Tag: tom ricketts

Rhymes With Schmollusion

The Athletic (I think it was Evan Drellich) published a piece today about owners complaining that Steve Cohen is a rich bastard, and for those of us blocked by the paywall, this was the snippet that was being floated around:

It actually is kind of hilarious when we basically know that there are something like 20 owners (including the bottom herd that includes the Pirates and Reds and probably soon the Brewers) content to sit out the big prizes and just soak in their profits and revenue sharing dollars. I had a theory backed by mostly gut feeling more than hard evidence that there is a handshake agreement in place to depress salaries across the board so the bottom herd can just dive into their Scrooge McDuck money bin, and I guess there’s some meat to that theory now.

Regarding that last statement, there is a system in place, but the system is designed to punish teams for spending too much, not for spending too little. Along comes an owner who is far richer than the rest and who broadcasts through tangible actions that he understands the system but simply doesn’t care. Given the advent of social media and a better understanding of how billionaires (well, most of the owners are, some are a bit shy of 10 figures) have a fuckload of money and they should probably spend it.

All things being equal, if someone is going to be getting all this money, I’d rather it be the players I pay to watch. At least in this case, a guy like Steve Cohen understands this and Mets fans are obviously very happy, even if all these contracts go to hell in April. But at least someone is following AC’s guide to building a winner! And in the meantime, he’s having at least some of the other owners show their whole ass, and that’s good for some movie popcorn in advance of the next big CBA fight…

Dreamcast 54: Whose Fault is This Anyway?

From my previous rant and given the busy schedule of the other jabronis, I recruited a Twitter buddy to commiserate with re: how stupid the Cubs are and how they can potentially unfuck the offseason somewhat. You can listen below:

Appreciate you guys tolerating my angst. You can also check out the archives at Podbean.

Is There a Plan?

At the beginning of this offseason, we knew the Cubs needed the following:

  • A starting catcher (no offense to Yan Gomes)
  • A center fielder
  • More bats
  • Probably another front-line starter

And that was just the bare minimum. A few weeks later, with many big names coming off the board, the Cubs still need:

  • A starting catcher
  • More bats
  • Probably another front-line starter

That really depends on how much you think Cody Bellinger bounces back to at least solid-to-All-Star level production, what you make of Jameson Taillon’s position in the rotation, and whether you believe the in-house bats take a step forward, but there is an old Chinese proverb about waiting for another rabbit to crash into a tree and kill itself so you can have dinner that night. The basic gist is that the Cubs have not done anything to significantly improve themselves at this point in the offseason, their options are dwindling, and we are justifiably disappointed because there doesn’t seem to be a plan. After the letter from Tom Ricketts, the pressers from Jed Hoyer about being aggressive, and Crane Kenney opening his mouth and suggesting that they’ve found extra money in their couch cushions, we still have nothing but the vestiges of the last great Cubs team (the shell of Kyle Hendricks and David Ross trying to do what he can to squeeze out some moral victories) because they chose to let this team crumble to dust. This can be any number of reasons:

  1. There was a plan in place by Jed Hoyer and the front office with the blessing of ownership, but the marquee (pun intended) free agents decided that the Cubs were not in competition shape. This is probably bullshit because the Rangers threw a ton of money at Marcus Simien and Corey Seager and now Jacob deGrom and that team was trash for the past few seasons. Then the Giants, who aren’t in much better shape, threw all the money and years at Carlos Correa, so if they had the money, the free agents would come. Which brings us to…
  2. Jed had a plan, but it did not involve setting or matching the developing market. This is what I would call stubbornly stupid because the pieces available out there filled a need and the club (either for real or through smoke and mirrors) had the financial resources to make it so. And that suggests…
  3. Jed had a plan, and thought the money was there, but it was really smoke and mirrors after all.

None of this reflects positively on the Cubs, especially when they are marketing their first Cubs Convention in years with not very much for us to look forward to, when they’ve objectively suffered ratings hits and attendance drops, and when they’re likely still losing season ticket holders as the new season looms. There is of course a way to still salvage this with current free agents still on the board, but that’s headlined now by one Dansby Swanson, who was plan B while the other three shortstops were plans A1, A2, and A3 in any order. Swanson is not enough, so they’ll have to sign or trade for a catcher, they’ll have to probably sign a Brandon Drury or Justin Turner to man one or both of the corners, and they might have to just throw some money at Carlos Rodon because I’m in the camp that says Marcus Stroman should probably not be the number one starter on a competitive rotation. It’s obviously too late for Correa, but Jed and crew really should have worried more about 2023 and 2024 (and probably all the way up to 2030 given Correa’s age), not 2035, because the contract he reportedly signed for is a built in Bobby Bonilla deferral mechanism. You need the guy now! Sign him NOW! But anyway, too late, hopefully they get someone else.

Without a significant push, I’m guessing Ian Happ walks and Marcus Stroman opts out after next season, although there are lots of pitching options in the next class of free agents. It probably doesn’t make as much sense to throw money at a Manny Machado (if he opts out) since he’s going to be older than if they had just throw all the money at Carlos Correa, and honestly who’s to say the Padres won’t just pay the man since they have money to throw around unlike some teams? The “wait and see” approach is probably better for the prospects because while the farm system has improved, I just don’t see many “can’t miss” guys in the wings, so that’s why I was pushing for free agency, where you know the players already have a track record of success. Now we just have to hope the Cubs make the pivot they should have earlier to sign the largest impact players so they can at least salvage this offseason, sneak into the playoffs, and generate some momentum for recruiting future free agents. Because in my mind, this “delay” in the timeline was completely by design and/or incompetence, and they’ll probably hear about it at the Convention now.

The Evolving Narrative

I will start by saying that social media is great for many things, despite the efforts by certain proprietors of websites to destroy it or make it totally not fun. It helps us connect with friends and fellow fans, it makes folks of authority and celebrities more accessible to us mere peasants, and it allows us to learn more about the world around us depending on how open we want our network to be. With the good comes the bad, which is the goldfish-level attention span and the incessant obsession to refresh and doomscroll to see if news has been updated. With the infamous Heyman “Arson Judge” snafu, it also brings to mind the need to determine the veracity of reports and the reputations of the messengers, as it is probably better to trust Passan and Rosenthal than what I might term the “B-squad” at this point.

Anyway, what I mean to say is that the Cubs have basically pissed away most of the goodwill they earned with a historic World Series championship. AC has outlined how to compete for the World Series, and we are all well aware of how chaotic baseball can be, especially in the playoffs when one cold spell coming up against a hot streak can torpedo a historically great regular season. And like most other billionaires trying to maximize profits, baseball team owners try to do what they can to reduce the amount being paid to players we actually want to watch while continuing to gouge us with high ticket prices in between making it difficult to hunt down an affordable stream of the live game. Evan at Cubs Insider compiled a number of Cubs fan accounts of why they’re giving up their season tickets or just not taking the opportunity to buy in, based off this original tweet resharing a letter from last year when another former season ticket holder elected not to renew. We can rationalize what transpired in the time between the last NLCS run and today, when the Cubs said goodbye (justifiably or not, that’s in the eye of the beholder) to pretty much their entire championship core, and the money seemingly just stopped flowing into the product we scrounge our discretionary income to see once or twice a year in person because we can’t afford much more.

Like AC alluded to, this is bad optics and it’s no wonder fans just won’t settle anymore. It may have been different back in the day, as Evan pointed out, when Cubs playoff appearances (much less victories) were few and far between and fans were just happy they got there. This was supposed to change, because the Cubs now had a smart baseball operations setup and good coaches and talent development and the financial backing to sustain a core, and with the rise of social media and fans learning more about how baseball works, they couldn’t count on as many fans being naive and buying into the lovable losers trope anymore. And even if they could count on fan goodwill, goodwill alone doesn’t pay the bills because inflation sucks and fans need to pay rent too.

Tim as usual is hilariously (and I believe justifiably) angry about this as you can see in his mini-rant on Twitter. I think Tim is prone to hyperbole because that’s who he is (enjoyable, I might add), but he is probably right about the system not producing the Bryant-Schwarber level of talent that would signal a contender in the making at this time. The best prospect is Pete Crow-Armstrong and a comfortingly long list of pitchers who could act as depth behind the MLB rotation right now, with a few other prospects of interest unfortunately on the mend due to some annoying ill-timed injuries (sad for both them and for us). Absent of in-house talent they can count on, no matter how much we fawn over Matt Mervis’ power potential, and with a need to contend to boost profits, the Cubs would seem to have little choice other than to spend. As Winkelman pointed out, there is no other way to acquire quick talent because the past CBAs have restricted amateur spending domestically and internationally, so a talent infusion requires free agency. It is true the Cubs have spent in the past when they “didn’t need to” because they were able to get Marcus Stroman and Seiya Suzuki for pretty decent sized contracts, but they probably should have known (even if we didn’t) that prices would go bonkers and had been prepared for that. However, it isn’t just the Cubs sitting out while the Mets buy up everyone who isn’t nailed down, as other teams are also waiting in the wings to see what happens next, so we can’t just blame the Cubs for inaction. But it is damn frustrating!

In the next days and/or weeks, the narrative will change depending on what happens. The Ricketts will either cement their reputation as miserly owners who don’t care as long as they sell a certain number of tickets and make a certain amount of profit, and Jed Hoyer will get (fairly or unfairly) roasted in the court of public opinion because he failed to build a good enough case for the Cubs contending starting in 2023, or because he decided it wasn’t time to blow all the money Crane Kenney claims to have allocated to baseball ops. Or they will sign and/or trade for the pieces that will get the Cubs back to the playoffs, and have the Pitch Lab and coaching/development infrastructure to sustain it instead of wasting away all the talent as they did with the previous core, and we’ll have to eat our words and admit that Jed and Tom knew what they were doing all along. Which one do you think is more likely?

(In my train of thought writing through all this I neglected to state that the lack of news doesn’t mean that news doesn’t actually exist, it just means the Cubs haven’t leaked anything yet. The beat guys obviously have their own agenda and the sources they use are likely operating on their own agenda as well, i.e. as agents and/or owners attempting to sway a price point. Given that they’ve already said the money is there, and their own TV personalities are talking continuously about possible impact free agents, the Cubs have to know how bad it will look, kind of like now, if they don’t get something done. So we will see!)

Preferably, sooner rather than later, the Cubs give me a reason to keep paying attention and to pay for a ticket too.

Avoid Being Average

There was a tweet from Marquee’s Tony Andracki (cool dude) that probably caused several aneurysms the other day, and Brad on Twitter attempted to put it into context:

If we assume that Seiya Suzuki takes a step forward after an adjustment year and Cody Bellinger can at least find some kind of a groove, then it does look a bit better. However, I’m still not thrilled with having to rely on “what ifs” even if the run environment did change because pitchers are just filthy and more difficult to hit than ever. There is an opportunity for the Cubs to add, and while the radio silence on the big gets is a bit frustrating, I’m hopeful that the next time I post some new shit, it’ll be because there’s a super team in the making. Next year’s free agent class is relatively bare, so the time to add is now. I suppose the Cubs could rely on solid pitching to sneak in a few wins and stay in contention by the trade deadline, but why do that when you can make your team better now? Am I just being narrow-minded?

Let the Dominos Fall…Please?

Among other rumors flying around, the big one that got everyone’s interest was this bit from Kaplan (and others):

Put your money where your mouth is

Whether you believe it is because the Cubs don’t want to deal with another season of losing/biblical losses, or that Papa Ricketts’ heart grew three sizes that day and Tom got an advance on his allowance, the consensus once again is that the Cubs are for real and they want to spend. Although we won’t know for probably at least a couple more days, the first domino apparently has fallen with the Cody Bellinger deal that was just reported:

This represents a discount from the projected arbitration salary although Bellinger was non-tendered by the Dodgers last month, so this is a more expensive version of a reclamation-style pillow contract, but it does get a lefty bat, a capable center fielder, and a player with former MVP potential hopefully still in his body into the mix. Based on that salary, that leaves the Cubs at least another $80MM to throw around before they hit the luxury tax threshold, so here’s to them signing all the shortstops and pitchers. Maybe a catcher too. Trade for some if possible, I don’t care, just do more!

Variations on a Cubs Theme: LOYALTY! PATIENCE! PROGRESS! COMMITTED!

I headed down to the first of four Season Ticket Holder events that the Cubs are putting on today and tomorrow at the Bank of America Theatre downtown. I met up with Ivy Chat Chuck (who I hope will also write his perspective) and we bumped into Tom Ricketts before the show started. As I shook his hand, I realized I was wearing my Cubbie Facepalm hat and I'm 99% sure he noticed it. So the snowball's chance in hell I ever had of being employed by the Cubs one day just melted. He was very nice and it turned out he and Chuck had some common acquaintances so that saved me from potentially having an awkward conversation about copyright infringement and what constitutes parody.

As far as the event went, I kind of figured that we would be treated to some very tightly orchestrated talking points, since that has historically been one of the few things the Cubs do well, but I have to say that Crane and Theo brought their A Games.

I'll put it this way: If we had played a drinking game involving any variations of the following words – loyalty, patience, progress, or committed – I would probably be dead of alcohol poisoning before Crane Kenney even finished his part.

Crane did his best to come off warm and genial, but you can't ever really spend any amount of time near Crane without getting the distinct idea that he would rather be involved in a ripping game of squash or seeing his prize horse performing dressage than talking about the Cubs with the unwashed sea of humanity dressed in Cubs paraphernalia. Not that I completely blame him. I'd rather do almost anything than discuss the Cubs with the vast majority of people who claim to be the teams' best fans.

Crane came out swinging with lots of COMMITTED talk. COMMITTED to winning a World Series. COMMITTED to renovating and preserving Wrigley. COMMITTED to being better neighbors in the community. Things we have all heard from them many times before because, as season ticket holders, we are so LOYAL and PATIENT and our LOYALTY and PATIENCE will be rewarded eventually due to the PROGRESS the COMMITTED Cubs have made and they are thankful for our continuing PATIENCE and LOYALTY as the PROGRESS is made. COMMITTED!

He quickly brushed past mentioning the negatives to the PROGRESS like a hurricane in the Dominican, Chicago politics, litigious rooftop owners and losses on the field. He moved swiftly towards tangible signs of PROGRESS like Baez, Bryant, and Almora and how they are now ranked the 2nd best farm system by Baseball Prospectus.

He claims no team has spent more than the Cubs in the last 4 years (under the Ricketts) on the draft and international spending. Some quick dirty calculations in my head make that seem plausible, but someone can feel free to fact check that statement if they feel so inclined.  

He said that since the Ricketts have owned the team, they have hired 69 people on the business operations side and 64 people on the baseball operations side. This truly is PROGRESS, in my opinion, as they did inherit what has widely been acknowledged as the smallest front office in the major leagues.

They interspersed the live talking points with some slick promotional videos. One of them was narrated by someone who either is the movie voiceover guy ("In a world where fans are PATIENT and LOYAL, the LOYALTY and PATIENCE leads to PROGRESS because of the Cubs' COMMITMENT… ") or someone who does a hell of an impression.

Another one was narrated by Gary Sinise. Spare no expense. 

There was a nice montage that inexplicably showed Starlin Castro fielding and Darwin Barney hitting. There also appears to be only one highlight of Junior Lake because we saw the same footage of him connecting and watching an apparent homerun at least three times in the course of all the videos. PROGRESS!

Crane continued to pound home that PROGRESS can only continue if they remain COMMITTED to the renovation process that has been slower than they'd like, but stressed that PATIENCE is required and they were already so thankful for our LOYALTY through the process.

One point he made about the Cubs' competitive disadvantage while Wrigley is in the unrenovated state is that they start each year in a $40 million hole each year. I missed all the reasons he gave for that as I tried to get my notes on my phone, but the two big ones were maintenance costs to keep Wrigley from falling apart (my words) and lost revenue to the rooftops (Crane's). This last statement raised some eyebrows as Crane has apparently taken the gloves off when discussing the Cubs' rooftop "partners." LOYALTY!

That provided a nice segue to a video hosted by Len Kasper that highlighted the features of the renovated ballpark. It was a virtual tour around a model they've built. I'll say that if they ever get the damn renovations completed, Wrigley and the surrounding amenities will be pretty sweet. PATIENCE!

Crane then started talking up the exciting things they have planned for the 100 year anniversary season of Wrigley. They are calling it the Party of the Century and since Crane says he likely won't live to see the next 100 year anniversary, he's planning on having an extended celebration all season. My Crane-to-English decoder ring indicates to me that they plan to milk the ever-loving shit out of this anniversary. COMMITTED!

They'll have regular bobblehead giveaway Fridays as well as Throwback Sundays where they'll wear uniforms from various periods in Cubs history and go so far as to have themed food from the specific periods they represent.  So I think that means that when they pay homage to the 1940s uniforms, they'll serve hot dogs that were manufactured in the 1940s. I'm not sure. I could be wrong about that. PROGRESS?

Crane wrapped up his bit by announcing that as a thank you for our LOYALTY and PATIENCE, everyone in attendance will receive a free hat with the Wrigley 100th Anniversary logo. FREE HAT! COMMITTED!

Then it was time for Theo. Thank God.

Theo opened by saying that when he first took the job, a friend told him, "It takes great courage to be PATIENT." He then told us how true that has turned out to be and that we are the ones who are truly courageous for sitting through the last two years and he thanked us for our LOYALTY and PATIENCE. He went on to say that we inspire him and his team to "work day and night to put a team on the field worthy of your support." COMMITTED!

Now, I don't know what it is, but when Theo says stuff like that, there is an air of believability that Crane simply doesn't have.  Maybe it's because we know Crane was a part of the old bullshit they used to feed us about being only "a few good moves away from contention." Maybe it's just because I WANT to believe Theo.  I don't know, but that's how it comes off. PROGRESS!

He talked about the recent World Series and said that 35 of the 50 guys on the final World Series rosters were either developed by the team or acquired in trades involving guys who were homegrown. He praised both teams, but then cut it short because he loved it "took an oath to Tom Ricketts to hate the Cardinals."  Theo knows how to play to this audience. COMMITTED!

He then talked about how he thought the Cubs of the 60s were so beloved because so many of that "core" came up together and grew together and won (sort of) together. He wants to have that same situation happen soon where fans can start seeing the young core play together and begin to win together over many seasons. LOYALTY!

So far, I wasn't getting a real big vibe that they're going to make any big name free agent signings. He went on to explain the importance of homegrown talent from a different angle when he said that the average peak of a player is around 27 years old.  He said the average age of a free agent is 32 years old, so obtaining impact talent at or near the peak of production is extremely rare. PATIENCE!

He also said that from 2002 to 2011, the Cubs are dead last in major league production from those drafts, which segued him into why they have traded so many veterans in the first 2 years as they try to gather younger, cost controlled talent. At this point, they have traded 8 veterans with 4 years of control combined for 14 players with 78 years of control. PROGRESS!

He conceded that there is a cost to their methods in reference to losses on the field in August and September. So, he concluded, "[The strategy] better serve a higher purpose and it better work." COMMITTED!

There was a video highlighting the young potential future stars Bryant, Baez, Almora, Soler, and CJ Edwards (who Theo called the centerpiece of the Garza trade, rather than Olt, who never got mentioned in this session). I have to say, the video did a good job of building up the hopes and dreams of seeing those guys punish baseballs and strike out opponents at Wrigley. PATIENCE!

There was also, what I can only assume was a very hastily produced video introducing Rick Renteria to fans as the new manager where he discussed what a positive person he is and how he looks for teaching opportunities when players make errors or lose focus or whatever. He seemed like a person who would be very good at working with young players and someone who will not satisfy the meatballs who will want him to scream and curse and threaten to murder Starlin Castro when he commits the grave sin of dropping a ground ball. PROGRESS!

He also talked about how he had not done a good job in providing an atmosphere at the major league level for players to continue to develop into winners, and that was the key reason for the managerial change. PATIENCE!

There were then some questions from Dave Kaplan and the fans themselves who, despite's Kap's repeated pleas to keep questions "concise," the fans still managed to tell rambling stories before eventually getting around to asking a question.

My phone was dying by that point, so I don't have further notes, but I can assure you that the answers given by both Crane and Theo almost universally pivoted back to at least one of the major themes: LOYALTY! PATIENCE! PROGRESS! COMMITTED!

It was a good show and I don't know how it is going to play with the general group of season ticket holders, but they were COMMITTED to pounding the message of LOYALTY and PROGRESS into their brains. By the way, the 10% deposit for season ticket accounts is due in a week. Somehow I have a feeling they won't show quite as much PATIENCE if that deadline is missed.

Other coverage of the event:

 

The Only Thing Tom Ricketts Threatened Was Some People’s Delicate Sensibilities

The Cubs released more renderings of what they would like Wrigley to look like after the renovations they've been planning for four years are complete. There was nothing earth-shattering. We already knew what a jumbo video board would theoretically look like thanks to amateur fans with Photoshop skills. This version had lights on the top of it. Neat.

Of course, Tom Ricketts spoke optimistically that these plans would eventually come to fruition. He expressed confidence in the work they had already done with Tom Tunney and Rahm Emanuel to hash out the outlines of a plan that could get final approval from the next 800 layers of Chicago government bureaucracy. This presentation was barely any more interesting than any of the other renovation presentations the Cubs have subjected us to over the last four years.

Except for one little Ricketts quote, per the Chicago Tribune:

"I'm not sure how anyone is going to stop the signs in the outfield, but if it comes to the point that we don't have the ability to do what we need to do in our outfield then we're going to have to consider moving. It's as simple as that."

And that is pretty much all anyone has taken from the whole shebang.

The Tribune headline:

Ricketts threatens to move Cubs without OK for Wrigley upgrades

The Sun-Times:

Tom Ricketts threatens to take Cubs and go elsewhere

The Daily Herald:

Cubs chairman threatens to move team from Wrigley Field

ESPN Chicago actually played it cooler:

Cubs may ponder Wrigley exit

But then I saw the URL that indicated a much stronger headline from earlier in the day: http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/9230531/tom-ricketts-chicago-cubs-threatens-leave-wrigley-field-outfield-signage-not-approved

OH MY GOD!! RICKETTS IS A MONSTER!!!

At least, that is the sense most fans are given when, at some point in the day, every single major media outlet covering the Cubs screamed a variation of the word "threaten" to describe Tom Ricketts' quote as they strove to drive traffic to their sites.

But is it really a "threat?" The media seems to want to have you believe it is. And they also seem to think it is an empty one. The collective clucking of the tongues at Tom Ricketts' perceived impudence is almost deafening.

Tack on about a billion similar tweets from riled-up fans, and the consensus is that the Earth will plunge into the sun before the Cubs would EVER leave Wrigley. 

The problem is that Wrigley won't exist forever. There is a time coming when Wrigley will eventually start falling apart again and fans will be in physical danger if they set foot in the place. It's almost a certainty. Those nets aren't hanging there as some reminder of the Golden Age of Baseball where all the stadiums had nets to protect fans from falling concrete. As I said in the comments the other day, the place is LITERALLY falling apart. Not figuratively. Actual concrete is actually crumbling. This is not a condition that tends to fix itself over time. Something must be done or somebody will end up getting hurt. And soon.

It is clear the Cubs will not get government funding like many other sports teams have received over the years. You can argue whether that is right or wrong, but no matter your opinion, it isn't an option for the Cubs. Period.

The new plan involves the Cubs paying for it themselves, but then being allowed to run their business like a normal business without a billion roadblocks in their way intended to benefit everyone in the neighborhood but the Cubs. They want a few extra night games and the ability to charge corporations for placing some signs in their ballpark. You know, LIKE EVERY OTHER MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM THAT HAS EVER EXISTED. But nothing about that plan is certain. The rooftops have been talking about suing and you can bank on someone that needs to give approval will hold this up for their own agenda. This is Chicago, afterall, lest we forget.

So Ricketts is confident, but Ricketts is a Cubs fan. He knows what it is like to be five outs away from the World Series with a three-run lead and your ace on the mound and have everything go to hell. So what happens if it does?

What options are left? They can't get government funding and they won't be allowed to do it themselves (and let's not pretend that any owner anywhere would do this deal without having increased revenue streams to make it worth their whiles).

The options left on the table would then be: 1) Stay at Wrigley as is or 2) Move somewhere else.

They can only stay at Wrigley for so long. Meanwhile it will continue to be a dump for their players (a point that will be even more blatant when they start training in their state-of-the-art facility in Mesa, Arizona during the Spring) and they'll continue to be handcuffed by shitty advertising and TV revenues because nothing will have changed from the way it is today. Hooray. What a lovely option.

Seriously, the Cubs get pounded left and right for not acting like a "major market" team, but they aren't one. Not anymore. The scope of the game's economics has changed and selling 3 million tickets a year doesn't automatically put you in the "major market" class. 

Don't get me wrong, the team will get better than what they're putting out there now. They almost have to be once they restock the farm system at all the levels, but what sold Ricketts and a large portion of fans on the rebuild was that the Cubs would rebuild a core "the right way" and then use their significant financial muscles to add on where other teams in the division won't be able to afford to. Except now, the Cubs' financial muscles will be flabby and they won't be able to lift a wallet much better than what the Cardinals can do. That's a nice step forward as an organization, but I personally want to beat the fucking Cardinals. Regularly.

And even if that is all doom and gloom, how many years do we think Wrigley has left in it? Like I said, it is already literally falling apart. I shudder to think what some of the support structures might look like in the places of the stadium we don't see. Wrigley has a finite amount of time left and I'm of the opinion that time period is a lot shorter than anybody really wants to admit. The reason the price tag on this renovation is $500 million is because they aren't just slapping a coat of paint on it and calling it renovated. They'll be replacing or stabilizing key parts of the structure as well as digging out entire new areas under existing structures that were built on the understanding that solid ground would be below. That's going to take additional reinforcement. That gets expensive.

The only other stadium besides Fenway I could think of that was in a similar situation to Wrigley was Tiger Stadium. It was a beloved stadium that many Tigers fans still sorely miss, but the Tigers moved instead of renovating.  I got to wondering why. I found out through my Google machine that they had a couple of plans that would have been cheaper than the $300 million they ended up spending on Comerica Park.

One was the Cochrane Plan for an estimated $26 million:

The Tiger Stadium Fan Club, which claims 12,000 members, last year presented the lower-budget Cochrane Plan to the Tigers. The plan would:

  • Leave the first and second decks unchanged, including view-obstructing posts in front of some seats.
  • Build a third deck that would add 73 luxury suites.
  • Expand clubhouse, concession, rest room and office space.

That doesn't seem to address many structural issues. It sounds like they were just going to tack on a third deck onto an almost 100-year old stadium, so that doesn't sound overly sound to me and probably would have ended up costing a lot more than the $26 million estimated price tag.

A second renovation plan, proposed by Ann Arbor contractor Joe O'Neal and Birmingham architect Gunnar Birkerts, would cost $70 million-$95 million. Without interrupting play at the ballpark, that plan over three to four years would:

  • Remove all the support posts.
  • Expand concessions and restrooms.
  • Add a 400-seat stadium club and 200 luxury boxes.

This sounds closer to what the Cubs are planning, but it still doesn't involve changing the footprint of the stadium as the Cubs' does, nor does it involve digging under the existing structure and field.

At the end of the day, both plans seemed more or less like putting lipstick on a pig. They would be extending the use of the stadium for a few years through those changes, but eventually Tiger Stadium would fundamentally fail as old structures tend to do. Maybe that is why the Tigers ultimately didn't go that route. I'm sure the public funding of the new stadium, combined with the neighborhood around Tiger Stadium crumbling around it played into that decision as well.

But from what I'm seeing, it didn't look like there was a real viable long term plan to stay in Tiger Stadium even if the ownership and the city had been interested in doing so. Hence, they moved.

Likewise, if the Wrigleyville neighbors or greedy politicians submarine the latest plan to stay at Wrigley, I don't see any more long-term options for Wrigley Field. This is not Tom Ricketts necessarily saying he desires to take his ball and go home. He's saying that's what's left if this plan doesn't come together.

Everybody saying the Cubs moving would lose the loyalty of thousands of fans is correct. Finding a long-term viable solution to stay in Wrigley is the best solution for all the parties involved. But if that option is closed down, then what's left? Moving elsewhere. It's the only option that would be left on the table. It's not a threat. It's a fact.

***UPDATE***

Since writing most of this, the voice of the rooftops, Beth Murphy, has expressed optimism that maybe the Cubs and the rooftops can live happily ever after. Per Paul Sullivan:

“I think we’re at a point in the process where we’re just going to have to work out the details (of the plan),” Murphy said. “I no longer believe the Cubs want to block us. I wasn’t sure before, but I no longer believe that. I truly am optimistic they want to work this out.”

I don't know what Crane said or did to elicit that kind of quote from Murphy, but that right there may be the most productive thing he has ever done in his tenure with the Cubs. This is probably on par with if Alex Gonzalez had actually managed to turn that double play ball.

I'm not celebrating a done deal yet, but if she holds with this attitude (assuming the rest of the rooftops are also likewise impressed with Crane Kenny's… um… sincerity), this goes a long way to avoiding the doomsday scenario where the Cubs actually would have to start looking at other locations.

Tom Ricketts finally threatens to move Cubs away from Wrigley Field

Figured this was worthy of discussing.

If we don't have the ability to generate revenue in our outfield, we will have to take a look at moving. There is no question. — Tom Ricketts

Discuss

By the way, I was going to add an image of Tom Ricketts, but it turns out we have never actually uploaded one. At least not that I could find.

Cubs and Chicago Come to Agreement to Allow Wrigley to Be Less Shitty, More Expensive

When the Ricketts family first took over the Cubs, some of the first words out of their mouths were expressions of unbridled love of Wrigley Field. They were going to win and they were going to win in Wrigley Field. That was their story. Tom went around telling anybody who would listen that he once lived across the street from Wrigley. He skipped classes at University of Chicago to attend games, ultimately ending up taking five years to graduate as a result. He met his wife in the Wrigley bleachers.

The love Tom Ricketts felt for Wrigley was almost unnatural. I think part of the reason Joe and Pete so vehemently oppose gay marriage is that they fear the slippery slope that would eventually allow Tom to divorce his wife and marry Wrigley Field. 

Around these parts, we criticized this because it essentially removed all leverage the family had in negotiating with the city. They would ask for public funds. The city said no. They asked again and almost had a deal, then Joe fucked everything up with his Super PAC and hate of the President, who was coincidentally the Mayor's buddy.

Then the Cubs came out and said they'd pay for the whole thing themselves on the condition that they be allowed some wiggle room on the restrictions placed on it by city ordinances and landmark designations that turn every remodel of a urinal trough into a six month ordeal of community meetings and posturing in the media. Shockingly, the idea was met with scorn by Wrigley's neighbors and Tom Tunney, who tore himself away from counting the money in his pockets from the rooftop owners long enough to tell the Cubs to just replace the manual scoreboard with a videoboard if they want one that badly.

It was a Sisyphean ordeal all because there was never really an alternative for the Cubs. Rosemont offered them a crappy piece of land that nobody wants because it's practically on an O'Hare runway, so that wasn't ever really an option. So the Cubs were negotiating with people who basically kept poking them in the chest, kicking sand in their face, and asking, "What are you gonna do about it?"

So the agreement announced late last night that the Cubs and the City of Chicago have come to an agreement to allow the Cubs to spend $500 million of their own money on the crumbling ballpark is something of a minor miracle. Somewhere along the line, the city moved a bit, the Cubs moved a bit and they all ended up shaking hands with each other. And it only took three and a half years to add a couple of signs and a few more night games. Progress!

The agreement allows a number of changes that will help the Cubs separate us from even more of our money in the near future, per Carrie Muskat:

  • A 6,000 square foot video board will be placed in left field pretty much where the Toyota sign is now. They may place it further back over Waveland to decrease the impact on rooftop sightlines.
  • An additional sign will be added to right field that will be in the same kind of semi-see-through style as the current Toyota sign.
  • Those will be the only two additional outfield signs place instead of the original proposed seven signs.
  • They can play 10 more night games, bringing the total to 40.
  • There can be up to five more night games if national broadcasts dictate changes to the original schedule.
  • They can start Friday games at 3:05pm now.
  • They can close off Sheffield Ave. from 2 hours prior to the game until the 2nd inning.
  • The Captain Morgan Club will be rebuilt to be two stories to allow the visitor clubhouse to be expanded into that space plus additional space for a souvenir shop.
  • The corners of the park will be renovated to be more fan-friendly (translation: more places to sell stuff) along with upgrades to the existing crappy restaurant, The Sheffield Grill.

This is good news for the organization. It will allow them to sell their TV rights for more money when they get to that point because night games are more valuable. They'll hopefully have more space within the park to add some decent food and beverage options. As of right now, the closest thing to craft beer that they carry is Bud Light Lime-a-Ritas and Labatt's Blue (it's Canadian!). At least they aren't trying to call those "craft" beer like some teams. *cough* Yankees! *cough*

So while we will eventually be forking over larger amounts of our money to the Cubs, this allows them to sink the millions they need to into renovating the player facilities to bring them at least into the 20th century of modernization. It also provides them with the revenue capable of sustaining a larger payroll in the event they ever have players that actually require larger salaries.

So though I may be snarky about it because it is the Cubs and they have always shown an amazing capacity to fuck things up for themselves, this is a good day to be a Cubs fan. Finally.

***UPDATE***

The full approved proposal can be found here.

Tom Ricketts will hold a press conference today at 11:00am. Live streaming here.