The Chicago Cubs lost in their bid to sign Russell Martin, who received a five-year, $82 million deal from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Chicago wasn't willing to offer Martin a deal of that length. They're high on first-round pick Kyle Schwarber, even though he has yet to play a full season in the Minor Leagues.
"It's important not to look at players you love in the Minor Leagues, especially ones that are pretty early in their career, and start making big league decisions because of that," Theo Epstein said.
"You don't want to block guys. You can make mistakes that way. But if you make assumptions, assuming all the guys on your Top 10 prospects list will end up in the big leagues, that can be just as big of an error."