After dealing Starlin Castro to the Yankees over the winter, the Cubs have turned over the entire 25-man roster since Jim Hendry was general manager in 2011.
Whether you call it tanking, a gut rehab or the old-fashioned term -- rebuilding -- the results thus far are hard to dispute.
The organization is in much better shape than it was after the 2011 season, and most believe the Cubs are in prime position to win a World Series.
"That (tanking) label does an injustice to what it's all about," general manager Jed Hoyer said. "We were trying to get younger. Looking back, I think obviously it has worked. A lot of the players we acquired because we were willing to take that view ...
"Calling it 'tanking' gives it a dirty (connotation). In our situation, it was 'How do we get as many young assets as we can to build around while we're in this window?' "
Hoyer said the Cubs didn't set out to replace everyone they inherited from Hendry, though getting rid of Alfonso Soriano's contract and Carlos Zambrano's explosive personality were obvious moves.
"We still have Javy (Baez), who was a great draft pick by those guys," Hoyer said of the infielder who was a top prospect in '11. "(Turning over the whole roster) was never something we intended to do. Starlin obviously was kind of the last really recognizable player, and we really liked him. He had a great second half for us. We felt the (Ben) Zobrist deal made sense.
"In some ways, we're surprised at how much it was turned over."
The Cubs have been accused of tanking seasons to get to this place, writing off 2012, '13 and '14 to try to get higher draft picks and become competitive by '15. Hoyer prefers calling it "turning short-term assets into long-term assets" or the sign-and-flip strategy that netted players such as Jake Arrieta and Addison Russell.
Not everyone was OK with the plan. Remember when Jeff Samardzija was upset in 2014 that the Cubs traded Scott Feldman in the Arrieta deal?
The Cubs are now a role model of sorts for other teams, including the Brewers, who can be accused of tanking this year.
"Certainly the level of success the Cubs have had and the type of organization they've put together would be a model for any team," said new Brewers general manager David Stearns. "They've done a tremendous job.
"We recognize to consistently compete with them and the other strong teams in the division we're going to have to operate at a very high level."
The Reds, another perceived tanker, also are following in the Cubs' footprint, building with young talent after dealing stars like Aroldis Chapman and Todd Frazier. Just don't ask Reds President Walt Jocketty if it's tanking.
"It's upsetting (to hear) because that's not the case," Jocketty said. "What are you going to do? You can't change people's minds. It was a tough year because of finishing in last place. I don't think I'd ever done that. I wasn't too happy about it."
Commissioner Rob Manfred declared Monday there is no tanking in baseball, which, of course, is semantics. There always have been teams willing to hit rock bottom to start all over, including the 1997 White Sox, who pulled off the infamous "White Flag" trade when they were still in contention.
The Sox can't or won't go the Cubs' route, though general manager Rick Hahn said tanking is a strategy appealing to some teams because the draft rules give the worst teams a higher bonus pool to work with.
"It does allow you in the current environment to get a pool of such size that you can spread it out and take more and more chances," Hahn said. "You can take three guys who are arguably first-round talents hoping that it would be wonderful if two of them hit. And if three of them hit, you're ecstatic.
"So you can hedge a little bit, versus that club that's caught in between at (No.) 15 or 16 in the draft. It that guy at 15 or 16 doesn't hit, you're going to have to be a little luckier at the end of the draft."
Had Hahn heard Manfred's comment on tanking?
"I did not," he said.
Well, Manfred said no one does it.
"Well, there you go," he said with a grin.
Perhaps we can invent a euphemism for tanking to make it seem more acceptable.
How about "Cubbing?"
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