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For the first time since the 2014 season, the Chicago Cubs will not be playing October baseball.
The Cubs were officially eliminated from playoff contention when the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night, capping the most frustrating season in this recent Cubs era.
Despite recent suggestions that Cubs president Theo Epstein might be considering a return to his first organization (the Boston Red Sox), Epstein told Jesse Rogers of ESPN that he will remain with the Cubs:
Theo Epstein says there’s plenty of work to do with the Cubs. Not planning on leaving his current job as team President.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) September 25, 2019
The speculation that Epstein could return to the Red Sox was not unfounded. After all, Boston just recently fired Dave Dombrowski, and their search for a new lead executive is underway. For his part, Epstein ended up in Chicago in October of 2011 as a result of years of frustrations with the Red Sox following their 2007 World Series title.
Epstein successfully built the Cubs into a winner. He acquired the initial building block in Anthony Rizzo and drafted the likes of Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant while also making shrewd free agent signings such as Dexter Fowler, Miguel Montero and David Ross.
However, Epstein's most recent work has been somewhat uninspiring. He doled out massive contracts to Jason Heyward and Yu Darvish, who have produced very mixed results. The same can be said for Tyler Chatwood, who had success out of the bullpen this season but was a disaster as a starter last year.
Additionally, Epstein's lack of quality bullpen moves–Brad Brach and Xavier Cedeno, amongst others–have severely hurt the team in recent years.
Epstein is under contract through the 2021 season.
He will look to revitalize an organization that made three consecutive trips to the NLCS between 2015 and 2017.
