Theo, Chicago, and the Sleeping Giant

While many Cardinals fans watched the 2011 Red Sox collapse with a smile and pointed laughter,*** 

 ***Why not? Red Sox fans have become Yankees fans. Arrogant, bandwagon junkies who somehow have legions of followers in every city across the country. Away games are filled with Sox hats and fans who can't wait to sing Sweet Caroline in the 7th inning. I once saw saw about 5,000 Red Sox fans at a Royals game last year. It was a Thursday in September. In Kansas City. Not exactly road trip material from Boston. They grabbed their cool "B" hat and drove from Overland Park or Independence and said 'we' a lot. No accents, and they couldn't spell Brookline if you gave them vowels and and pointed to their Boston hat. They aren't Red Sox fans, and I'm sure most real Sox fans don't want them, either.

another Red Sox win or Rays loss could have done wonders for the Cardinals. And every other NL central team for that matter. The historic collapse sealed manager Terry Francona's fate and if all the reports are true, GM Theo Epstein is on his way to the Cubs. Calling the hapless Cubs a sleeping giant is tough, but what other sports franchise has that big of a payroll, an iconic franchise in a major city, millions of fans, but fans that generally don't seem to care? Their fate is sealed every year by Memorial Day and they almost embrace it. 

Take this picture for example. The opposing team just went deep and I count 6 people there laughing or smiling. They just can't wait to throw the ball back while drinking crappy beer. Throw it back, that'll show 'em.


One of the many things the Cubs haven't been able to do is develop talent. One of the things Epstein has been great at has been developing talent. -Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Jonathan Papelbon.

While the Cubs gave tens of millions to LaTroy Hawkins, Kosuke Fukudome, and Nomar Garciaparra, Epstein signed David Ortiz to a 1-year, $1.25 million contract after the Twins released him. He unloaded Garciaparra on the Cubs on way to winning the 04 World Series. He gave up the following players for Curt Schilling: Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge de la Rosa and Michael Goss. He claimed Kevin Millar before Millar's contract was sold to a Japanese team in 2003.

A lot of people like to discount his two world Series titles in Boston because of the payroll. If money is all you need, why haven't the Angels won a title since 2002? ($138 million payroll) or the Mets since '86 ($118 mil.) Cubs since forever ($125) Twins since '91 ($112) Dodgers since '88 ($104) etc.

The payroll won't be a huge drop off from Boston, and the difference in pressure won't even be close. Not to mention that if he wants to, he can bring over Terry Francona to manage for him. Say what you will about the advantages Epstein had in Boston or how Francona lost his team this season, if that duo can win two titles in the AL East, they can certainly win in the NL Central. And if breaking the curse in Boston was huge, winning in Chicago and Boston would be historic. If not, no big deal. Fans will shrug their shoulders and wait for next year.