“I have a lot of respect for Scott and he by and large does a great job for his clients," Epstein said. "The only part about it that bothers me is that he certainly could have picked up the phone before going to the national media about this. He never once called me and asked me if Kris would make the team or anything about his situation. So just from a personal level and professional respect, that would have been something that I would have done if I was in his shoes.
"Beyond that, Scott has a forum and obviously people are publishing what he says. He has a job to do and he has a great client who is a fantastic kid. The person who is handling this with the most professionalism and maturity is Kris Bryant. (
) I couldn’t be more proud of how he is handling a very difficult situation. He is getting asked about it every day. He doesn’t get to just go focus on playing the game; he is asked about this from all corners and he is handling himself in a way that makes the Cubs proud.
"As far as the issue goes and the bigger picture, we are thrilled to have Kris Bryant. We are glad we chose him with the second pick in the 2013 draft and we are glad he is a Cub. I think he is going to have an incredible career and be a part of some really special things here with the Cubs.”
Epstein went on to discuss player development and his philosophy of getting a player to the big leagues when the staff feels he is not only ready but also going the big leagues at the most opportune time. When asked specifically about Bryant and his timetable for playing at the major league level Epstein was clear in his plan.
"As far as when Kris makes his major league debut and whether it will be part of this Opening Day roster, we haven’t put that final roster together yet," Epstein said. "I can say this: This is my 13th time putting a team together at the end of spring training and I have never once put a young prospect on an Opening Day roster when he had to make his major league debut (with the exception of a Rule 5 player).
"We’ve broken in some pretty good young players over the years from Kevin Youkilis to Hanley Ramirez to Dustin Pedroia to Jacoby Ellsbury to Jon Lester to Jonathan Papelbon and we have always given them the benefit of getting into the season in the minor leagues and getting into a good rhythm whether that is on the mound or offensively or defensively and playing in games that count rather than just spring training. We want to let them get into the flow of the season and then we try to pick just the right moment, in our opinion, to have them come up and make their major league debut.
"A major league debut is a sense of time and if it doesn’t go quite the right way and if you don’t put them in the right position to succeed, you can get in the way of their whole integration into the major leagues and it’s something we take seriously. I’ve never once done it. I’ve never put a young prospect in a position to make his major league debut on Opening Day. Opening Day, when it is cold out and there is a lot of attention and even veteran players don’t feel like themselves, they’re not quite into the flow of the season yet.
"I’ve never done it and it’s always been for baseball reasons. This is not a different situation than we’ve faced in the past, so let’s make the best decision for the Chicago Cubs and for Kris Bryant’s development."
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