(670 The Score) "You can write your stories," an obviously perturbed Theo Epstein told reporters before the latest implosion by the Cubs' bullpen Wednesday night, so given I have the clearance apparently required, don't mind if I do.
We're now five games into the new urgency, a mindset invoked from the top of the organization and meant to sharpen the effort and attention out of the gate. It has resulted in just one win and all kinds of nervous discomfort, and at least one prominent player is already observing that one could be causing the other.
"We're all from top to bottom pressing a little bit too much right now," left-hander Jon Lester said after seeing his quality start wasted in the 6-4 loss in Atlanta. "I think we put such an emphasis on getting off to a good start that it's kind of hanging over our heads a little bit right now."
This isn't just any player saying this but a team leader so respected that the management team flew to his home over the winter to run its plans by him before implementation, understanding that his buy-in would set a critical example to encourage others to fall in line. It matters that it's Lester pointing out that pressure is exceeding pleasure.
It's also important to note that he isn't making a direct accusation that the emphasis on intensity and every game counting was some kind of mistake but merely observing what he thinks is happening at the moment. He's using the word "we" and softens the point with "kind of" and two uses of "a little bit," but it's made nonetheless, and it's a reasonable one.
The thematic question of the season going in is only highlighted by the early struggles -- how are players supposed to respond to orders to take their work renewedly seriously while playing for manager Joe Maddon, who has made a career on an ability to keep things free and easy?
A paradox is in effect here, evinced further when Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer appeared on 670 The Score on Thursday morning. When asked about how to relieve the frustration currently so palpable throughout the organization in this first week, Hoyer went with a standard response that in any other context wouldn't be notable.
"We need to get back to having fun," he said. "Right now, it's not a lot of fun. We need to escape the rut and get back to enjoying ourselves."
Wait -- October starts in March, we were told.
There's a way to lawyer through this conflict, however, if we look at the urgency mandate to be about preparation and routine and readiness, taking a professional approach to things like video work, scouting report study, sleep and nutrition -- and not necessarily trying to play the game of baseball harder or while more tightly wound. Epstein is too smart to have meant that, knowing such a thing could be counterproductive and in fact saying outright that he's merely responding to what players themselves articulated in their candid exit interviews last October. Taking the job commitment seriously and having fun while playing are far from mutually exclusive.
Yet in the translation some of the nuance has been lost. Epstein has been dropping hints of late that he thinks writers are portraying the dynamic incorrectly -- both with the "write your stories" swipe and his contention that the idea of some mandate is largely "articulated by words from people who push papers for a living."
But it all gets real in a hurry when the person raising the possibility that the strategy might be backfiring isn't a writer.
It's Jon Lester.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's Bernstein & McKnight Show in middays. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein.
