Source: www.cubsinsider.com --- Tuesday, December 05, 2017
Chicago is known as a veritable Mecca of international cuisine, but Theo Epstein and company have a metaphorical buffet of appealing options to satiate Shohei Ohtani’s Baseball appetite. The Cubs front office can sell a state-of-the-art spring training facility, ravenous fan-base, freshly minted player clubhouse, organizational culture other franchises can only try to emulate, and leading Baseball minds in the business. And when I say leading Baseball minds, I very much mean Joe Maddon, the manager who has been so heavily criticized since the Cubs’ victorious World Series run. Despite all that, Maddon is one of the most crucial aspects of Epstein’s rebuilding plan. Don’t underestimate the importance of this innovative manager when it comes to recruiting the most intriguing international free agent in recent memory, if not ever. Maddon is the man who wanted to pioneer the two-way player 25 years ago, when talks of such an idea were immediately shut down by front offices and probably seen as criteria for clinical insanity. “When I was in the minor leagues with the Angels, I wanted to do it with a kid by the name of Deshawn Warren in 1992,” the Cubs skipper told 670 The Score’s Spiegel and Parkins . “I asked Mr. O’Brien — the [Angels] GM, Danny O’Brien — if I could, if we could work out a schedule for Deshawn to pitch and then DH and play some outfield and take batting practice, etc. Because the tool was that good, the tool of runn ...
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