Top 40 Theo Epstein Quotes

I want to thank everyone who has ever put on a Cubs uniform and anyone who has ever rooted for the Cubs.

The leadoff-hitter thing, I think, it’s always nice to have an established leadoff hitter and to have someone who can really get on base and set the tone.

When people do things they weren’t even sure they were capable of, I think it comes back to connection. Connection with teammates. Connection with organization. Feeling like they belong in the environment. I think it’s a human need – the need to feel connected.

I think people want the Cubs to succeed, and by extension, they want people associated with the Cubs to succeed.

The only time I think about my contract is when I’m asked about it by the media.

You can’t go through life thinking about what could go wrong.

I believe in our players. That’s why they’re here. I also know slumping is part of baseball. What’s surprising is sometimes when it lasts awhile, for really good players when it lasts awhile.

As I sat back and imagined what my transition from the Red Sox might be, I thought it would smell more like champagne than beer, I guess you would say.

This game will make you cry more often than not.

If you’re trying to avoid one move that you don’t think is going to work out, don’t then settle for a different move that maybe doesn’t check all the boxes. Be true to the philosophy and understand the bigger picture. There’s always another day to fight.

If I let my brain follow its path unfettered, it would be kinda ugly.

If the seller has a player that they think is going to have a lot of value, they’re aware of it, protect that value. You have to go get it. That’s the way the trade market works.

There are certainly times when baseball is much more than bread and circus, times when baseball resonates deeply and meaningfully with many, many people, and times when a game that is built around overcoming failure can teach us all a few important lessons.

If you reach a point where your entire farm system is in the big leagues, you’ve traded a couple guys for players who are now in the big leagues, you know what you do? You start over in your farm system, and you keep developing the talented players you have.

Even over time, with a stable coaching staff and one manager who is fantastic and been in place for a long time, you can’t ever defer and stay out of the clubhouse because you don’t want to get in the way.

There’s a cumulative effort within the course of a game, a series, and a season, too, where you see so many pitches and have so many at-bats that you can wear down an opponent. Once you develop that reputation as a club, year after year, players come in, and they tend to fit in with that profile.

If we can’t find the next technological breakthrough, well, maybe we can be better than anyone else with how we treat our players and how we connect with players and the relationships we develop and how we put them in positions to succeed.

You’re not always going to get the outcomes you feel like your talent deserves, that you feel like the big picture deserves. And what’s real is how do you respond in those situations?

You’ve just got to kind of play the hand you’re dealt.

Sometimes, on the business side, it’s important to sort of have something with some sizzle in an offseason. It’s the baseball operations department’s job to push back against that, just as it’s the business side’s job to sometimes advance those thoughts.

Tolerance is important, especially in a democracy. The ability to have honest conversations, even if you come from a different place, a difference perspective, is fundamentally important.

Whoever your boss is, or your bosses are, they have 20 percent of their job that they just don’t like.

It stinks to give up a good player. But if you think that way, you’ll never make any trades. You have to focus on what you’re getting back.

If we think a playoff spot’s not in the cards, there will be no concern for appearances or cosmetics whatsoever. We’ll continue to address our future and trade off some pieces that would keep us respectable.

It took me coming to the Midwest to realize I was the jerk. People are so nice here. They’re so grounded.

If multiple starting pitchers underperform at the same time, it’s always going to leave you in a stretch where it’s hard to play better than .500 baseball.

Scouting and player development is the key to year-in and year-out success, not the occasional lucky hit. There are no definitive answers in this game, no shortcuts. When you think you’ve got it all figured out, you can get humbled very quickly.

Having a relentless lineup full of professional hitters works on so many levels. It works in terms of pure baseball reasons: if you get on base, you’re going to score runs.

I love being in a city that’s playing October baseball, where you can just feel everyone captivated by the ball club, everyone walking around tired from staying up late, prioritizing baseball above all else. It’s a great phenomenon.

I ended up staying 10 years in Boston. It was nine as GM but 10 years there. That seemed about right: long enough to try to make a difference and try to contribute to winning teams and some championships.

Typically, it takes young players years to adjust to life in the big leagues and to start performing up to their capabilities. Most of the blame for this rests on these ridiculous old baseball norms that say young players are to be seen and not heard.

I believe in the First Amendment. But I also believe we should be mindful of how other people feel.

Communication is different in the clubhouse than it is in a boardroom. The heartbeat that exists in the clubhouse, you don’t find that same type of heartbeat in the front office.

We don’t live in isolation. Most people don’t like working in isolation – some do, but they typically don’t end up playing Major League Baseball.

Failure is inherent in the game. So if you don’t respond well to adversity, you’re probably not going to have a long career.

We knew the 2017-18 offseason would be one of our most challenging. We’ve known that for a long time.

You don’t want to make a living or habit out of trying to solve your problems with high-price pitching free agents because over the long run, there’s so much risk involved that you really can hamstring your organization.

I still wake up thinking about draft choices we should have made that would have impacted the franchise for a long time, but I don’t wake up thinking about one individual player move.

There are a lot of ways to make a positive impact on the community without necessarily being a politician.

I chose my classes based on which professors did not take attendance, and then I traded Padres tickets for notes from class. I wasn’t the student of the month.