Chicago Cubs were outplayed, outsmarted by the Brewers in last 12 months

Chicago Cubs: Outsmarted from the start

Taking all that into account, Epstein and the folks in the front office need to look in a mirror because they were totally pantsed by the Brewers front office this past offseason. Totally. This isn’t just a criticism of Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer or Jason McLeod, but the whole analytics group who are supposed to be the smartest guys in the room.

Say what you will about the injuries, the schedule in September or off-field domestic abuse revelations related to a key player.  Those are factors that cannot be anticipated or controlled.  Yes, there were the mid-season moves that brought Cole Hamels, Jesse Chavez and Daniel Murphy.

These were great adjustments by the front office. But they were, in fact, necessitated by the errors made during the offseason.  So let’s look at the acquisitions made by the Cubs and Brewers in the run-up to the 2018 season.