Jed Hoyer was ready to go to extraordinary lengths to land Tanner Scott last offseason, but the left-hander took less money to join the Los Angeles Dodgers. That turned out to be a huge stroke of luck for the Chicago Cubs, at least for one season, as Scott struggled - and Hoyer's bet on a trio of reclamation projects worked better than anyone could have hoped.
Granted, the Ryan Pressly trade - like the Hector Neris addition before it - was an abject failure, but the work of Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz and Brad Keller was unquestionably impressive.