Chicago Cubs: Pressure should be on Theo Epstein, not Joe Maddon

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Chicago Cubs: Theo has a losing track record as of late

Descalso is just one offseason addition that has not panned out well for the Cubs.

Remember how it was essentially universally agreed upon that Chicago needed to bolster their bullpen depth this past winter? Well, the front office hardly made a dent there.

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The marquee addition, Brad Brach, has a 6.05 ERA in 38 2/3 innings (as of Wednesday) and Xavier Cedeno made has made just five appearances in between injuries. Pedro Strop‘s recent struggles have only done more to expose the lack of depth in Chicago’s bullpen.

Sure, the Cubs got the big fish in Craig Kimbrel, but they were reportedly only able to do so because of extra money set aside from Ben Zobrist‘s unpaid leave of absence.

In terms of position players, the Carlos Gonzalez experiment also failed mightily, and do not forget it was Epstein who drafted Almora, Happ and Kyle Schwarber. If they fail to perform, doesn’t he have to take some of the blame there?

The bottom line is that while Chicago’s core of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras and Javier Baez should help keep the team in contention every year, Epstein – and by extension Tom Ricketts – have not poured enough resources into building a winning ball club around that core.

Teams like the Boston Red Sox have not been afraid to go over the luxury tax, and it helped them win a World Series last season.

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Chicago’s leadership must take the necessary risks to make immediate additions to this team, whatever the cost. Otherwise, the 2019 season is just as likely to end in disappointment and Epstein and Ricketts will only have themselves to blame.

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