Before the Chicago Cubs signed starter Jon Lester, before they notched a 97-win season, before they reached the NLCS, the team had a long-term plan in mind. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein clearly was able to predict the team's future moves.
Lester was the first piece of the puzzle back in December of 2014, but he revealed earlier this week that the team already had plans in mind for the following offseason.
"They kind of broke down their ultimate plan," Lester told Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com. "(Heyward) was kind of their big guy they pitched to me.
"Really, this year was their plan. We weren't supposed to do what we did last year. (But) I think it put that (sense of) urgency into this year.
"That's what their ultimate plan was in 2016 - they were going to go all-in for this year. And they definitely have."
The team was pretty much bare bones when Lester signed. Yes, they had a wave of up-and-coming prospects poised to take the MLB by storm, but they were unproven at that point. Kris Bryant was always expected to make an impact, but the surges of Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber were largely unexpected based on their previously anticipated timetables. Javier Baez also re-established himself as a formidable young player after struggling in 2014.
But based on Lester's comments, the Cubs' talented class of prospects was not all they were banking on. Epstein likely saw that the 2016 class of free agents was going to be plentiful and that the team had a lot of money to spend since they had few long-term commitments on their roster at the time.
And that certainly explains a lot. Chicago has built a core of cheap, young and talented players that includes Anthony Rizzo, Jorge Soler, Bryant, Russell, Schwarber and Baez in order to make the big splashes in free agency. Over the past year and change the team signed Lester ($155 million), Heyward ($184 million), Ben Zobrist ($56 million), John Lackey ($32 million) and acquired Miguel Montero ($40 million from 2015-2017), among others.
Now they're the World Series favorites for the 2016 MLB season after poaching two crucial free agents from the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals.
