Without getting too political here, I think this is somewhat similar to what we just went through at a national level. Obama was elected President last November, we had this transition period, and he formally took over last week at the Inauguration. During the transition period, Bush was still president, still had the authority to make decisions, and still got to ride in Air Force One. But you know that Obama sat in on all the important meetings, and was made aware of and consulted on any policy decisions of consequence.

Now it’s not quite the same, but essentially what we have here with the Cubs is Ricketts was just “elected” the new owner of Cubs. TribCo is still the official owner and still has authority to make decisions, but I gotta believe that Ricketts will be consulted and informed on all Cubs-related decisions of consequence moving forward until the sale is complete, i.e. the “inauguration”.

In the meantime, Kenney and Hendry have been running the Cubs under this cloud of uncertainly for a very long time, and overall, they have done a very good job of keeping it “business as usual”. With someone like Ricketts as the incoming owner, I would expect that “business as usual” would continue. I would also expect that if Kenney and Hendry have an opportunity to improve the Cubs, they will do so – it just may take one extra phone call now.

In practical terms, dealing for Peavy doesn’t have to wait until Ricketts is officially the owner. I’m sure he’ll be consulted if the situation presents itself again. And if the numbers work, we’re not giving up too much talent, and it makes sense for the Cubs, the deal will happen regardless of who is the owner.