This was the message Theo Epstein delivered to reporters one night during the winter meetings: We have opportunity.
Thats easy to say inside a Dallas hotel suite, during the Christmas shopping season. But the Cubs are backing up those words, turning Wrigley Field into a kind of baseball Ellis Island.
That means handing 500 at-bats to Ian Stewart, to see if he can become the hitter Baseball America projected hed become years ago. Its looking at Bryan LaHairs monster Triple-A numbers and being willing to give him a chance at this level.
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So the Cubs will throw Michael Bowden into their bullpen and see if he can live up to his potential.
As much as the Cubs want to copy the Red Sox, this is the major difference now. Every game here isnt covered like the Super Bowl, the way it is in Boston. There is room to grow at Clark and Addison.
This is what the 25-year-old Bowden was hoping for when he was designated for assignment on April 15. He got bored waiting around Boston for some answers, so he hopped in his truck and drove back home to Oswego.
When Bowden found out he was traded to the Cubs in the Marlon Byrd deal, he put it right up there with getting drafted (47th overall in 2005) and making his big-league debut (beating the White Sox at Fenway Park in 2008).
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This is a dream come true, Bowden said Monday. Im very blessed.
Growing up, Bowden didnt have cable, but he watched the Cubs all the time on WGN. He starred at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, where people noticed the drive and professional focus inside the kid who wanted to pay back the single mother who raised him.
The three former Red Sox executives now running the CubsEpstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeodknow all about Bowdens makeup. They took him five picks after Clay Buchholz, and hoped hed develop into a frontline starter.
After the 2008 season, Baseball America ranked Bowden as the No. 2 prospect in the Red Sox organization. Across the next three years, he had 10 different stints with Boston, but never finished a single season with more than 20 big-league innings.
Bowden paused for a few moments after he was asked: Do you feel like you were given a fair shot in Boston?
Thats a tough question to answer, Bowden said. Every time you get the ball, its an opportunity. (But I went) up and down. I never really got a level of comfort over there. So Id go up there and I didnt know really what they wanted out of me and they threw me in a lot of different roles.
But you know whatIm very grateful for it. It made me a versatile pitcher. Now, throw anything at me, I feel Im prepared to tackle that.
The Cubs bullpen is in a state of flux. To make room for Bowden, Rodrigo Lopez was designated for assignment, and the Cubs have hopes hell go to Triple-A Iowa. Kerry Woods right shoulder is said to be improving, though theres a chance the veteran reliever will eventually need to go out on a minor-league rehab assignment.
Bowden will have opportunities to show he belongs here. His major-league resume5.61 ERA in 59.1 inningsis pretty polished when compared to rookie relievers Lendy Castillo and Rafael Dolis.
Bowden didnt have much left to prove at Triple-A Pawtucket, where he spent parts of the last four seasons, and went 16-for-17 in save chances last year.
Over the weekend, Bowden was flooded with messages and phone calls, but he left only two tickets for Monday nights game against the Cardinals, one for his wife and one for his mother. The ticket requests, well, he said: Ask me again in a week or two.
This is what a full-scale rebuilding project looks like, letting someone sink or swim in the big leagues. If Bowden wasnt in the right place at the right time, he certainly is now.
I just couldnt have written it any better, he said.