Cubs’ Epstein following Dallas Green pattern

After praising Terry Francona as a top managerial candidate, Theo Epstein downplayed the idea he would bring his former Red Sox manager to the Cubs.

“This doesn’t have to be the Boston show recreated in Chicago completely,” Epstein told reporters Wednesday.

The operative word is “completely.”

In truth, the Boston show is exactly what Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts is seeking in his attempt to change the club’s culture, and it’s really no different from former general manager Dallas Green’s Phillies show in the early 1980s.

Tribune Co. brought in Green after the 1981 season with a mandate to convince fans and politicians the culture of day baseball was damaging the team’s chances of competing and night games at Wrigley Field were a necessity.

The first step in Green’s effort to bury the Cubs’ past was turning the team into a sanctuary for Phillies employees.

Green’s first move was hiring Phillies crony Lee Elia, his college roommate, as manager. Green’s first significant trade was acquiring Dickie Noles, Keith Moreland and Dan Larson from the Phillies for Mike Krukow and cash. And his signature move came a few weeks before spring training in 1982, when Green traded Ivan DeJesus to the Phillies for 36-year-old Larry Bowa and a prospect Green demanded named Ryne Sandberg.

While Elia flamed out, Sandberg, Moreland, Bowa and two more ex-Phillies, Bob Dernier and Gary Matthews, helped them to a division title in Green’s third year. Five years later, in 1988, the Cubs finally had their lights, albeit for only 18 games.

Green was gone by then, having resigned after a last-place finish in 1987. But he succeeded in altering the perception the organization could not make changes without the risk of alienating the traditionalists.

Epstein’s mandate of changing the Cubs culture isn’t exactly the same as Green’s, though some of the similarities in their approaches are striking. Epstein referred to himself as a traditionalist and has no intentions of knocking down the center field scoreboard for a Jumbotron or turning Wrigley Field into Fenway Park West.

But he isn’t afraid of doing things that could upset more sensitive fans, such as declining to interview Sandberg for the managerial opening.

Just as Green was the front man for the lights campaign, Epstein is to be the Cubs’ primary salesman in their efforts to gain city and county help in funding the proposed $300 million Wrigley Field renovation plan.

Epstein won’t campaign openly for the plan. He simply will use the Boston show as Exhibit A in his “foundation for sustained success” mantra.

Epstein said Fenway Park started to fall into disrepair in the ’80s and ’90s, but thanks to cooperation between team owners and local politicians, renovations began in 2002 that contributed to two World Series championships.

“The impact was tremendous,” he recalled at his introductory news conference. “It improved the fan experience fantastically. It generated revenues at a remarkable clip, and that in turn helped us from the baseball side to take those revenues and pour those into our baseball operations, which allowed us to get to the level we wanted to be at and stay there.

“And it had a significant impact on the city, and Fenway Park became this jewel of Boston that everyone who came to town had to see, had to experience.

“If we’re lucky enough to follow those same steps here in Chicago with Wrigley Field …”

Epstein met with Mayor Rahm Emanuel at City Hall on Thursday, but Emanuel said there was no lobbying for Wrigley changes on Epstein’s behalf.

The Cubs have named Joe Bohringer as their top professional scout. Tim Wilken, a Jim Hendry hire who oversaw both amateur and pro scouting, will be responsible for only the amateur side. Bohringer, a 21-year veteran scout for four organizations, and Wilken will report to Jason McLeod, the Cubs’ senior vice-president of scouting and player development.

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