about no longer having that Boston checkbook to work with, he explained his payroll philosophy, while admitting he got lucky early on with the Red Sox.

“I think [the Cubs job is] equally as big a challenge,’’ Epstein said. “In Boston my first year, we took the payroll down $10 [million] or $12 million or so and improved the team on the field. That doesn’t happen every time.

“We’re not looking for the lucky hit where you get deep into the playoffs and then you’re not a very good club the next season. We want sustained success. Our fans deserve both. They deserve the long-term building project of the foundation, and they also deserve taking every opportunity to win as a sacred opportunity.’’

They deserve more than that, but this is not an overnight fixer-upper. This is about patience on many fronts. Farm system, player development and even Ricketts eventually passing the basket around for a few hundred million to spruce up Wrigley Field. Much easier to do now when you’re knocking at the door for a donation, and Bono is next to you, rather than having Garth Brooks and all his friends in low places.

“I should probably have another press conference right now to resign because my popularity is going to be at an all-time high right now,’’ Epstein joked. “It’s only going to go downhill.’’

Not likely.

Definitely not for a while.

And what if the unthinkable happens? What if the “Dragonslayer’’ has one more broken curse to put on his résumé?

For the first time in a long time, Cubs fans can dream again.

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Sun-Times Francona’s departure hastened Epstein’s exit By: GORDON WITTENMYER

Theo Epstein always planned to be on a 10-year plan with the Boston Red Sox.

He assumed that meant leaving the Red Sox after his 10th season as general manager when his contract was up next year. Epstein even discussed this with his bosses when things were going well this summer.

How he ended up as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations a year earlier was the result of a perfect storm of good relationships, bad baseball and ugly endings.

In fact, it was the decision by friend and manager Terry Francona to tell Red Sox ownership he didn’t want his contract option exercised that proved the difference-maker in making Epstein a Cub.

‘‘The biggest factor of that timing was all of a sudden we looked up and had to hire a new manager,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘I remember what it was like for me as a young GM [eight years ago] to really run the interview process and bond with Terry Francona during that time. You develop a bond when you hire somebody, and you develop trust that serves you well for years and years to come.’’

With assistant GM Ben Cherington already set up as his heir apparent and with Epstein planning to be gone in a year, he said he felt it served all concerned to leave the job to Cherington now.

If not for Francona’s departure? ‘‘Yeah, I’d probably still be there.’’

Whether Cubs ownership knew its ideal candidate was even available when Tom Ricketts fired GM Jim Hendry, the announcement in August planted the first seed for Epstein, if only because he was an immediate object of speculation.

But it wasn’t until the Red Sox followed four months of spectacular baseball with a spectacular collapse in September that the Cubs zeroed in on Epstein.

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Sun-Times Theo looking to create a “Cubs way” of doing things By: Gordon Wittenmyer

He doesn’t like the word ‘‘rebuilding.’’ He doesn’t believe in curses. And he doesn’t even claim to understand what he’s gotten himself into.

‘‘Boston’s not Chicago,’’ said Theo Epstein. ‘‘Chicago’s not Boston.’’

But the Cubs’ new president of baseball operations — or ‘‘savior,’’ for short — takes a vision of organization- and culture-building into his new job that involves producing a ‘‘Cubs Way’’ handbook, developing an objective-analysis computer program and staffing an expanded front office of like-minded decision-makers who may or may not pull all-nighters like they did in Boston nearly 10 years ago.

How much Epstein and incoming GM Jed Hoyer will lean on the existing Cubs front-office and scouting personnel is uncertain at least. Word from sources in the organization is that the Cubs’ annual organizational meetings have been moved back to February, just a few days ahead of pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training.

Most teams schedule org meetings for early November at the latest, to prepare for offseason roster work. Some teams already have held their meetings.

Whether it’s a sign that Epstein and the Ricketts ownership are planning a deeper shakeup, it’s clear this is the Theo Show going forward. And it’s just as clear that Epstein has become the Cubs’ most powerful baseball employee since Frank Chance.

It definitely isn’t a one-man show, Epstein insisted. But the only others assured of co-starring roles at this point are outgoing San Diego Padres GM Hoyer and his assistant GM, Jason McLeod — key assistants during the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox championship runs.

Although that president-GM structure seems to defy chairman Tom Ricketts’ insistence this summer that he didn’t need ‘‘a baseball guy to watch my baseball guy,’’ Ricketts’ response to that issue Tuesday made it clear the future of his baseball team is all about Theo, regardless of semantics.

‘‘No matter how you look at it, ultimately there has to be one person who’s responsible for the decisions of the baseball organization and accountable for the results in the baseball organization,’’ Ricketts said. ‘‘As of last summer it was Jim [Hendry]. And as of today, it’s Theo. . . . It’ll be his decisions, and he’ll be accountable for those.’’

Look for many of those decisions to start being made in quick sequence once Hoyer and McLeod are officially aboard, from possible managerial and field-staff changes to deadline-driven decisions on players such as Ryan Dempster, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena.

Epstein, 37, who spent nine seasons as the Red Sox GM, promised no timetables and certainly no repeat of his two championships the first five years in Boston.

But even as he repeatedly stressed constructing a ground-up ‘‘Cubs Way’’ of evaluating and teaching to create a steady stream of successful prospects, he also promised a ‘‘parallel front’’ of trying to contend at the big-league level every year.

Including, believe it or not, next year.

‘‘We’re going to have to have a high hit rate [on personnel decisions]. We’re going to have to take a creative look at the big-league team,’’ he said, ‘‘and work extremely hard to put them in a position to contend next year and the years that follow. But it can be done.

‘‘I [don’t] use the word ‘rebuilding.’ I think that’s one of the buzz words in baseball that leads people down the wrong path. There are parallel fronts.’’

There’s also $40 million to $50 million coming off the big-league payroll. And how much of that goes back into the big-league side or into a heavier investment in scouting and development is up to him — one more way he has far more power than Hendry before him or even team president Andy MacPhail before that.

‘‘If you’re in the game long enough, you realize that every opportunity to win is sacred,’’ he said. ‘‘If you’re in contention at the trade deadline one year, don’t take it for granted. As you approach an offseason and you’re coming off a season in which you finish in fifth place, don’t assume that you can’t go press five right buttons and all of a sudden be right in it. There are a lot of examples of that happening.

‘‘I’m not saying the timetable is immediate. Over time we’re going to get this thing done.’’

Said Ricketts, who was sold on Epstein within the first 15 minutes they talked: ‘‘I simply can’t imagine a better person for the job than Theo Epstein.’’

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Sun-Times Cubs might be players in free-agent market By: GORDON WITTENMYER AND TONI GINNETTI

For all the talk about scouting and player development Tuesday, Theo Epstein also made it clear the Cubs will remain a regular, competitive player in the free-agent market.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll be in the market this winter for first basemen Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols — in particular Pujols

On his first day addressing the media as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, Epstein wouldn’t talk specifically about the two big-ticket impact hitters on the market.

‘‘But I’ll say this,’’ he said. ‘‘The free agent that requires a long-term, substantial commitment — there’s a time and a place for that type of investment. And I think it’s important to understand when that right time is.’’

Like, maybe not when the starting rotation is thinner than it has been in recent memory.

Epstein stressed the importance of getting the complete package in any multiyear, megabucks free-agent deal, including ‘‘in an ideal world, you’d love for him to be an up-the-middle player.’’

He also stressed the value of buying as many of the player’s prime years as possible, which would seem to preclude at least Pujols — 32 next season — from the discussion.

‘‘There will be a time and a place for that,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘I’m not going to say whether it’s now or down the road. But even if we don’t sign a particular free agent, we’re going to be active in free agency because it’s an opportunity. It’s a supply-and-demand dynamic. Understanding the supply-and-demand dynamics means discovering small opportunities to make the organization better. It might mean signing a released player to a one-year, $1.25 million deal, and that works well if his name happens to be David Ortiz [nine years ago]. It’s probably not going to happen again.

‘‘But there’s a time and a place for the big-impact players, and also a time and a place — always — for the smaller, more nuanced move.’’

Answer on Q?

Epstein already has talked to Cubs manager Mike Quade by phone and plans to meet with him in person soon.

But the likelihood Quade will complete the last year of his contract on the field remains in doubt as Epstein and soon-to-be-named general manager Jed Hoyer make the next decision on the organization’s management team.

‘‘The most important first step is I need to get to know Mike Quade better,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘I had a great conversation with him on the phone. [Now] we need to sit down. I need to get a little bit of a de-brief, and I think he needs to hear my vision for the organization. . . .

‘‘We have to talk about some things that happened over the last year or so. . . . We’ll get together and decide where we go from there.’’

Ryne Sandberg remains at the forefront of the managerial question. The Hall of Famer is in limbo after a successful season leading the Philadelphia Phillies’ Class AAA affiliate to the playoffs.

After joining the big-league staff for the final weeks of the season, Sandberg was shut out of a 2012 promotion when the Phillies opted to bring back their big-league field staff intact.

Many close to Sandberg believe he would not rule out a big-league coaching job if he doesn’t land a managerial job.

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Sun-Times Theo reaches legendary status on Twitter BY: DAN CAHILL

Forget about “rock star” status, the arrival of Theo Epstein to the Cubs’ front office has reached “Second Coming” proportions.

Maybe the genesis was the Starbucks citing, or possibly it was perpetuated with a Monday luncheon stalking, but there’s no doubt the former Red Sox GM already has reached iconic status in Chicago.

One needed to look no further than the “#LegendofTheo” Twitter thread on Monday. The Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley got it rolling, and soon after #LegendofTheo viraled into a LOL tribute to the man saddled with turning around 103 years of failure.

We present the best of #LegendofTheo:

@GambitRF Eric--Had Theo negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, France would’ve thrown in a player-to-be- named-later

@MRubio52 Mauricio Rubio--Theo signed Matt Forte to an extension

@JohnJulitz John Julitz--Theo just turned water into Old Style

@cst_Cowley cst_Cowley--When Alexander Bell invented the telephone he had three missed calls from Theo.

@mattlindner Matt Lindner--Chicago has officially changed “Tuesday” to “Theosday”

@dancahill_cst Dan Cahill--Abner Doubleday asked Theo, “3 or 4 outs to an inning?” Hawk later concurred.

@GambitRF Eric--Theo was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction

@mattlindner Matt Lindner--Only person to ever take down Chuck Norris in a street fight? Theo Epstein.

@robperry_12 Rob Perry--The most interesting man in the world calls Theo for advice.

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Sun-Times High expectations — can Theo Epstein deliver? By: rick morrissey

Let’s stop being coy. The Savior has arrived.

Never mind Theo Epstein’s protestations. If you paid attention to the gooey reaction from fans and media as the Cubs wooed him over the last several weeks, there can be no mistaking his divine properties.

In word and in Pavlov salivating, people are indicating he is the one to do what nobody has done in 103 years.

For his own sake, he had better.

Listen to what Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said at Epstein’s introductory news conference Tuesday and tell me there’s nothing messianic in his description:

‘‘We look forward to the day where we can say that we have the best team in baseball. And we are confident that our new president of baseball operations will lead us to that day.’’

That sounds like next-door neighbors to ‘‘And a little child shall lead them.’’

OK, Epstein is no longer the kid he was when the Boston Red Sox named him their general manager at 28. But he’s 37 now, still young and still with a lot of time left for miracle-working. Bringing a World Series to the North Side for the first time since 1908 is the one and only reason he’s here.

No pressure there.

Epstein clearly is aware of the oversized expectations of him, and it’s probably why he stressed the team dynamic so often Tuesday.

‘‘When we do achieve that sustained success and ultimately win a World Series, it will not happen because of any one person,’’ he said. ‘‘It will happen because of all of us.’’

An ever bigger Goliath

Epstein is wrong there, judging by the lovefest that has taken place since the Cubs began recruiting him. He helped Boston break its 86-year dry spell without a World Series, in case you haven’t heard. When you hear a Cubs fan or a radio talk-show host describe how those two Red Sox championships came about, it usually has more to do with Epstein than with any actual baseball player.

In Chicago, he’s up against both a ponderous history and the fervent belief that he’ll change things immediately, if not sooner.

When was the last time there was this much anticipation in town for the arrival of a sports figure? The reaction to Epstein’s hiring has been bigger than the reaction to the Jay Cutler trade.

The Cubs’ arduous pursuit of Epstein and the money they have given him says it all: he’s The One.

But give him this: Just because he’s trying to avoid that kind of talk doesn’t mean he’s avoiding the huge challenge in front of him.

‘‘When I got to Boston . . . they hadn’t won in 86 years,’’ he said. ‘‘We didn’t run from that challenge. We embraced it. We decided that the way to attack it was to build the best baseball operation that we could, to try to establish a winning culture, to work as hard as possible and to bring in players who cared more about each other and more about winning than what the people around them thought or the external expectations or the external mind-set.’’

Despite the desire to believe in Epstein’s curative powers, it’s hard to look at his arrival without some skepticism. The room at Wrigley Field in which the Cubs introduced him Tuesday is the same room they used to introduce Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker as manager. You remember them. They were the previous two saviors.

You say this time is different. I say prove it.

Forgive this skeptic

The negativity in that previous sentence isn’t in the attitude of the person who wrote it. The negativity is in the 103 years without a title.

Epstein’s hiring says the Cubs have finally entered into the 21st century in terms of statistical analysis and objective data, which won’t be mistaken for Ron Santo and Harry Caray. That’s a good thing. The Rickettses have rightly recognized that the Cubs’ farm system isn’t nearly as good as it should be.

‘‘Over time and together, we will build a solid foundation that delivers sustained success to the Cubs,’’ Epstein said.

When he says “we,” he means the organization, not the royal “we,’’ though you get the feeling that Cubs fans would be OK with that, if that’s what King Theo wanted.

The Cubs went 71-91 last season, but that was then and this is, as you know, wow. I suppose nobody wants to hear that the team Epstein inherited when he was named the Red Sox’ GM had won 93 games the year before.

Nah, I didn’t think so.

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Daily Herald Media circus accompanies Cubs' new Theocracy By: Mike Spellman

He's back:

Who would have thought when the savior returned he would be sporting a charcoal suit, white shirt, and silver and black tie?

Good to know.

Theo-ism 1:

“There are no shortcuts in baseball.”

Theo-ism 2:

“The key is to pay for future performance, not past performance.”

Theo-ism 3 ... the winner is:

“There are more than enough resources here for me to win.”

Had me at hello:

Gotta love a guy who references “Office Space” in one of his replies.

Looking good:

With Epstein and future GM Jed Hoyer, the Cubs will have the best looking 1-2 punch running their show since Jim Frey and Don Zimmer.

Make it stop:

Sight seen outside Wrigley Field Tuesday morning: a mom, a stroller, the Ernie Banks statue … and Ronnie Woo Woo in full uniform.

Woo-squared was later seen around home plate playing his ukulele.

How does this happen?

Not saying, just saying:

Epstein never came right out and said it, but it looks like it's farewell and adieu for manager Mike Quade.

He's still here:

And probably not going anywhere. And that would be Crane Kenney, president of business operations, standing stage right with arms folded, soaking up the waves of adulation from Theo Epstein and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

Here's hoping ...

Kenney didn't surf the Web or listen to the radio after Tuesday's news conference, because he would have heard whatever the opposite of adulation is.

Not your grandfather's Cubs:

When's the last time you heard the word “paradigm” used at Wrigley Field?

Cubbie occurrence:

Because of all the local TV stations covering TheoFest live, the speaker system inside the United Club was adjusted down to about minus-6 to accommodate, making it difficult at best for anyone else to hear anything that was being said.

Perfect.

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Daily Herald Epstein impressive, very impressive By: Mike Imrem

Theo Epstein is so impressive that you wonder what he's doing in baseball.

Tuesday he came across as intelligent, articulate and pragmatic while being introduced as the Cubs' president of baseball operations.

Epstein made references to the major leagues and minor leagues being “parallel fronts,” to establishing “integrated verticality” up and down the organization, and to installing an “information management system.”

When the Tribune Company hired Andy MacPhail as Cubs president in 1994 he said he wanted to hire a general manager with academic intellect.

MacPhail fell short with Ed Lynch, who had passed the bar exam but not the GM test. Judging a textbook by its cover, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts went long with Epstein.

So, Professor Theo, why baseball when you would make, say, an attractive political candidate…?

“You don't even know what my politics are,” Epstein said.

The response was accompanied by a smile that would make voters swoon even if he expressed an intention to raise taxes across the board.

My goodness, Epstein has a politician's hair, a wife who would make a beautiful first lady, precise speech, great everything that someone needs to be elected president of the United States.

Yet Epstein doesn't seem to want to run for any office but his new one at Wrigley Field. Nor does he seem motivated to cure cancer or devise a program to end hunger.

The way Epstein came across inside the United Club inside the ballpark, he's sharp enough and polished enough to solve any problem.

Except maybe getting the Cubs into a World Series, that is. Winning a news conference is one thing. Winning the National League is another.

Ah, but that's the challenge Theo Epstein accepted, which might make you think again about how wise a man he is.

The good news is that in a sense bringing a championship to Cubs fans would be like feeding them, housing them, curing them and bringing inner peace to them.

So maybe this is the one instance when baseball isn't trivial, when it's providing all those social services for a large number of people in desperate need of help.

Epstein will settle for a World Series title and let the greater good fall where it may. The reason he's working in baseball is for, well, for the love of baseball.

For starters, Epstein was born in New York and his parents tell him about how he would watch baseball games on TV at age 2. At about age 4 he would go to Central Park and bat around a Wiffle ball.

When Epstein was 12 his mother asked him what he wanted to do in life.

His answer: “If I can't work in baseball I'm not sure I would be happy.”

Epstein looked like a happy man munching on a happy meal of Cub mania Tuesday, even though he was leaving the Boston area. That's where he grew up and then generally managed his beloved Red Sox to two World Series championships.

Maybe Epstein has time to make the most of more than one career, considering that he believes a sports executive's shelf life is about 10 years in any one job.

Ten years from now Epstein's tour in Wrigley Field will be finished, and perhaps even complete if he can win that improbable World Series here.

Theo Epstein will be a mere 47 years old then, leaving him more than enough time to transition from being president of baseball operations to president of the United States.

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Daily Herald Curses aside, Epstein embraces Cubs challenge By: Scot Gregor

It’s not so much the two World Series champion teams he built as general manager with the Boston Red Sox that makes Theo Epstein such an exceptional fit with the Cubs.

It’s not the nine winning records in nine seasons as the Red Sox’ GM, including six postseason appearances.

It’s not Epstein’s proven knack for blending old-school scouting with new-era computer analysis.

It’s not his ability to surround himself with equally capable talent in the front office while assembling rosters loaded with productive veterans and emerging young talent.

They are all admirable qualities, without a doubt.

But one specific trait makes Epstein’s name jump off the page for the Cubs — he can conquer the curse.

Don’t believe in the Cubs’ Curse of the Billy Goat? Don’t believe a fan named Steve Bartman had something to do with the Cubs’ stunning loss to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 National League championship series?

Don’t believe in black cats, Brant Brown or the lore of Leon Durham?

Epstein doesn’t either, most likely because he overcame similar demons while the Red Sox won two Fall Classics under his watch.

“I don’t believe in curses,” Epstein said Tuesday at Wrigley Field after being introduced as Cubs president of baseball operations. “I guess I kind of played a small part in helping prove they don’t exist from a baseball standpoint.

“But I do believe that you can be honest and upfront about the fact that certain organizations haven’t gotten the job done, haven’t won the World Series in a long time.”

The Cubs haven’t won the World Series for 103 years, the longest title drought in professional sports. Curses are foolish, right? I always thought so, until I walked into a freaked-out Cubs clubhouse after the Bartman game and began thinking otherwise.

When the Yale-educated Epstein took over as Boston’s GM after the 2002 season, the Red Sox were dealing with the Curse of the Bambino, Boston’s infamous selling of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920.

Then there was Bucky Dent’s stunning home run that beat the Red Sox in the 1978 tiebreaker and Bill Buckner’s colossal error in the 1986 World Series.

Epstein said he never dwelled on the tainted history when he became Boston’s GM.

“It wasn’t a curse; it was just the fact we hadn’t gotten the job done,” Epstein said. “We identified several things that the franchise had done historically that probably got in the way of winning a World Series.

“We went about how to eradicate those. That will be part of the process here.”

The process started Tuesday, with the 37-year-old Epstein clearly becoming the new face of the Cubs.

Agreeing to a five-year contract worth a reported $18.5 million, Epstein is expected to hire San Diego Padres general manager Jed Hoyer as Cubs GM. The two worked together in Boston for eight years.

Hoyer reportedly is bringing Padres assistant GM Jason McLeod with him from San Diego. McLeod also got his start in baseball with Epstein in Boston.

“When I got to Boston, they hadn’t won in 86 years,” Epstein said. “We didn’t run from that challenge. We embraced it.

“We decided the way to attack it was to build the best baseball operation that we could, try to establish a winning culture, to work as hard as possible and to bring in players who care more about each other and more about winning than the people around them thought or the external expectations, the external mindset.

“That’s something that is going to be important to us here as well.”

While finally bringing a World Series title to long-suffering Cubs fans is his ultimate goal, Epstein admitted that there is much work to do and pleaded for time and patience.

“That does not happen overnight,” he said. “And it certainly does not happen because of any one person. Over time and together, we will build a solid foundation that delivers sustained success for the Cubs.”

And how will Epstein rebuild a Cubs team that has finished fifth in the NL Central in consecutive seasons while losing 178 games?

He did draft and develop talented Red Sox players such as Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury. But Epstein also was permitted to spend lavishly on players such as Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, John Lackey and David Ortiz.

For now, it sounds like the Cubs’ new baseball boss will concentrate on working younger players into the major-league mix.

“As far as player development goes, we will define and implement a ‘Cubs Way’ of playing the game,” Epstein said. “We won’t rest until there is a steady stream of talent coming through the minor-league system, trained in that ‘Cubs Way’ and making an impact out here at Wrigley Field.”

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Daily Herald Epstein: Fixing Wrigley a win-win By: Mike Spellman

The hiring of Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations may pay off in more ways than one for Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

In the deal, Ricketts not only gets a man with pretty impeccable baseball credentials but also a salesman for the team when it comes to renovating Wrigley Field, one of Ricketts’ highest priorities.

Epstein has witnessed firsthand what the renovation of Fenway Park has done for Boston and the Red Sox, and he no doubt will be selling those in power in Chicago on the same concept for Wrigley Field, something he thinks is a win-win situation.

“During my time with the Red Sox I got to see how important it was to renovate the ballpark,” Epstein said. “Going there as a kid in the ’80s and the ’90s, the park had started to fall into disrepair a little bit. It wasn’t as great a place to watch a game as it had been earlier.

“I was lucky in getting there in 2002. That was right around the time the renovation started, and the impact was tremendous.

“It improved the fan experience fantastically. It generated revenues at a remarkable clip, and that in turn — on the baseball side — allowed us to take those revenues and pour them into our baseball operations to get to the level we wanted to be at and stay there.”

But that wasn’t all it did. It also made Fenway a must-see attraction, again a win-win for the team and the city.

“Fenway Park became this jewel of Boston. Everybody who came to town had to see it, had to experience it,” Epstein said.

“If we’re lucky enough to follow those same steps here in Chicago with Wrigley Field, it will only mean great things for the fans, great things for our revenues — which in turn means great things for our baseball operation — and great things for the city of Chicago.”

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Daily Herald Quade’s Cubs future a pressing issue By: Scot Gregor

Theo Epstein is officially on the job as the Cubs’ new president of baseball operations.

One of his first acts of business will be making a decision on manager Mike Quade, who has one year left on his contract.

Quade, a Prospect High School graduate, is firmly on the hot seat after the Cubs finished 71-91 in his first full season in the dugout.

There has been talk about Ryne Sandberg replacing Quade, and Epstein talked about his close relationship with Terry Francona when the two worked together in Boston.

Epstein already has contacted Quade and said he will talk to him in person before making a final decision.

“We have plans to meet in person sometime over the next week,” Epstein said. “Mike seems like a great guy, and he has developed a great reputation over many decades in this game.

“I look forward to sitting down with him in person as a first step, sharing with him my vision for the organization. I’d like to hear his vision for the organization.”

Hoyer update:

In addition to making a decision on manager Mike Quade in the next week or so, Theo Epstein is expected to announce Jed Hoyer is leaving the San Diego Padres to become the Cubs’ general manager.

Epstein and Hoyer worked together in Boston from 2002-09 before Hoyer left to become the Padres’ GM.

Epstein still will be heavily involved in making roster moves, but he will be busy with other aspects of the Cubs’ organization.

“We have a ton of work to do,” Epstein said. “If we bring in someone as a general manager, it will be because there’s someone who I think is one of the best and one of the brightest in the game and someone who can make a real impact on the Cubs.”

Decade and done?

Theo Epstein explained his departure from the Red Sox in Tuesday’s Boston Globe.

“Football legend Bill Walsh used to say that coaches and executives should seek change after 10 years with the same team,” Epstein wrote. “The theory is that both the individual and the organization benefit from a change after so much time together.

“The executive gets rebirth and the energy that comes with a new challenge. The organization gets a fresh perspective, and the chance for true change that comes with new leadership. This idea resonated with me.”

Computer geek?

A self-described baseball purist, Theo Epstein has nonetheless been knocked by many old-school types for placing so much emphasis on computer stats and other sabermetrics.

In Boston, Epstein created a computer program named “Carmine.”

“You have to balance traditional scouting with objective analysis, and that’s not just a line,” Epstein said. “As far as the (Carmine) computer thing goes, way too much has been made of that. We developed in Boston a program that was simply an information-management system.

“Every team in baseball has an information-management system of some form or another. With the Cubs, we’re in the process of sitting down and seeing what they have.

“Information is everything. In the draft, for example, information is the single most important currency.”

Fair trade?

Now that he is in place as president of baseball operations, maybe Theo Epstein can decide what compensation to send the Red Sox. “The issue of compensation will be addressed in coming weeks, either by the clubs or by a third party,” Epstein said.

Commissioner Bud Selig is the likely third party if compensation isn’t agreed upon by Nov. 1.

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Daily Herald This was move that really sent Epstein to Cubs By: Barry Rozner

Cubs fans are always searching for the miraculous.

Well, if Theo Epstein is the savior, understand that he never would have walked across Lake Michigan’s waters and into Cubs fans’ hearts without the Red Sox’ monumental collapse in September.

Thus, your miracle, courtesy of the Rays, Red Sox ownership, front-office egos and more than anything else the firing of Terry Francona.

After Tuesday’s news conference at Wrigley Field, I asked Epstein about his departure.

“(Niners legend) Bill Walsh used to say that coaches and executives should seek change after 10 years with the same team because at that point the organization and the executive probably need a change to stay fresh,” Epstein said.

“I’ve thought about it for a while and I concluded that both the Red Sox and I would benefit from a change sometime in the near future.

“I had planned for it to be after the 2012 season, and Ben Cherington and I talked a lot over the last few months about that transition. One of the big parts was having Ben ready to take over as GM, and he is much more prepared for that than I was nine years ago.”

But that was for the end of 2012. What changed was the managerial situation.

“I thought about the process of hiring a new manager and the implications of that, and building that trust between GM and manager, which is such a huge part of a winning formula,” Epstein said. “When it came down to it, I just couldn’t reconcile that part of it.

“I didn’t think it would be right for me to hire the manager now and then hand it over to Ben next year at this time. That was probably the turning point.”

And then the Cubs called at the most fortuitous of moments, giving him something else to consider while he worried about saddling Cherington with a manager of Epstein’s choosing.

“It would have been awkward at best,” Epstein said. “It made me uncomfortable.”

So would this have happened if the Red Sox had retained Francona?

“No, probably not,” Epstein said. “If Terry had stayed on, I’d still be there.”

And the Cubs would have moved on to the rest of the names on their list. Instead, they never had to look past No. 1.

“I really had no idea if this could happen at the end of the season,” Tom Ricketts said. “I just knew he was the guy we needed here.”

Ricketts got his man, a result of sheer luck and certain perseverance, and so begins a brilliant new chapter in Cubs history, starting with a sparkling news conference Tuesday that showed off a polished and well-spoken 37-year-old who graduated from Yale and later San Diego Law School.

He spoke nothing in his address of idiotic curses or goats, used words like “promulgate” and “paradigm,” and made a reference to showing up for work in Boston the last two weeks because no one told him he didn’t work there anymore, a la Milton in “Office Space.”

But for all his youth, class, polish and intellect, what matters is how he builds an organization.

In that regard, he said all the right things about not sacrificing the future for the present and putting together an infrastructure that produces consistent success and therefore a chance, ultimately, to win it all.

Perhaps most telling was when he spoke of free-agent spending, saying, “The key is to pay for future performance, not past performance.”

He talked of playing the game the right way and of teammates having each other’s backs, while giving fans a team for which they can be proud.

He mentioned terms like “controlling the strike zone” and “grinding” at-bats, a tip of the cap to on-base percentage and new-age stats, while insisting there is still nothing better than watching a player and getting to know his style on and off the field.

Yes, a new day dawns at Wrigley Field, thoroughly warm and fuzzy, replete with hopes and dreams.

But as Tom Ricketts worked overtime Tuesday trying to make it clear that Epstein is in charge of all baseball operations, Crane Kenney lurks and aches to be involved.

Meanwhile, it’s entirely fair to note that the Cubs won 71 games last year and still need a manager. No, it will not happen overnight.

But after wandering in the dark for so long, Cubs fans have every right to think the sun might really shine on them one day.

Perhaps, that day is not as far away as they once believed.

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CSNChicago.com Curses mean nothing to Epstein By: Patrick Mooney

Theo Epstein has vivid memories of the ride from Logan International Airport to Fenway Park after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series.

They saw people hugging in the middle of the Boston streets and construction workers celebrating on top of buildings. Epstein recalled the joy on their faces, the families that hung Red Sox pennants on the graves inside the cemeteries after 86 years of heartbreak.

The Cubs have waited more than a century for that moment. In that sense, chairman Tom Ricketts couldn’t have found someone more qualified to be their new president of baseball operations.

“I don’t believe in curses,” Epstein said Tuesday. “I guess I played a small part in helping prove they don’t exist from a baseball standpoint. But I do believe that you can be honest and upfront about the fact that certain organizations haven’t gotten the job done.

“That’s the approach we took in Boston. (We) identified several things that the franchise had done historically that probably got in the way of winning a World Series. And we went about trying to eradicate those. That will be part of the process here.”

Epstein wanted to come across as the romantic who used to come home from school and watch Cubs games on WGN. He loves the great cathedrals of baseball. But he also graduated from Yale University and the University of San Diego Law School.

Epstein speaks the same cold language as Ricketts, talking about “macroeconomics of the game” and “information-management systems.”

Ricketts and his staff had studied every other major-league organization – how they have allocated resources, produced players and performed across the past 10 years. The chairman consulted with around 20 industry types before reaching out to the Red Sox.

It only took about 10 minutes into his first conversation with Epstein before Ricketts was convinced.

“I simply cannot imagine a better person for this job,” Ricketts said.

Even if they don’t believe in curses, they have to recognize the certain amount of luck it took to land their dream hire.

Epstein had already grown restless in Boston, and began grooming assistant general manager Ben Cherington as his replacement, probably after the 2012 season, which would mark 10 years on the job. That was the expiration date football legend Bill Walsh set for coaches and executives after a decade with the same team.

“No matter how passionate you are, you see the same issues day after day. You’re around the same people,” Epstein said. “Eventually, you’ll benefit from a new landscape, fresh problems. The goal for the individual is to have some re-invigoration, some rebirth, and I certainly feel that.”

Epstein began laying the groundwork for this transition with Red Sox ownership last summer, though Ricketts didn’t know it at the time. Epstein admitted that he probably would have returned for another season if Terry Francona was retained as manager.

But an epic September collapse changed the calculus for Epstein, who thought it was unfair to pick Cherington’s next manager, a search process he predicted “would have been awkward at best, and perhaps disastrous at worst.”

Epstein didn’t leverage interest from the Cubs for a better deal in Boston. He said he never asked Red Sox ownership for a contract extension or a different role within the company. He felt like he’d be in the way if he took on a different portfolio for the Fenway Sports Group and wound up involved with something like Liverpool of the English Premier League.

The Cubs still went into it backwards and agreed on a five-year contract – believed to be worth $18.5 million – before settling on the compensation. Epstein said that process – which one insider described as “a mess” – could be settled by a third party, presumably commissioner Bud Selig.

That left Epstein in this kind of professional limbo for weeks. His grandfather and great uncle won Academy Awards for writing the screenplay to “Casablanca.” But this reminded him of another movie.

“I felt like that guy (in) ‘Office Space’ with the red Swingline stapler when I was at Fenway Park,” Epstein said. “Just keep showing up for work. It was as if someone forgot to tell me I didn’t work there anymore. I did end up in the basement with a cubicle and a stapler.”

There’s only one ending to this movie that will satisfy Cubs fans. The Red Sox won at least 95 games six times – and two World Series titles – during Epstein’s nine seasons as general manager. He believes in the process, not goats or black cats. The burden’s back on his shoulders again.

“It won’t be me doing it,” Epstein said. “It will be all of us doing it. When I got to Boston – and I promise not to refer to the Red Sox in every answer – but I think it’s appropriate here. There are a lot of similarities. (We) didn’t run from that challenge. We embraced it. We decided that the way to attack it was build the best baseball operation that we could.”

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CSNChicago.com Cubs give Epstein keys to the kingdom By: Patrick Mooney

The Cubs put Theo Epstein’s name up in lights on the Wrigley Field marquee. But even the new face of the franchise thought it was ridiculous that people were selling Epstein jerseys around the stadium.

“I should probably have another press conference right now to resign,” Epstein said Tuesday, “because my popularity’s definitely going to be at an all-time high right now. It’s peaked and it’s only going to go downhill.

“When you make moves (in baseball), if you do a great job, you’re right about 55 percent of the time. The other 45 percent of the time is going to tick some people off and I understand that.”

Ignoring the hype, Epstein showed a self-deprecating sense of humor, which he will need on the North Side. He understands that there are “no shortcuts.” He likes to listen and ask questions and doesn’t feel the need to always act like the smartest guy in the room.

But that’s exactly what the Cubs expect of the 37-year-old executive, why they hired him away from the Boston Red Sox. It won’t happen overnight, but Epstein expects to reach the point where his team is playing in October every year.

“Cultural changes don’t come easily,” Epstein said. “You can’t fake them.”

Chairman Tom Ricketts and Epstein both went out of their way to praise Crane Kenney, which seemed like a strategy after the media slammed the team president for his involvement in baseball matters. But with Kenney reassigned exclusively to the business side – at least in theory – Epstein now has the keys to the kingdom.

About a month before firing general manager Jim Hendry last summer, Ricketts backed Kenney by saying that he didn’t need “a baseball guy to watch my baseball guy.” Within this restructured front office, the Cubs will rise or fall with their new president of baseball operations.

“It all has to come up to one person who’s responsible,” Ricketts said. “I said I wasn’t going to hire someone over Jim to second-guess – or to watch him – and I did the same thing to Theo. It’s still his decisions and he’ll be accountable for the result.”

Jed Hoyer – another young executive who helped the Red Sox win two World Series titles – is positioned to leave the San Diego Padres and become Epstein’s general manager. Together they will start making the hard decisions.

Epstein has already spoken on the phone with manager Mike Quade, and plans to meet with him face-to- face in the next week. Epstein wants to debrief Quade after a 91-loss season and find out what went wrong.

In conversations with these holdover employees, Epstein will lay out his vision for the organization, building a “machine” for scouting and player development, hiring “the best and brightest” from the outside and defining “The Cubs Way.”

Epstein loves buzzwords, but hates mentioning “rebuilding.” He sees this unfolding on “parallel fronts,” making huge investments in the amateur draft and the international market while also “treating every opportunity to win as sacred.”

It will be on Epstein to determine how much of the overall budget for baseball operations will be allocated for major-league payroll. The Red Sox were burned by some of his big mistakes with free agents, and he’s joining a franchise that has been crippled by the wrong long-term commitments.

Epstein wouldn’t get into specifics about Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder and the megadeals they’ll be seeking this winter. But he wants to pay players for future results, not past performance – easier said than done.

“The player’s got to check every single box that you look for,” Epstein said. “He’s got to be an impact player offensively. You’d like to see an impact player defensively. In an ideal world, you’d love for him to be an up-the-middle player. You’d love for him to be a player of high character and represent the organization well over the years.

“You want to make sure the player’s young, as far as free agents go, so you’re buying a lot of prime years and not just the post-prime years.

“There would be a time and a place for that. I’m not going to say whether it’s now or down the road.”

Deep down, Epstein probably has a good idea what he wants to do, even if he’d prefer to remain quiet. He clearly believes this is bigger than one person or one decision.

In the moment, the Boston guy who listens to NPR sounded gifted enough to be a speechwriter for the Kennedys, or at least someone who could write advertising campaigns for the marketing department at Clark and Addison.

“To me, baseball is better with tradition,” Epstein said. “Baseball is better with history. Baseball is better with fans who care. Baseball is better in ballparks like this. Baseball is better during the day. And baseball is – best of all – when you win. And that, ultimately, is why I’m here today.”

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CSNChicago.com Theo Epstein announced as Cubs president By: Tony Andracki

Tom Ricketts was in high spirits Tuesday.

And he had good reason to be. After all, the saga was finally over. The Cubs had their man.

Theo Epstein was announced as the new president of baseball operations and introduced in a press conference at Wrigley Field.

"I simply cannot imagine a better person for this job than Theo Epstein," Ricketts said in his opening statement.

It took a perfect storm for Epstein to fall into the lap of the Cubs' chairman. Had the Red Sox not collapsed, things would likely have turned out differently. Boston manager Terry Francona would have kept his job and Epstein would not have thought about leaving before his contract was expired.

However, Boston's golden boy was ready to move on either way. It happened a year early -- his contract was extended through 2012, which caused the epic compensation talks that are still unresolved -- but nonetheless, Epstein was ready for the next step.

"I had a great 10 years with the Red Sox," he said when it was his turn to speak Tuesday. "We had a lot of fun, a lot of success. We won two World Series...I wouldn't trade my time with the Red Sox for anything.

"But I was ready for the next big challenge. This is certainly the ultimate challenge and I was ready to embrace it and move forward."

The "next big challenge" could conceivably have taken place anywhere. What attracted Epstein to the Cubs was similar to what endeared him to the Red Sox as a young boy growing up in Brookline, Mass.

"Because of the history," he said. "Because of the tradition. Because of the Ricketts' commitment to winning. Because of the ballpark and the fans. And because we haven't won a World Series in a really, really long time.

That's right. He's already saying "we" in reference to the Cubs. It was just one of the many examples of Epstein saying the right things at the right times in his introductory presser.

Nobody knows if this move will pay off. There could be multiple World Series championships waiting just around the corner. Or maybe just more disappointment.

Either way, Epstein certainly can talk a big game. And he can do it with a smile on his face and a light- hearted attitude (he even managed to drop in a quote from pop culture hit "Office Space").

Which is a good thing. He'll need a sense of humor if he's going to make it out alive in maybe the most pressure-packed front office job in all of sports.

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CSNChicago.com Is Sandberg next in line as Cubs' manager? By: Tony Andracki

Theo Epstein is in place. Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod are on their way. The only spot that remains to be filled completely is manager.

Will Mike Quade stick around? Is Ryne Sandberg the best option? Could Terry Francona come here to reunite with his former Boston colleagues? Or is there a darkhorse that will emerge?

Theo said he was going to get together to meet with Quade sometime in the coming week. In order to hang on to his job, Quade will have to really come up with something great. Like mind-bending great.

It's safe to say the Quade experiment failed. Sure, he wasn't given much to work with heading into the 2011 season. Yes, he was hit with some terrible luck with injuries, especially with the outset and losing 40 percent of the starting rotation in the first week.

But that doesn't mean none of it is Quade's fault. I was supportive of former GM Jim Hendry's decision to let Q stay on after his infamous 24-13 close to the 2010 season. It was the right move in my eyes. And it was fun while it lasted. Kind of.

But the time is over. New president, new GM, new assistant GM. Why not new manager?

So assuming Quade is gone, the next step is to address the Ryne Sandberg issue. The fans are clamoring for Theo to hire Ryno. I would know. I'm one of them. But I'm also thinking with my heart and not my head.

Sandberg may not be the best option as manager. Not right away. He hasn't even been a coach at the Major League level. He has no experience above Triple-A. Let's see how the "inexperienced but a franchise icon" experiment works with Robin Ventura on the South Side first.

But shouldn't Theo at least interview and entertain Sandberg as an option? Epstein did try to lure Ryno to the Red Sox' Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket to manage last year.

CSNChicago.com's Cubs Insider Patrick Mooney weighs in.

"I think there'd be a better chance of Ryno becoming a base coach or something like that. They have to get the Mike Quade question answered first," Mooney said after Theo's press conference Tuesday.

"What kind of became clear today is Theo has spent a lot of time thinking about the Cubs, what they have, what they need to do. So I'm sure he has a short list in the back of his mind if [hiring a new manager is] the way he decides to go."

Watch the video on the right for more of Mooney's in-depth opinion.

What are your thoughts? Ryno is the popular choice because of his legacy with the Cubs in the 80s and 90s. He'd be instantly embraced by the fan base and that's a big deal right now. The fans are excited and hungry and rejuvenated. Theo's mere presence has done that.

Plus, how awesome would it be if the Cubs actually do win a World Series and Ryne Sandberg is at the helm of the team that finally bucks the curse?

The only thing better would be if Ronnie Woo-Woo was skipper.

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CSNChicago.com Theo Epstein puts the Starbucks rumor to rest By: Tony Andracki

I think the thing I like most about the Cubs' new president of baseball operations is his humor.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not confusing him with a stand-up comedian or anything like that.

But when all the world's a stage and it's just you and one other person up on that stage with all the world watching you, hanging on your every word, humor is an admirable quality.

Me? I'd be nervous as hell, fumbling over my words and silently praying my voice didn't crack (which it still does, by the way. Embarrassing.)

But Theo's up there cracking jokes and as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Not to worry that many Bostonians are upset he left his dream job in a time of need. Not to worry that the futility of his new team has reached epic proportions. Not to worry that even though he has a full head of hair still at 37, the stress of the job in Wrigleyville may cause him to be bald a year from now.

Nope, instead Theo's got his finger on the pulse of the rumor mill around Chicago, trying to figure out how to best spin it for a laugh.

When a reporter asked, "What's the quality or trait that you feel you possess that separates you from a lot of other leaders in the game?", Theo had a response all ready to go.

"Ahhh, that's a tough one," he said before flashing his confident smile and continuing on. "Ability to stay inconspicuous at Starbucks in the Chicago area?

"Or maybe not so much in hindsight."

So that guy was right!

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ESPNChicago.com Building on a dream By: Jon Greenberg

CHICAGO -- Multiple high-ranking, totally trustworthy major league sources confirmed Tuesday that Theo Epstein is the new president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs.

"I've waited a few weeks to say this, but it truly feels great to be a Cub today," said a source close to Epstein.

Oh wait, that was Epstein. He actually said those words to begin his introductory news conference at Wrigley Field.

All those unnamed Deep Fungo sources, Twitter scoop hustlers and citizen journalist spottings have left me a little loopy. Not to mention the week of contractual limbo he spent in Boston that left Epstein feeling like Milton in the classic movie "Office Space."

"I keep showing up to work and it was as if somebody forgot to tell me I didn't work there," he said. "I did end up in the basement with a cubicle and a stapler."

An exec who quotes "Office Space"? Count me in. (Speaking of, isn't Crane Kenney a dead ringer for Bill Lumbergh?)

Certainly, it was surreal, almost a dream, to see Epstein stride into the team's stadium club Tuesday morning. When Jim Hendry tearfully said his goodbyes in August, who thought Epstein would take his place? An Epstein clone maybe, but the real thing?

A September collapse by the Boston Red Sox and the firing of Terry Francona helped force the change, and the historic chance to lead the Cubs to the World Series, after already having done so with the Red Sox, was too good to pass up. Eighteen million doesn't hurt either. Good timing hasn't exactly dominated Tom Ricketts' early reign as chairman, but he certainly got an assist in this case. Give credit to Tom for closing the deal.

Surrealism met reality Tuesday, and now the Theo decade can begin. Why limit it to a decade? Why not the Theo era?

Epstein essentially gave himself a 10-year window to hold onto this high-profile, high-pressure job -- the limit is why he was ready to leave Boston before the September collapse.

Ten years is the time football coach Bill Walsh theorized was the perfect span to stay in one place in the sports world. (Don't tell that to Kenny Williams or Jerry Angelo, who have been running the White Sox and Bears respectively since 2001.)

"After 10 years, no matter how passionate you are, you see the same issues day after day, you're around the same people day after day, you have the same landscape day after day," Epstein said. "Eventually, you'll benefit from a new landscape, fresh problems, and the goal for the individual is to have some reinvigoration, some rebirth."

Cubs fans, especially the one signing Epstein's multimillion-dollar checks, would be thrilled for 10 years of Theo, provided those seasons end a little later in October than normal. Ten years seems like a lifetime for a job that ages men much like being the president of the United States does. Jim Hendry looked like Ryan Reynolds before he took the job. (Don't fact-check that.)

Given the pressure to be the "Savior," the youthful-looking 37-year-old Epstein might resemble one of the septuagenarian Wrigley ushers when he's done 10 years of time … I mean service … here.

Epstein, the boy wonder of the Back Bay, knows all about outsize expectations and he knows about unprecedented success. Now he just has to take his World Series-winning computer system from Boston and hit enter, right?

He acknowledged that won't be quite that easy on the North Side, saying, "I certainly think there's a gap between where we are and where we want to be."

That's a nice way to say the organization is a mess, the 2011 draft notwithstanding. At the major league level, the Cubs have gotten worse each and every season since the 2008 playoff collapse. By the end of his tenure, Hendry, god bless his back-slapping, profane soul, was charged with building a team that could compete for a World Series immediately, logic and the future be damned. After all, the team was for sale.

But Hendry couldn't finish the job and it cost him his job after nearly two seasons under Tom Ricketts' ownership.

While Hendry got to mature in the organization, Epstein comes in fresh and famous, with more money, more financial backing, a clearer vision of success and nearly a decade of experience on baseball's biggest stage. It's safe to say he's got the authority to do whatever he wants, a five-year, reported- $18.5-million deal and big promotion is proof enough. Ricketts' Red Sox fetish doesn't hurt.

Epstein said he won't cheat the woe-is-us Cubs fans with a rebuilding effort, noting with purpose that "every opportunity to win is sacred." But in the same breath, he added, "there are no shortcuts in baseball."

He didn't discount the Cubs lucking into a good situation, like he did with a simple claim on David Ortiz, but he doesn't want to inflate the fans' hopes with unrealistic comparisons.

"The big thing in Boston was we had a great core when we first got there," he said. "We had future Hall of Famers on the roster. But we also, I think, did a pretty good job and got really lucky those first couple offseasons. We hit on every player -- David Ortiz, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Mike Timlin, guys like that. Those players, along with the core that we inherited, put it together on the field. That doesn't recreate itself all the time."

No, it doesn't. And the market inefficiencies he seized upon nearly 10 years ago aren't secret anymore. He said his new staff will work hard to find the new ones, but who knows if they're even out there.

What never goes out of style is good defense, on-base percentage and a surplus of pitching. Most importantly, Epstein said he and his team will create a "Cubs Way" system that will be "integrated vertically" from the Dominican Summer League to Wrigley Field. No more of the get "rich quick, get terrible quicker" spending that summarized the end of the Tribune reign.

Epstein's words aren't just pie-in-the-sky optimism or the kind of mindless PR-speak that Tom Ricketts sometimes lapses into. (An aside: Ricketts waited a whole minute before dropping "World Series," and Epstein mentioned it as well. I'm against mentioning those words together until the Cubs can win a first- round series again. For that matter, let's try and win a Crosstown Classic BP Cup first. You with me?)

Epstein has a lot on his plate. He's got to decide on the future of option-eligible players such as Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Dempster, figure out what he's going to do with exiled Carlos Zambrano and make a decision on the future of Alfonso Soriano.

The first thing he probably does is decide on the future of manager Mike Quade. Epstein said they've already talked and plan to meet in person in the next week. There is no question he needs to replace Quade immediately. Bringing him back for another year will be nothing but a distraction, and there's no reason to believe he is a long-term solution.

I can't say Ryne Sandberg is the answer just because he kicked butt in managing Triple-A. I'm betting Cubs Dollars to Hendry's donuts that Epstein knows already who he's going to hire.

The Cubs have big money problems and Epstein is getting paid a lot himself to figure out the best solution. Then he has to find some values on the free-agent market to fill in the holes and make this team competitive. As popular as he is, Epstein can't fill the bleachers on those $90 dates with his charm. As he repeated Tuesday, he's going to need help, like a new front office with a bent for advanced analysis.

He couldn't speak about San Diego Padres GM Jed Hoyer being his second-in-command general manager, but he did say he'll be bringing in the "best and the brightest."

I'm probably alone but that line made me think of David Halberstam's similarly titled book on the mistakes made in the Vietnam War. Halberstam used the term ironically for White House advisers with "brilliant policies that defied common sense."

I don't think I'll have to mention that comparison again, but you never know. For now, even anti- Moneyball folks can't argue against Epstein's success blending traditional scouting methods and the now commonly accepted advanced scouting metrics.

We can argue anything in this sports-obsessed city -- heck, people wanted the Chicago Bulls to draft Michael Beasley over Derrick Rose a few years ago -- but no one can argue that Epstein was the best choice for the job. He has everything going for him, but again, so did Andy MacPhail. Times and situations are different, but still, there's a reason the Cubs were so desperate for Epstein.

His arrival in Chicago, as frustrating as the delay might have been, has been met with expected, over- the-moon optimism. I argued on the radio Tuesday that Epstein is the most famous sports executive (not owner) since Branch Rickey or, I guess, movie star Billy Beane. If he could call offensive plays for the Bears, I think we'd elect him King.

This is nothing new. Epstein's popularity ballooned in Boston to almost comical proportions. He was the young, good-looking, guitar-playing local genius who did the impossible. If he's looking to stay low-key and stay private, he's come to the wrong city. Heck, an impromptu Starbucks visit during the interview process elicited a major newspaper story.

"I've come to grow more comfortable with the realities of the fact that, unlike 20 years ago, general managers now are sort of part of the public face of the franchise. Because of the information age and the way not only the game has changed but the fan experience has changed, people relate more to GMs. Everybody thinks they can be a GM or president of baseball operations. It comes with the territory."

Epstein, by the way, confirmed the fan's story that he was the guy at Starbucks, though he said he's really more of a "Dunkin' guy," especially since they're a Cubs sponsor.

I'm sure Epstein's ego is prodigious, as it should be given his accomplishments, but he sees the hilarity of stores selling his Cubs jersey.

"I should probably have another press conference right now to resign," he said. "Because my popularity is definitely going to be at an all-time high right now."

That's great news actually. Because the Cubs don't need Celebrity Theo, they need GM Theo, the guy who got Boston those World Series titles and spent so much time talking about building a foundation Tuesday, I assumed he was the architect for the new Wrigley Field.

Then again, I guess that's exactly who he is: The Builder. Now let him go to work. My sources tell me he needs to get started.

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ESPNChicago.com Epstein's formula: Blend stats with scouts By: Sahadev Sharma

Jim Hendry was always quite fond of the small front office he had created in his decade-plus as general manager of the Chicago Cubs. While other major league organizations were treating their teams like well- oiled 21st-century mega-corporations, Hendry preferred to stick to his old-school ways. That meant Ari Kaplan -- the sole occupant of the statistical analysis department and a recent hire of chairman Tom Ricketts -- and his new-wave approach to statistics often took a back seat when it came to important baseball decisions.

Enter Theo Epstein, formerly GM in the Boston Red Sox front office that housed at least 14 people in their statistical analysis department. Epstein, who was formally introduced as the Cubs new president of baseball operations on Tuesday at Wrigley Field, stressed that there would be a new philosophy and culture in place now that he was running things.

“The easiest way to start to change the culture is in the front office,” Epstein said. “That essentially involves a lot of hard work. It involves setting high standards. It involves coming together around a common vision for the organization and getting everyone to buy in that it’s the most important thing in the world to us. Essentially working so hard that it creates a culture of responsibility, a culture of achievement, a culture of high standards. If you’re not ready to buy into that, you’re probably not going to be along for the ride.”

Epstein will begin that process by bringing in San Diego Padres GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod to hold the same titles with the Cubs. Both Hoyer and McLeod were major parts of Epstein’s large front office in Boston. While Epstein seems quite confident in his abilities, he’s well aware that building a team that will continually compete for a playoff spot is something he can’t do on his own.

“That does not happen overnight and that certainly does not happen because of any one person,” Epstein said. “Over time and together we will build a solid foundation that delivers sustained success for the Cubs.”

That solid foundation began to be laid out this past summer, when Epstein said the Cubs caught his eye, as well as many around baseball, during the June amateur draft. Their aggressive strategy and willingness to draft players who would cost well above slot price was one of the first steps in a new direction for the organization.

“We were looking at each other in our draft room and we said, ‘Hey, they get it, they’re going for it,’” Epstein said of what the Cubs did on draft day. “I think that the dollars that we spend in the draft and the dollars we spend internationally are some of the best dollars that we spend in the industry. It was a clear philosophical change in my opinion and a new direction that they’ve taken over the past six months. I think that got my attention and it got everyone’s attention in the game. It certainly aligns well with my vision for how to run a baseball operation, so I’d say it was a significant moment.”

Part of Epstein’s vision is developing a stronger statistical analysis department for the organization. Teams like the Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Oakland Athletics have been at the forefront of building forward-thinking front offices. Over the past decade, while those teams led the way in that area, the Cubs seemingly stagnated.

While stats will invariably be a larger part of this new Cubs era, Epstein was adamant that the old-school shall not be left behind, saying that scouts are an essential part of building a winning organization.

“You can look at each of those paradigms as a lens to view the players,” Epstein said about mixing scouting and stats. “If you hire the best scouts, put them in a position to see the player at the right time and get good solid accurate scouting reports, you see the player through a strong traditional scouting lens. If you hire the best analysts, get the most accurate data, make the best adjustments, do the most thorough analysis and you come out with the best available statistical information, that’s another lens to which to view the player. The way to see the player most accurately, to get the truest picture of the player, is to put both those lenses together and look through them simultaneously and you get a pretty darn accurate picture of the player. That’s the approach we used with the Red Sox and I’d like to do that same here with the Cubs.”

Much had been made of the computer named ‘Carmine’ that Epstein and his Red Sox cronies used in Boston. Many made it seem as though all of Epstein’s decisions were coming down to what Carmine had to say and that the Red Sox front office was a slave to a computer. Epstein, however, strongly disagreed with that notion.

“Way too much has been made of that,” Epstein said of his rumored reliance on Carmine. “We developed in Boston a program that was essentially an information management system. Every team in baseball has an information management system of some form or another. Every business of a certain size has an information management system that they use to gather their information, consolidate it, analyze it, dig deep and use it as a resource to balance certain variables and not make decisions, but inform decisions that the company eventually has to make.”

In his ten years with the Red Sox, Epstein not only proved himself to the traditional baseball lifer, but he has clearly become a darling in the sabermetric community. After meeting the media in Chicago Tuesday morning, it was easy to see why. A common misconception is that sabermetricians only care about the numbers, but the smart ones know that intelligently applying statistics is only one aspect of analyzing the game and building a strong organization. Epstein undoubtedly falls into the ‘smart ones’ category.

Along with espousing statistics, Epstein also insisted that the Cubs ‘build the best scouting department in the game' and continue last summer's trend of investing in the draft. He pledged to 'dig deep' as the team searched for the next great competitive advantage that would move the Cubs in a direction to join the elite. He pointed out the Cubs’ lack of fundamentals last season and their atrocious defense as things that must improve immediately if they plan on winning in the near future.

“Run prevention as a whole, pitching and defense is essential if you’re going to have a winning club,” Epstein said, before going on to describe a new system that he referred to as the 'Cubs Way'. “(It) touches on all aspects of the game. There will be a player development manual with the appropriate way to play defense at every position and expectations we have, not just offensively, but defensively. Once we build this foundation, that ‘Cubs’ Way’ will be integrated vertically so we’ll be playing the same way at the Dominican Summer League (all the way up to) the big league level.”

Another lesson Epstein has learned along the way is that when paying for free agents, it’s essential that the money is spent on future performance, not past. It was something that Hendry often failed to do and likely led to his ultimate demise. Epstein is hardly immune to getting burned in the free-agent market, doling out large, bad deals to the likes of John Lackey, Edgar Renteria, and Julio Lugo. However, Epstein clearly has acknowledged the issue and seems to have pinpointed a simple plan of action to avoid such deals in the future.

“I think baseball players have a prime age, there’s an age range, starting somewhere around 26-27 and ending somewhere around 31-32 in which you get the best bang for your buck with the player,” Epstein pointed out. “If we do our jobs the right way, we’ll have as many players in their primes, hopefully home- grown, impact-type players who are moving into and still in their prime years. That’s the best formula to building a winning baseball club.”

None of these statements assures that Epstein will avoid any pitfalls along the way. He’s likely to make mistakes as he attempts to build the North Siders back to respectability. But one thing is clear, Cubs’ fans have to be excited about the brain trust that Epstein is already putting together.

No, a World Series victory isn’t going to fall into this team’s lap. Nothing is guaranteed, except that the process towards putting a quality team on the field will be more efficient, progressive, and well-thought- out than it was under previous regimes.

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USA Today Epstein, Cherington give their vision of two baseball titans By: Mike Dodd

CHICAGO – Two 37-year-old baseball men assumed two of the more prestigious jobs in the game Tuesday afternoon, introduced three hours and 985 miles apart. Their baseball lineage is linked and while the tasks at hand are different, they faced many of the same questions.

Theo Epstein left his position as general manager of the Boston Red Sox to become president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. And Ben Cherington, Epstein's top assistant the last three years, took over as the Red Sox's GM.

Epstein's 47-minute news conference was long on philosophy and short on details, but he was somewhat more revealing in comments to reporters afterwards. Cherington was a little more specific and dropped a piece of major news — starting pitcher John Lackey will undergo Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery and be lost for 2012.

A few of the common subjects facing each new boss:

Manager

Epstein: As expected, made no pronouncements as to the future of Mike Quade, who has one year remaining on the two-year contract he was given by former GM Jim Hendry. Epstein said he has had a couple of "nice phone conversations" with Quade and plans to meet with him in person in the next week. "I need to get to know Mike Quade better," he said. "We need to sit down. I need to get a little bit of debrief." Quade is probably a long shot to return.

Cherington: Said the Red Sox have narrowed the search to "a handful" of candidates for the first round of interviews to replace Terry Francona but have not yet requested permission from any other clubs to talk to their personnel. Toronto manager John Farrell, former Red Sox pitching coach who was prominent in speculation in Boston and considered a possibility in Chicago, apparently is out of the mix. The Blue Jays said Tuesday they would not grant permission for employees under contract to leave for lateral moves, blocking Farrell from departing after one year.

Free agents

Epstein: Said the Cubs would pursue free agents this winter but hinted it could be "smaller, more nuanced moves" rather than an expensive, long-term deal for a top-of-the-class free agent such as Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder. "There's a time and a place for that type of investment. …I'm not going to say whether it's now or down the road," he said. "Even if we don't sign a significant free agent, we're going to be active in free agency because it's an opportunity." He gave no hints on the plans regarding third baseman Aramis Ramirez or pitcher Ryan Dempster. The Cubs hold a $16 million option on Ramirez, which they are expected to decline. Dempster has a $14 million player option.

Cherington: Said the Red Sox would like to have both closer Jonathan Papelbon and designated hitter David Ortiz back and have had preliminary talks with the two free agents. "They've been huge parts of the team. We'd like to see if there's a contract that makes sense for them and for us," Cherington said.

Compensation

Epstein: Said he's confident the organizations would work it out amicably.

Cherington: Said the parties agreed "significant compensation" was due the Red Sox for Epstein and they've made some progress. "Theo and I will now try to work that out in the coming days and if we can't, then we'll turn it over to the commissioner and let him decide."

Epstein's departure

Epstein: Perhaps his most interesting comment was that he probably would have stayed in Boston for the final year on his contract if Francona had not departed as manager. "I didn't think it was right for me as someone who was likely to make a transition in the next year or so to be the person to run the search process, hire a manager," Epstein said.

Red Sox President Larry Lucchino: That's news to him. "I had not seen, or been aware of that connection or even suspected that connection prior to this."

Next year

Epstein: Said the Cubs' organization will run on parallel tracks, stressing scouting/player development and "treating every opportunity to win (on the major-league level) as sacred." Where those pursuits may conflict, the long-term goal wins out. He deliberately declined to use the word "rebuilding" for 2012.

"As you approach an offseason and you're coming off a season in which you finished in fifth place, don't assume that you can't go press five right buttons and all of sudden be right in it," he said. "There are a lot of examples of that happening. I'm not saying that the timetable is immediate. …It's not going to happen overnight, but we're going to take every opportunity to win seriously."

Cherington: Said the Red Sox "have the core, I think, of a really, really good team," adding they need to build pitching depth, a right-hand hitting outfielder and a more versatile bench.

Front office structure

Epstein: Wouldn't confirm the hiring of San Diego general manager Jed Hoyer as his No. 2 in Chicago, but did say the structure allowed for the hiring of a GM.

Cherington: Said there would be several internal promotions announced shortly and that Epstein hasn't yet asked him for permission to bring anyone to Chicago with him.

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Chicago News Cooperative McGrath: Epstein Unfazed by Streak By: DAN McGRATH

Without playing an inning, Theo Epstein rose to a level approaching Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a Boston baseball hero after delivering two World Series titles in nine years as general manager of the formerly luckless, allegedly cursed Red Sox.

On Tuesday the 37-year-old one-time boy wonder accepted a challenge just as daunting. Epstein agreed to a five-year contract as president of baseball operations for the Cubs, whose history is every bit as star- crossed as the Red Sox’s was before he took over.

As most every Chicagoan knows, the Cubs’ 103-year title drought is the longest in professional sports. They haven’t made a World Series appearance since 1945, they have won one playoff series since 1908 and they’re coming off back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the six-team National League Central.

Epstein is unfazed. “The Red Sox hadn’t won in 86 years when we took over,” he reminded a packed news conference at Wrigley Field. “We didn’t run from that challenge, we embraced it. There’s a gap between where we are and where we want to be, but the goal is to lay a foundation for long-term success and begin playing baseball in October regularly. If you do that, you can win the World Series.

“I really believe we will do that. And when we do, it won’t happen because of one person. It will happen because of all of us.”

As a beaming Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts introduced him, Epstein could have passed for a Wall Street banker or the attorney he is in his dark gray suit, white shirt and striped, light gray tie. Personable and well-spoken, he was alternately self-assured and self-deprecating as he fielded reporters’ questions, acknowledging that a Starbucks employee who reported spotting him in Chicago last week had, in fact, spotted him, despite his denials.

“I like to have some privacy, especially where my family is concerned, so when I’m recognized I’ll usually say something like, ‘I get that all the time,’ or ‘Theo Epstein? Who’s that?’ “ I didn’t expect to be recognized in Chicago, so I used both those lines. I didn’t think the guy bought it.”

Epstein grew up in Boston and conceded it was difficult parting company with the team he rooted for his entire life. He took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s Boston Globe thanking Red Sox fans for a wonderful decade, and in an op-ed piece he wrote for the paper on Tuesday, he cited the example of an accomplished executive from another sport in explaining his rationale for leaving with one year remaining on his contract.

“Bill Walsh said that after 10 years in any position that’s stressful, it’s probably best to seek a new landscape and different challenges,” Epstein said, referring to the Hall of Fame football coach who guided the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles in 10 seasons. “I’ve had it in the back of my mind that there might be a transition coming.”

Epstein believes the similarities between the storied franchise he is leaving and the one he is joining will make the transition easier.

“Baseball is better with tradition, with history,” he said. “Baseball is better with fans who care. Baseball is better with parks like this one, and it’s better during the day. And baseball is best of all when you win. Ultimately, that’s why I’m here.”

After two years of ineffectual leadership, Ricketts is suddenly a popular guy among Cub fans for landing a strong executive with a proven track record as the replacement for Jim Hendry, who was fired as general manager in August. Epstein jerseys were already on sale in the Cubs’ souvenir shop.

“As the chairman I’m pleased with the results of our search,” Ricketts said. “As a Cub fan I’m excited by it. I can’t think of a better person for this job.”

Epstein’s first order of business is a decision on manager Mike Quade, who has one year left on his contract. He said he’ll meet with Quade “within the next week” and refused to discuss Ryne Sandberg or any other potential replacement until the meeting with Quade takes place.

Other major decisions involve a $16 million contract option on 33-year-old third baseman Aramis Ramirez, the team’s best hitter, and the $19 million owed troublesome pitcher Carlos Zambrano, 30, who was suspended after walking out on the Cubs in August and hasn’t pitched since. Expensive as they are, there are no obvious replacements for either player.

Epstein wouldn’t say if the Cubs would participate in the free-agent bidding for slugging first basemen Prince Fielder of Milwaukee or Albert Pujols of St. Louis, whose departures would affect the balance of power in the N.L. Central.

“There’s a time and a place to pursue high-impact free agents,” he said. “We have to be sure it’s the right time, the right place and the right guy.”

The front office Epstein will run is structured to add a general manager, though he wouldn’t confirm whether former Boston associates Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod would be joining him from San Diego, as has been rumored.

He also refrained from discussing five-year plans or any other sort of timetable for a turnaround.

“I didn’t use the word ‘rebuilding,’ and I won’t,” he said. “Scouting and player development is the key to year-in and year-out success, not the occasional lucky hit. There are no definitive answers in this game, no shortcuts. When you think you’ve got it all figured out, you can get humbled very quickly.”

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Boston Globe New Cub Epstein gets a bear hug By: Nick Cafardo

CHICAGO - Halas, Ditka, Jordan. And now, Epstein?

That was the feeling you got here yesterday.

There was euphoria among Cubs fans outside Wrigley Field cheering and hollering Theo Epstein’s name. Named the team’s president of baseball operations at a late morning news conference attended by Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and Maria Epstein, Theo’s wife, he is Chicago’s newest savior.

Epstein has been chosen by Ricketts to end a 103-year curse.

“When I got to Boston, they hadn’t won in 86 years,’’ said Epstein. “We didn’t run from that challenge. We embraced it.

“We decided the way to attack it was to build the best baseball operation that we could, to try to establish a winning culture, to work as hard as possible and to bring in players who care more about each other and more about winning than the people around them thought or the external expectations, the external mind-set. That’s something that is going to be important to us here as well.

“We’re going to build the best baseball operation we can. We’re going to change the culture. Our players are going to change the culture along with us in the major league clubhouse.

“We’re going to make building a foundation for sustained success a priority. That will lead to playing October baseball more often than not. Once you get in in October, there’s a legitimate chance to win the World Series.’’

This is the most expansive feeling of hope since Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election with the very theme that Cubs fans now expound with Epstein.

Yesterday’s press conference provided exciting rhetoric, and Epstein will have time to tout his new-wave ideas in an old-school town. He closed some doors in Boston as he opened new ones in Chicago.

Asked if he gave Ben Cherington any advice as he takes over Epstein’s old job in what are tough circumstances in Boston, Epstein said, “Ben is more qualified than anyone in the game to take this job over. I know I’m biased because I’m close and loyal to him, but he really is the best guy.

“He’s had such a well-rounded development. He has so much integrity, great management skills of people. I would not have left the Red Sox if he weren’t the guy to take over, if I didn’t have assurance that he’d be taking over.’’

Epstein already has taken care of most of his front office staff, bringing in Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod from San Diego to be the general manager and assistant GM. He has to make decisions on existing staff, as it appears that part of his settlement with the Red Sox is to not raid their staff.

“I can’t get into exact stipulations,’’ Epstein said. “It’s been important to me to have continuity, and it’s important to me that Ben succeed. While there may be a fit for somebody who may be blocked by the Red Sox, there’s not going to be any kind of raid on either side.’’

He opened by saying, “It truly feels great to be a Cub today.’’

No Boston kid ever would say that, would he?

But for Epstein, it was time.

He had decided over a 72-hour period between the end of the season and Terry Francona’s departure that he would not be staying. He said John Henry and Tom Werner offered him any role he wanted in the team and the Fenway Sports Group, and that he appreciated the sentiment, but he had pretty much made up his mind.

So after Francona was gone, he spent time in his Fenway office “hugging my stapler,’’ but also performing Red Sox business, including helping on the managerial search, year-end employee reviews, staffing issues, etc. He said he suggested “creative ways’’ to help solve the impasse on compensation, but he was on the outside on that issue. Now he’ll be on the inside.

“The Cubs and Red Sox have a great working relationship,’’ Epstein said. “They’ve had one for years, they are going to have one together in the future. There are a lot of solid relationships on both ends.’’

Commissioner Bud Selig said he would intervene if the sides hadn’t settled on compensation by Nov. 1, but it appears Epstein and Cherington have been discussing it for more than a week.

Asked whether he would ever hire Francona again, Epstein said, “Any question concerning the Cubs managerial situation is not open for discussion. I’m not going to touch it. I’ve had conversations with Mike Quade, sharing our visions and deciding what to do.

“Terry Francona and I have a close personal relationship and I have respect for him. Is he going to be a great manager for somebody someday? Absolutely. Can he help organizations in other ways? Absolutely.

“It’s up to Terry what he wants to do down the line. It’s not so much what Terry is going to do this year or next, it’s what Terry wants to do over the next two decades.’’

One of the many reasons he felt he needed to leave Boston when he did was the Francona development. “Once we got through the season, we were in position with the Red Sox to hire a new manager,’’ said Epstein. “I felt that was best done by Ben, because he was going to be there for the long haul.

“And when the Cubs called, frankly, that really got my attention because of the history, because of the tradition, and because of the Ricketts commitment to winning.”

Epstein was asked whether any of this would have happened had Francona not left.

“Yeah, probably still there,’’ he said. “That was a big part of the decision.’’

He always will have regrets concerning the Sox’ September demise and the stories that followed, which he said were “really hard for me.

“For a number of different reasons, I imagined my transition would smell more like champagne than beer.’’

Were there any lessons learned from September?

“Lesson learned from a front office perspective is that the high standards we have have to be reinforced with very active, hands-on management,’’ he said. “Even with a stable coaching staff and one fantastic manager who had been in place for a long time, you can’t ever defer and stay out of the clubhouse because you don’t want to get in the way.

“There has to be active, hands-on management in concert with the manager to lead the organization and make sure the standards we set are being lived up to.’’

Epstein said he will miss the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.

“It was one of those things that made the job so special,’’ he said. “I can’t wait for the Cubs-Cardinals and an emerging one with the Brewers.’’

And there it was.

Epstein is a Cub. Boston is now a memory of his childhood and the place where he truly grew up.

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Boston Herald Theo Epstein’s exit strategy Tito’s departure ‘tipping point’ By: Michael Silverman

CHICAGO — The fallout from the Red Sox [team stats]’ disastrous September was far worse than anyone thought.

Not only did it lead to the Red Sox missing the playoffs and then the dismissal of manager Terry Francona, but it led directly to the exit of Theo Epstein.

As the new president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs said yesterday, Francona’s exit was the catalyst for his own.

“That was a tipping point for me from a practical standpoint,” Epstein said. “All of a sudden it’s, ‘We have to hire (a new manager).’ Making a trade, I can do that in a walkaway year. My last year with the Red Sox, I could hire coaches. My philosophy is that I can help with the draft.

“But hiring a manager and then leaving a year later is not fair to the manager and probably not fair to the organization. It’s a pretty big deal.”

Two days after the season ended, Francona left once it was clear to him that his two club options were not going to be picked up.

Epstein’s emotional state, already frayed by the team’s demise, became even rawer.

“The season ended so suddenly and so emotionally — then the next day I was with ownership and we were dealing with the Terry Francona situation and that left me in a very emotional state, and at least I recognized that,” Epstein said. “I took a step back and took 72 hours, tried to remove myself from the emotion of the situation, remove myself from the immediacy of what had happened and force myself to think about my priorities, think about the big picture with the Red Sox, the big picture with my future, and reconnect with some principles that have always been important to me as I have plotted my life and my career.”

And that plot line took a turn that Epstein wanted it to take when the Cubs reached out to the Red Sox to ask for permission to speak with him.

Epstein welcomed it, even though he did pause to consider carving out a position with more power with the Red Sox.

“I contemplated it, but the more thought I put into it, the more I looked at the way things were there, the way they were likely to be, (I) just felt like I would be either fighting upstream or trying to come up with a job description that claimed, kicking and screaming, that I wasn’t still running the baseball operation but I really would be,” Epstein said. “It didn’t make sense. After 10 years, man, why stay another five years in a different role? It just didn’t seem to make sense.

“I was ready for a new challenge. It was hard. From a convenience, comfort and lifestyle standpoint, I was like, yeah, it made sense to stay. But you only live once. I’d rather come here and try to do it.”

Epstein worked early on the managerial search and helped with the season autopsy before his Cubs move became apparent and he was shuffled off to a basically barren cubicle and given nonessential work.

“There was equal parts them trying to kick me out of meetings, and me pretending to assert my authority as general manager and firing all of them — it was just hilarious,” he said.

Not so funny were the stories coming out about the clubhouse shenanigans that revolved around in- game beer-drinking and other indulgences.

“That was really hard, for a number of different reasons,” Epstein said. “As I sat back and imagined what my transition would be, I thought it would smell more like champagne than beer.”

He said that the impression that there was anarchy is wrong.

“Some of what’s out there is accurate. There is a lot of exaggeration, too,” Epstein said. “There were not team-wide indulgences, there was not team-wide apathy. There were some things that happened that should never have happened in (a) big league clubhouse.”

One of the things that happened was that the players tuned out Francona, who had to leave.

Not too much later, so did Epstein.

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East Valley Tribune What will Mesa do without Robert Brinton? By: Jim Ripley

Ken Hubbs played for the Chicago Cubs from 1961 until he died in an airplane crash in 1964.

Hubbs’ career in Major League Baseball was short, but his influence was long because of an act of kindness to a little boy.

Robert Brinton would have been 9 or possibly 10 when he hung around Rendezvous Park and watched the second baseman practice.

By one account Hubbs was in his rookie season when he noticed the boy watching him through the fence. He went over and talked to the boy and signed his autograph, and from that day forward the boy idolized the player and the game and the Cubs.

The boy would grow up to serve two terms as president of the Cactus League Association and become known for his role in mobilizing Arizona two decades ago to keep the league from collapsing and the teams from relocating to Florida.

And he was the man to whom the city of Mesa turned to help negotiate an agreement reached days ago on a new stadium in west Mesa for the Cubs, and to work with as many as five other Cactus League teams over the possibility of their making Hohokam Stadium their new home.

• • •

I stood in Brinton’s office Monday afternoon and pondered a whimsical Chicago Cubs teddy bear.

Only a couple of hours earlier, Mesa Historical Museum director Lisa Anderson had told me about Brinton’s fascination with vintage Major League baseball toys, particularly those connected to his beloved Cubs.

A collector of baseball memorabilia, Brinton had donated many of his antique toys to the museum’s growing Cactus League collection.

It’s funny, but in the recent past I had sat on the chair in front of Brinton’s desk at the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau asking for his thoughts on the museum’s future and how it could support the community. But I hadn’t noticed the teddy bear.

Maybe it just got lost among all the autographed baseball bats and balls, posters and photographs of people like Harry Caray that hung on the walls and were resting in the corners and on every surface in Brinton’s office.

Or maybe it was in some ways like Robert — a quiet listener who blended so well into the community’s tapestry that he was easy to overlook.

It is my loss that I overlooked Robert during the many years that I edited the Tribune. It is my loss that at the time I hadn’t made the effort to understand his contributions to the community and his role in keeping the Cactus League from collapsing in a flight to Florida two decades ago. It is my loss that I waited so long to seek his counsel.

It wasn’t until I had retired and had time to fall in love with the lower Salt River Valley on Mesa’s northeast doorstep that I sought Brinton out.

I approached him outside Mesa City Council chambers with the idea that the city needed to do more to market Mesa as the gateway to recreational opportunities of a flowing oasis in the desert.

“I know who you are,” he said, interrupting my introduction in what I took as a mild it’s-about-time-that- you-introduced-yourself rebuke.

It wasn’t the beginning I had expected and it didn’t get better as he told me in so many words that there are many good ideas, but few people willing to work hard enough to make them happen.

Soon afterwards we were colleagues on the board of the Mesa Historical Society and involved in a brainstorming session on what contributions to the community the museum could make in addition to its Cactus League exhibits.

Brinton’s thoughts led us to focus on the history of aviation in Mesa. That led to an exhibit that I researched and wrote for on the role the city played in bringing two combat pilot training fields to town shortly before World War II. It led to a commemoration ceremony to recognize how important those fields have become to Mesa’s economy. And it led to more than a yearlong city celebration called Mesa Takes Flight.

Sometime in mid-summer he paid me a compliment on the work I had done on the ceremony and exhibit. I hadn’t just talked; I had made something happen — and I had a new friend.

• • •

The Mesa Historical Museum’s Lisa Anderson remembers “when I came to him four and a half years ago, and I had the idea of doing a spring training program.”

“What do you think?” Anderson asked Brinton.

“He sat and looked at me, a big smile came on his face and he just said, ‘That’s my life-long dream. I’ve always wanted to have a Cactus League museum. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.’

“From the very beginning he was the heart of the project. He supported it in so many ways.

“Through the fact that he is so important in the community, he was able to create enthusiasm and build partnerships. He brought us the connections we needed to get started.

“He contributed a great deal of his own memorabilia to get the collection of the ground. I would get a call from him a couple of times a month and he would be so excited because he found a new item for the collection. It was always like Christmas.

“He grew up with his dad (Dilworth Brinton) working side by side with Dwight Patterson in getting the Cubs to come to Mesa. His dad was a founding member of the HoHoKams.”

That civic organization was instrumental in the Cubs’ decision to locate in Mesa, and it continues to support the Cubs by providing volunteers for parking and other services.

“Above all, he loved his community. He was so pleased to bring his two loves — baseball and his community — together. I think he should be called the second father of spring baseball. He was the heart of Mesa in so many ways.”

• • •

Last Friday evening, Lisa Anderson and several other museum volunteers stood on North McDonald in downtown Mesa glancing anxiously up the street.

Any minute we knew we would see Robert lumbering toward us.

The museum hosts a history and ghost tour every October, and Robert had volunteered to lead one of the tour groups on a taxing two-hour trek through downtown streets and buildings.

No matter that he had had a busy week marketing Hohokam Stadium to Cactus League teams. No matter that his week began with the city’s approving an agreement to build a new stadium for the Cubs. No matter that a hip replacement had affected his gait and perhaps made walking painful. (He never complained.) When word reached us that Robert Brinton, at the age of 60, had died at his office that afternoon, Lisa burst into tears in front of her tour group and my knees went weak and I couldn’t help but think:

What will the museum do without Robert? What will the city do without Robert?