Cubs Pipeline Alchemy: What qualifies as 'waves of depth'?

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images The Cubs traded Jorge Soler because they had outfield depth. Teams need to do this multiple times before they truly have “waves” of depthAs Theo Epstein replaced Jim Hendry leading the Cubs baseball operations department, he noted the importance of creating talent internally. The term became “waves of depth.” Over the next few years, the Cubs created their best homegrown talent run in quite a few decades. It led to a parade, and a rather large party. What could be considered waves of depth?

As I began following the Cubs in the late 1960s, a few teams had already begun to accumulate waves of talent. The Big Red Machine was revving up, and the Albuquerque…