The “bridge year” quote was way too often misinterpreted. Fans screamed like Epstein was taking a year off from the MLB club to wait on the development of the minor leaguers, despite that very off-season Epstein signed John Lackey to the biggest contract the organization ever gave to a pitcher.
Epstein was referring to a change in their approach to minor league drafting, going from lower ceiling/ higher success rate college players to higher ceiling high school players, and went on to discuss the long term impact on the farm. I believe this was the offseason of drafting Jason Place, a high ceiling high schooler who flopped...