For the last few years, the Cubs’ strategy has been pretty clear: draft bats, buy arms. And while I think we can all agree that it’s not actually such a binary process, it’s not a fluke that the team’s core of young talent consists almost entirely of hitters. Consider that, while Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Albert Almora have all made serious contributions at the MLB level, Rob Zastryzny was the first pitcher drafted by the current front office to appear for the Cubs.
And that makes all the sense in the world when you look at how the organization’s brain trust views risk.