Theo Epstein on Winter Meetings Day 2: Ohtani Pursuit, Building Pitching Staff
Theo Epstein spoke with reporters this afternoon at the Winter Meetings on a number of topics ranging from the Shohei Ohtani sales pitch to their philosophy on building the pitching staff. Here are some videos/tweets to keep you in the loop.
Ohtani process
Theo said there was no virtual reality presentation by the Cubs to Ohtani. "Lot of question and answer, back and forth. A lot of interaction and engagement and exercises," according to Epstein.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2017
Maddon, Hendricks were part of #Cubs presentation to Ohtani. Theo says: "We talked baseball for two hours, a lot of back and forth"
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 11, 2017
Theo said wrt Ohtani Cubs"probably had to overcome a couple obstacles that were beyond our control." So why does he think they still made his final seven? pic.twitter.com/0KGCty7eFH
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 11, 2017
On building the pitching staff
Theo will meet with agents for both Davis, Arrieta about possible return to #Cubs. Says "We're not ruling anything out."
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 11, 2017
On Giancarlo Stanton
Epstein on if there were talks with Marlins about Stanton: There wasn't much interaction given the makeup of our roster, our future payroll commitments and some plans that we have. Great player and great opportunity, but not necessarily the right one for us at the time.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 12, 2017