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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein wants to add a starting pitcher this off-season while keeping the team\u2019s core of position players intact, reports ESPN.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the New York Mets completed their NLCS sweep of the Cubs on Wednesday, Epstein was already looking toward the future in a press conference Thursday.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201COnce you reach a point where you have a pretty good team, you approach the off-season in two ways,\u201D Epstein said. \u201COne is looking for ways to get better. And the second is trying to anticipate everything that could go wrong that will get in the way of you being really good again the next year or even better the next. I\u2019m not sure what direction we're going to go in yet.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe need quality pitching. I\u2019m not going to rule anything out or anything in, except to say whether it's through trade or free agency, we\u2019d like to add one quality pitcher this winter.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the regular season, Cubs pitchers posted a 3.21 ERA, third best in the majors. But the team was short on pitching options in the playoffs and slumped to a 4.38 postseason ERA, compared with the Mets\u2019 2.81.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the Cubs look to trade for a pitcher, Epstein hopes to do so without sending away any of his core position players.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI would love to have our entire position group back,\u201D Epstein said. \u201CIt might not be possible. We have some other areas we need to address. We may be forced ... to take away from that position player group to add pitching. I don\u2019t know.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shortstop Javier Baez and rightfielder Jorge Soler could be options to trade away.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe can\u2019t get to Opening Day fast enough,\u201D Epstein said.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;Don Mattingly: Emotional decision to leave Dodgers is best for both parties\u200B&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Erin Flynn&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/10/23/chicago-cubs-theo-epstein-starting-pitcher-season>