Cubs' Epstein not anticipating flurry of offseason moves
After breaking the bank to break the curse, Theo Epstein is expecting a quiet offseason for the Chicago Cubs.
The team's president of baseball operations splashed out on 2015 free agents Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, and John Lackey, spending a total $272 million on the trio in a bid to win the franchise's first Fall Classic since 1908. However, he doesn't want Cubs fans to assume that sort of free-wheeling offseason spending has become the norm.
"We made two offseasons worth of acquisitions last winter, two offseasons worth of spending," Epstein told the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan on Thursday. "We were very open about that at the time, knowing this winter there wouldn't quite be the same type of talent available to us."
Though the club entered the 2016 season with a resounding $188-million team payroll - the fifth-highest number in the league, according to Spotrac - Epstein admits plans could have been entirely different if the Cubs hadn't been able to come back from 3-1 down in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians.
"Sometimes when you do win it, it can allow you to take a little bit of a deep breath and survey the landscape more objectively," Epstein said.