Cubs right divison, wrong team for GM

The Chicago Cubs are looking in the right division, but the wrong team for their new General Manager.  The Cubs should be looking at Tampa Bay Rays Andrew Friedman; he fits Tom Ricketts baseball philosophy.  On October 30, 2009 in Rickett’s first press conference as the new Cubs owner, Ricketts stated “We've realized there is no magic bullet, no one player you can sign," he said. "The only way you're going to do it is drafting and developing the right players and coaching them through the system and being consistent with how that talent comes up the system to give the general manager the flexibility to put the best team on the field.”  The Cubs have already begun the process of improving their minor league system, and upgrading their international scouting.  Also, they upgraded their facility in the Dominican Republic.

Theo Epstein is a good GM but I am not sure he is the right fit for the Cubs.  Epstein has had what seems like an endless bank role.  Now the Cubs are a big market team, but they are also a team looking to cut payroll over the next few years.  However, Ricketts does not seem like he wants to spend a bunch of money on free agents.  Ricketts would rather build a team from within, as he stated at his first press conference.  Which has not been Epstein strong point over the years, he has been better at finding free agents and trading for players.  Now yes, the Red Sox have had a pretty good farm system over the years, but most of their impact players have been brought in from the outside.  The biggest reason I think Epstein is a good fit for the Cubs is because he ended the Red Sox drought.

Andrew Friedman has done the most with so little.  The Rays are a small market team.  The market doesn’t even seem to care about them; they can’t even sellout playoff games.  Friedman has been the GM of the Rays since November 3, 2005.  Before Friedman was named GM the Rays never one more then 70 games. Since then the Rays have consecutively won over 70 games the last four years.  There have only been two years that the Rays did not win over 70 games and they were his first two years as GM.  The Rays have been to the playoffs three times since Friedman took over, which equates to half his time as a GM. These stats are very remarkable since the Rays play in the AL East, with the Yankees and Red Sox.  The Rays payroll this year was 41.053 million dollars.  In comparison the Yankees payroll was 202.689 million and the Red Sox payroll was 161.762 million.  The Rays could play for almost four years with their roster before they would even reach the Red Sox payroll for one year.  The Cubs are looking to cut payroll, which will still be more the Friedman has ever had to spend down in Tampa.  Epstein has never had a payroll under 120 million. Friedman has never had a payroll over 71 million.  From my understanding the Cubs are looking to have a payroll around a 100 million.  I believe that Friedman would be able to get the most out of those 100 million dollars.

The Rays minor league system has been rank in the top five for many years. This year it is ranked number three, last year it was number one.  Compared to the Red Sox which is ranked fourteenth, last year it was eleventh. Ricketts is looking to build from the inside out; this is something Friedman has been able to do down in Tampa.  Epstein has been better at building from the outside in, bringing in free agents and trading for prospects.  If Ricketts truly believes in his statement about how he thinks a team needs to build a team to win consistently. The better fit would seem to be Friedman and not Epstein.

Neither one is a bad choice, but the one that seems to fit the Ricketts baseball philosophy is Friedman. 

**This is a little late, as sources claim the Cubs have agreed to a 5 year 15-20 million dollar deal witrh Epstein**