NEWSLETTER
For the second straight year, the Ricketts Family will not hold a panel discussion at the Cubs Convention, citing a lack of interest. I didn’t really buy that explanation last year, and I buy it even less this year. It’s a very disappointing decision. But, as I am almost criminally open-minded, I will hold open the small possibility that it is only our online bubble where Cubs fans desperately want to hear from, and interact with, Cubs ownership at this moment in time. Maybe I’m just wrong on this.
In any case, the panel is not happening this year. So if you want to hear straight from the horse’s mouth at this time, you’ll have to settle for a couple interviews – one with Tom Ricketts, one with Laura Ricketts – that I expect were dropped specifically to balance against any sense out there that the Cubs’ owners are becoming removed from, and inaccessible to, the fans. I really don’t believe they want that sentiment to fester, so at least this is something (though, again, a better path would have simply been to resume the family panel). One of the hallmarks of this ownership had been that it was *not* a faceless monolith of “The Owner.” It was very refreshing after decades of The Tribune as the team’s owner.
Tom Ricketts spoke with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney in a very good read, even if it will not necessarily leave the angriest Cubs fans satisfied:
New from @PJ_Mooney, who sat down with Tom Ricketts to talk about his Cubs outlook for 2020, free agency and much more: https://t.co/6xH4Bm85xJ
— The Athletic Chicago (@TheAthleticCHI) January 17, 2020
There’s way too much in there to properly and fairly dole out in commentary here (subscribe to The Athletic if you want to really dig in), but I did come away all the more certain of what I feel like we’ve been able to extrapolate from the outside: the Cubs don’t want to be trapped in “windows” of competing and then rebuilding, which is the main reason they aren’t pushing all-out for 2020 and 2021.
When you combine the looming post-2021 talent cliff, the ability to reset the luxury tax this year (teams are always going to want to do it at least once out of every three years) and spend aggressively next year, the need to add more young talent, and the reasonable *hope* that the Cubs might be decently competitive in the first half regardless of additions, I really do understand The 2020 Plan. It’s a measured step back and a conditional reboot for 2021, trying to line up five different interests in a single year. There are loads of risk in the plan – primarily, you’re risking wasting a prime year of so many of your guys! – but if your horizon is more like a decade instead of just trying to win for just two more years, then I get it. And that part of it, I honestly don’t hate.
… I just wish the Cubs had been (will be?) more successful at their charge: get under the luxury tax this year, yes, but also figure out ways to make for a more compelling 2020 roster *even as you trade out some players for longer-term pieces*. No one said it would be easy to pull off, but this is the job. So far? On this part of the plan? It’s an F. Nothing has been done at all to reasonably improve for the long-term OR the short-term. No, that’s not all on the front office or on ownership (or an arbitrator), but at some point, you ARE judged on what you accomplish.
All that said, I’ll let Tom Ricketts wrap this section with a reminder: “I think we have a great team now, and who knows what happens between now and the opening day of spring training.” There is indeed still time to make important moves for the near and long-term.
Laura Ricketts spoke with Paul Sullivan at the Tribune, and suggested – among other things – that the family panel might return next year:
Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts insisted she and her siblings are not ducking fans or the media by ditching their question-and-answer session at the Cubs Convention.https://t.co/VBP55Pm9bz
— Chicago Tribune Sports (@ChicagoSports) January 17, 2020
Laura Ricketts also expresses confidence that, in time, carriage deals will be in place to get the new Marquee Sports Network to Cubs fans who want to watch the games (no deal is yet in place with Comcast, for example). Hopefully we get a meaningful carriage update from the organization this weekend, even if not at a Ricketts Family panel.
