Just before 2:00 A.M. on the East Coast word broke out across the baseball world that the Chicago Cubs signed left-handed ace Jon Lester to a six-year $155 million contract. Team President Theo Epstein has put owner Tom Ricketts’ money where the Cubs’ mouths have been for the past year. Lester marks a turning point in the colossal Cub rebuild that began three years ago when Ricketts lured Epstein away from the Red Sox.
The Cubs have been murmuring about spending big on free agency. Fans have become impatient with three brutal losing seasons – including 101 losses in 2012 and 96 losses in 2013. Chicago has witnessed the unthinkable – empty bleacher seats. Now the new regime and Cub nation has to deal with the new world of championship expectations.
The Cubs also made two less spectacular, but critical moves in the past two days. They signed right handed starter Jason Hammel to a two-year $18 million contract in free agency. They also traded for Arizona Diamondbacks’ catcher Miguel Montero.
Much like the massive Wrigley renovation taking place on the Northside the Cubs have gutted the organization in three short years. The Ricketts family will invest $500 million in Wrigley. They have spent almost $100 million on a new Spring Training facility in Mesa, Arizona. They also invested in a sprawling baseball academy in the Dominican Republic.
Ricketts and Epstein have overturned the apple cart and now they are carefully replacing the fruit. The Cubs are stacked in their minor league system. Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Albert Almora will soon join a lineup featuring all-stars Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo. Arismendy Alcantara showed promise as an ultra-utility player and Jorge Soler wowed as a potential star in right field.
The final pieces to the puzzle are the pitchers the Cubs have acquired and developed. A starting staff anchored by Lester will also feature Hammel, an emerging Jake Arrieta, and a young Kyle Hendricks. The past three years Tom Ricketts and Theo Epstein have spent almost as much time mollifying impatient fans as they have rebuilding the organization. Signing Lester will go a long way toward healing a century of scars. Along with Joe Maddon, the Lester acquisition is a warning shot that the Cubs are dangerous right now.
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