Chicago Cubs focus on strengthening the pitching as Winter Meetings approach – MLB News
As the Winter Meetings approach, the Chicago Cubs’ president of baseball operations Theo Epstein stated on Thursday, December 1, that starting pitchers are what the club needs.
But when it comes to naming the prospects that the Chicago Cubs were looking at the moment, Theo Epstein preferred the characteristic silence on the matter. His standard method to consummate a plan as to which players the club intends to hire, is to be carried
it out behind closed doors.
"I'll be honest, you're not going to see me down there [in the lobby] much," Epstein said. "I tend to stay in the room. I don't like that scene in the lobby."
Epstein also said that there was a perception that the job of a club president is to be on the phone, talking about the trade, which in itself is wrong. For him, it is the General Managers and Winter Meetings that present the opportunity to talk.
The club has so far focused their entire attention on filling the coaching staff. From Dale Sveum to Jonnny Narron to the reshuffling of the hierarchy, the Chicago Cubs now want to have some depth in their pitching.
"We need starting pitching," Epstein said. "You can't take your chances very seriously as a club if you go into a season with not just five guys you can point to. You better know who your ninth starter is going to be because you're going to need him.”
The names available for the Chicago Cubs so far are that of Randy Wells, Doug Davis, Carlos Zambrano, Matt Garza and Andrew Cashner. Of these names, injuries have plagued Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells not to mention Carlos Zambrano who recently had 16 stitches
on his face after getting hit.
Jeff Samardzija and Cashner are said to have expressed their interested in starting. This is the news that the club has apparently welcomed. With a few big names available to the Chicago Cubs and if they can get their hands on a couple of free-agents, the
club will be set to have a strong pitching line-up to get on their opponents next year.
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