If you haven’t heard, the Cubs just won the World Series. No really, they did. The pathway from a team mired in mediocrity to a first-class operation began with the brilliant hire, by new owner Tom Ricketts, of Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations. When Ricketts made this move in 2011, I knew the Cubs were finally serious about building a wining club. I’ve been indulging, lately, in profiles of Theo. Here are a few of my favorites:
- The Curious Have Won – a terrific Ringer piece by Rany Jazayerli on the vindication of the gradual move in baseball toward a data-driven approach.
- Theo’s Curse Breakers – the Five-Thirty-Eight Treatment. Really the combination of Five-Thirty-Eight and Theo Epstein is like the nerd/analytics/data perfect storm
- Theo Epstein is the Man Behind the Cub Season – the Wright Thompson treatment. I love reading Wright Thompson and here he really gets inside Theo’s world. A terrific long read.
- How Theo Epstein Broke Another Curse and Built the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs – Jeff Passan. I love Jeff’s MLB coverage. This describes in detail Theo’s method in Boston and Chicago.
- Theo Epstein for President – from the Boston Globe. And who can argue? If he can fix the Red Sox and Cubs, could he not fix Obamacare and the national debt? I’m only partially joking here.