The Value of the Chicago Cubs Could Be Climbing Even Further and Other Bullets

ricketts-family-wrigley-fieldYou all are so very lucky that the Bullets (and the full-time iteration of BN, really) weren’t around when ‘LOST’ was still on the air. You would have been subjected to this space being devoted to the show at least twice a week, and possibly more. I was so very obsessed with that show. Why do I mention it now? Well, although I don’t think my obsession with ‘LOST’ will ever be rivaled by another show, I’ve gotta confess that ‘Game of Thrones’ is getting darn close. And just about every day, at least during the season, I want to lead off the Bullets with my thoughts on last week’s episode (it was great, but couldn’t they have made his push look more realistic?), or the upcoming episode (if it weren’t GOT, you would feel like you absolutely know how the fight is going to play out – with GOT, I’m just not sure), or general over-arching thoughts on the series (I know that it’s going to be a while before she gets to Westeros, but come on, man, we waaaaant it). I try very hard not to do it. It isn’t easy.

  • According to various reports, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has agreed to buy the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion. Why am I mentioning this? Well, earlier this year, Forbes valued the Clippers at $575 million. Now, because of the nature of sports teams and the burgeoning value of that kind of asset, teams tend to sell for quite a bit more than their “value” (query whether that demonstrates an inadequate valuation process), but that’s a hell of a premium over what the Clippers should actually be worth. The Ricketts Family bought the Chicago Cubs and related assets for approximately $845 million (subject to the leveraged partnership arrangement) back in 2009, and Forbes valued the team at $1.2 billion earlier this year. There’s not a direct correlation here – different sports, different cities, different situations – but you’ve got to believe that, as the Ricketts Family considers banking some of their asset appreciation by selling minority interests in the team, they’ve got to be feeling pretty, pretttttty, pretttaaaaay good about the value of the Cubs. That’s particularly true if they can sell the story of the upcoming TV deal(s) and Wrigley renovation with credible force. The Ricketts’ initial investment could have, at this point, already tripled in value. I don’t believe the family bought the team purely for the financial value, but, dude, it’s looking like a hell of a savvy purchase. Hopefully that financial savvy soon bears fruit for the baseball team, itself.
  • The Kansas City Royals churn hitting coaches like people who enjoy fresh, all-natural butter churn butter, and the team just swapped out now-former hitting coach Pedro Grifol for now-former third base coach Dale Sveum. Yes, that would be the Dale Svuem whom the Cubs fired as manager after the 2013 season. Sveum was known as something of a hitting guru before coming to the Cubs, but his approach didn’t seem to mesh with the Cubs’ young hitters. Perhaps he’ll have more success in Kansas City, where the clubs’ woeful offense is really putting a dent in their playoff hopes.
  • It’s no secret that players won’t have much success if they’re swinging at pitches down and out of the zone (whiffs and harmless grounders, usually), but Jesse Rogers points out that Junior Lake has also been struggling with pitches down and in the zone.
  • Looks like CJ Edwards could be throwing again soon:
  • Hopefully those results are clean, and we hear about him picking up a baseball this weekend. The Cubs decided to take it very easy on his recovery (good), and he’s not expected back until the second half of June, at the earliest.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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