The new Cubs era begins
Big day at Wrigley Field today, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to have a family, rather than a conglomerate, finally running the Cubs. A few of us from the Daily Herald had a chance to sit down with Tom Ricketts a couple of weeks ago, and Tom was quite gracious in answering questions for an hour.
Check out our stories, and the columns by Mike Imrem and Burt Constable on our Web site.
Today was the coming-out party for the Ricketts family. It drew a big crowd of media and one player: Ryan Dempster. He was asked what improvement he’d like to see the Ricketts family make to Wrigley Field.
“A trophy room for a World Series trophy,” said Dempster, ever the card. “The clubhouse is pretty tiny. I’m not an architect, so they’re going to have to look at plans. I don’t want knock a wall out and have Section 121 come falling in. There’s room to maybe (move) a wall out here or there to make the weight room a little bit bigger or move the weight room down the hall to make the clubhouse a little bit bigger and give everybody a little bit more space and room to move.”
As we reported in one of the stories, Tom said they’ll try to address some things for next year but that it’s getting late already. Their plans for Wrigley are more long term, and both Ricketts and team president Crane Kenney said plans for the long-talked-about “triangle building” next to the west side of the park will move forward.
“Design through the 2010 season and put a spade in the ground as soon as the season ends,” Crane said. “You’d build through the 2011 season and have it hopefully open by Opening Day 2012.”
The triangle building would conceivably alleviate crowding for players and front-office people.
Among the other things from the Ricketts’ coming-out party:
--As we talked about in one of the stories, GM Jim Hendry will report to Kenney, who will report to Ricketts. Although Ricketts has talked about adding to the baseball-operations staff, a “baseball man” as a boss to Hendry is not in the cards at this time.
--The Cubs will bid for the 2014 All-Star game, which would coincide with the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. By that time, the Cubs hope to have made several improvements to the ballpark. The last time Wrigley Field played host to the Midsummer Classic was 1990.
--Ricketts said there is no plans to sell personal seat licenses (PSLs).
--The Cubs want “world-class” spring-training facilities. Kenney has met with officials in Naples, Fla., and Ricketts and the Cubs will meet with people in Mesa, Ariz., next week to talk about that city’s aggressive plan to keep the Cubs. I was on a teleconference with the Mesa folks earlier this week, and they’re serious about building the Cubs an upgraded facility. The Cubs are the cornerstone team in the Cactus League, and Arizona can’t afford to let them get away.
--Ricketts deferred to Hendry on player-personnel matters, including a veiled question about Milton Bradley. Hendry will trade Bradley.
--Ricketts said he believes the Cubs “have a team that can win it next year. I don’t promise anything…but the fact is there is enough talent coming back to this team next season to go all the way to the finish line. The key is to have every season (to be able to) stand up with complete honesty and say, ‘We believe we have enough talent’ (to get to the World Series). If you do that, if you’re sincere about it, if you’re consistent with it, it’s going to happen.”
Do you know how Ricketts views the "sabrmetric/statistical revolution" in baseball? This is a very important question for the new owner in my opinion. Has he made any remarks one way or the other on this topic? Would you mind floating a question or two along these lines?
Thanks... and keep up the excellent work!
Each paper had its own sit-down with Tom earlier this month. We had to hold the stories until 11 a.m. yesterday. But I did ask Tom if he were a "stats guy." We've got the response as part of these exerpts:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=332985&src=152
On stats, he said: "I am a stats guy and I have been traditionally. I read all those (Bill James) Abstracts...From an ownership side, we'll probbly take a look at what they (the front office) do. I'm sure that they look at the right metrics."
That was pretty diplomatic, as Tom probably didn't know at that time what metrics the Cubs are looking at. But I suspect he'll try to find out in a hurry. And over the last few years, they've looked at things like OBP and OPS more than they used to.
that's really good to hear/read. That's almost exactly what I'd want a new owner to say. He not only makes a remark that's pro-stats, but he gives a little evidence that he knows what that means. He also did not make the mistake of being antagonistic in his reply. It was -- as you point out -- very diplomatic.
Thanks again, Bruce. I really appreciate you taking the approach you do to your work, and that you answer questions from readers.
now its "RBI guys"....two steps forward, one step back
The Toronto Sun reports that the Chicago Cubs are eyeing Vernon Wells in a Milton Bradley trade.
"It's early on, but we think this one has some legs," said one Cubs official. "But they aren't the only team we are talking with." The Cubs' idea is to split the difference on Wells' $107 million over six years and Bradley's $21 million the next two years, with each team absorbing $43 million. It would take a lot of work to make a deal happen, but it may be the only way Toronto can wiggle out of the Wells contract.
please tell us its wrong!
The Cubs are not about to add about $70 million in payroll, especially for a guy in decline, like Wells. Don't worry about this one.
brings sanity to the conversation.
...is going to take the patient approach and see just what he has, so he can make the big decisions regarding the baseball organization after 2010 is in the books.
I found it interesting that he was very firm in his belief of what you need to have a consistantly winning team; scouting and player development which can produce a constant flow of talent for the big league club. He also stated short term solutions "where fools gold" and both of these areas he mentioned Hendry has struggled in. I was a bit surprised he ruled out hiring a baseball hire anytime soon, but you have to wonder how he formed his strong opinion of what it takes to be successful. Ricketts is smart enough to know he is not a baseball man, so you have to think he has been consulting with someone, and I believe he will again before any big moves happen after 2010.
Hope springs delusional. The Cubs should remove the words World Series from their vocabularies. This includes the fans. Enough with the "die-hard" garbage. It's time to put a true long-term plan in place, build a baseball organization from their rookie league team up to the big club, develop a true Cub style of baseball and go about your business.
Please, quit talking about next year. Quit talking, period. Get to work and let's see what happens over the next decade. The more they talk about it, the farther away the hardware gets. They mess with the law of averages always trying to win "next year." Put a long-term plan in place, let the law of averages do their work and -- presto -- the Cubs will someday win a World Series. But 101 years of one-year plans has only served to make them a laughingstock.
It seems to me that this team can put in place the investments in player development that will pay off in the long term AND also build around a very good nucleus of (admittedly expensive) players in the near term.