The Chicago Cubs new farm director is setting a bold expectation
Using the 2016 team as a barometer for success isn't fair, but Jason Kanzler would view one World Series victory as a failure based on recent comments.
Earlier this off-season, new Chicago Cubs vice president of scouting, Dan Kantrovitz, opened up about his vision in the role while highlighting lessons learned from previous drafts. The candor that he showed in that interview seems to run through the organization based on what we got this week.
Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline talked with new Farm Director, Jason Kanzler, and he was humble and honest; he began by stating that he was “lucky” to have inherited a farm system as loaded with talent as this one already was.
As the interview went on though, there was one quote from him that every Cubs fan should want to hear in reference to the comparisons being made between the farm system in 2024 versus the farm system in 2015:
“I’ve heard that sentiment,” he said. “I think the only thing that I would want is -- yes, we want to win another World Series. But I want this club to be a perennial contender, so I don't want it to be exactly how it went almost a decade ago.”
Multiple World Series or bust is the expectation for the Chicago Cubs' latest rebuild.
It shouldn't be a shock to hear those words come from someone who is coming from the Houston Astros organization. As much as I hated to hear it at the time, Dallas Keuchel was right when he said that the Astros "aren't the Cubs" after winning the World Series in 2017 because, unlike the Cubs, they've been in the ALCS every single season since.
The 2016 team did something no team had done in 108 years. That farm system’s dominance led many in the scouting and player development departments to find promotions. However, for Jason Kanzler, that level of winning wouldn’t be considered a success?
That’s the guy I want to be in charge of helping this organization find sustained dominance.