A Tom Ricketts To-Do List
A very good take from George Castle of the NW Indiana Times.
over 2 years ago
Al Yellon
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Interesting article
Not to mention the writer should get kudos for this sentence alone.
And the online brokerages whizzes from Omaha would be true wizards of odds if they can move the megabucks contracts of Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano and Milton Bradley that seem no more than gilded albatrosses strangling Wrigley Field.
by Madison Cub Fan on Aug 22, 2009 10:16 AM CDT reply actions
Can't really disagree with anything he says
"I still don't know what happened"- Fergie Jenkins on '69
What a great piece. Very well thought out and forward looking on not quick fixes, but how to fix the system itself for long term success.
Rec’d
Some people say the glass is half empty, some say half full. I say, are you going to drink that?
I really like #6 and #7
I never understood why they only can do night games Sun-Thurs. If it’s noise they are worried about wouldn’t it make more sense to have night games Thurs-Sun as opposed to during the week when people work?
I also think it’s a great point about charity work. We all know DLee does charity work and most of the team contributes. But even that doesn’t get the media attention it should. Other players should be having their own organizations as well.
Hate to harp on a Mets player, but the David Wright “Do the Wright Thing” Foundation is prime example of what the Cubs should do. No offense, but “Cubs Wives” is a nice charity but shouldn’t be the biggest one revolving around the organization.
The night game issue is part of the agreement with the city
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Aug 22, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
I understand that
But I just think it’s ass backwards.
I think the no fri/sat night games logic is
The neighborhood is so busy and crowded on those nights that the addition of a baseball game would be too much.
"There are no curses here...Games are won and lost on the baseball field" - Lou Piniella
That was the argument from the neighborhood.
I suspect that new ownership will try to negotiate at least 2 or 3 Friday nights every year, most likely when coming back from road trips. I don’t think that would be too onerous on the other businesses in the area.
And it would make a great deal of sense. Saturday nights aren’t nearly as necessary.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Can someone shed some light on this to a non-Chicagoan?
Doesnt Wrigley-ville essentially revolve around the Cubs, why are they hamstrung by local ordinances?
Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.
people still live there
and if the city is making a big deal about the vendors and bucket boys in wrigleyville, im sure they will be quite peeved about a jumbotron
Theriot is not clutch, he's double clutch!
by jesus christos on Aug 22, 2009 11:57 PM CDT up reply actions
has any thought or effort been given....
to trying to buy out some of the residents and or businesses? I haven’t lived in Chicago for a long time now. I moved LONG before the lights came to Wrigley, so I’m really out of touch with the politics there.
Surely that idea has been at least considered, hasn’t it?
There are people that live in downtown St Louis also but it doesn’t cause the same problems with night games but it’s a little different here. there aren’t any “houses” nearby.
people live in high rise apartments, lofts, etc.
I think (maybe) that if the city of Chicago really wants to transform the Cubs into a winning organization, then it should try to put more focus on them…help the owners of the team, whoever they happen to be, and join forces with them to fix the problems.
There just has to be more reasons than the players, managers and owners as to why the Cubs have the problems they’ve had for 100 years. The Cubs have had plenty of talent over the years.
It’s almost like they’re just a big tax write-off for somebody.
I don’t mean this to sound offensive to Cub fans, really. You’ve probably wondered the same things…why can’t this club ever go to the dance?
Baseball first, teams second, players third, agents last.
by Dave Pendleton on Aug 26, 2009 11:27 AM CDT up reply actions
That's what they SAY
the argument is… but after living in Lakeview for two years I am starting to suspect that the reality is that the businesses (namely the bars and restaurants and people selling parking spaces) want to have that crowd around on days like Tuesdays and Wednesdays when they can’t be assured of a decent customer turnout normally…
Interesting
But weekend games can also promote more bar business after the games?
The bars ALREADY have good business on weekend nights.
That’s why they feel they’re not really getting any advantage from a Friday or Saturday night game.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Good point
From an out of staters POV, more weekend Saturday Night games meaning more of a chance to watch on EI :)
I’m a very very selfish fan!
Well I live in Lakeview
and I’d like to see more Friday / Saturday night games. Partly because it would be nice to be able to go to a game on a Friday night with my friends and then go out to a bar, and partly because it was always awful attempting to get home from work when there was a Cubs night game going on. Lake Shore Drive would just completely seize up and I often faced the choice of sitting in traffic for 2 hours or leaving work absurdly late to avoid it. Not fun.
You'd have the same traffic problems with Friday night games.
Only it would be people GOING to the game at Friday rush hour instead of coming home from the game.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
In Chicago
You don’t get far from Wrigley Field or Clark and Addison before you are in residential area. In Chicago the residents, through their alderman, are custodians of their neighborhood. Businesses aren’t allowed to do whatever they want. The congestion in the neighborhood on weekends and disturbances at night caused by some Cub fans are what they are trying to avoid or control. The residents also want to park on the street. In that area the parking sign instructions assume people parking on the street are Cub fans.
In the end this is better for both the residents and the businesses, but it does not make it easy for commerce to expand its reach in the area.
by AboutTheCubs on Aug 22, 2009 4:05 PM CDT up reply actions
Night Games
The Cubs need to stop playing Night Games and go back to all Day Games. The “pain” inflicted most of the Northside whenever the Cubs play is massive. The traffic tie-ups, which rebound for many miles in each direction. The Drunks which radiate out through the neighborhoods. More than a mile away and we still have drunk cub fans pissing on our lawns, cars and sidewalks (okay… probably drunken Cardinal fans going to Cub games… )
And this BS that the Cubs are hurt by playing Day games is just that, BS. This provides a unique chance for the Cubs to establish a real HF advantage.
by frustratedfan on Aug 23, 2009 8:57 AM CDT up reply actions
I've only been to two Cubs night games
And those are by far my most favorite experiences at Wrigley Field. There’s something special about seeing a game at night there.
It didn't work for a gazillion years
More night games are a absolute necessity. So many day games puts them at a terrible disadvantage when they take to the road and play the majority of games at night. Many ex-Cubs through the years, have stated this openly.
More day games also lessens the value of the TV package. But, more night games would mean more Comcast and less WGN games, though. WGN Channel 9 (Not WGN America) is a CW affiliate and must not pre-empt network programming. That’s why there is “CubsNet” (and “SoxNet”)
on WCIU. Those are WGN games, as they own the rights to those telecasts. The broadcasts are sub-let to WCIU, so CW programming is not pre-empted.
Those of us in the hinterlands are then subject to opposing teams broadcasts, if we are on the “Extra Innings” package since WCIU games are not on “EI.”
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Aug 23, 2009 9:01 PM CDT up reply actions
In the end
Cubs will probably get their own network if possibly in the next 5-10 years and then this wouldn’t be an issue.
Not exactly
WGN-9 has preempted first-run CW programming plenty of times. For the bulk of the season, I would imagine this to be a complete non-issue from a CW affiliate’s point of view, given how well the network stuff repeats.
Case studies quote patients reporting a sensation of "giving way," a "bursting noise" or "sudden explosion."
so
your average drunk won’t piss on your yard in the day time?
"I’m not going to allow Al Yellon to flush this thing down the crapper without a fight." (BLOU)
Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.
by drewishdrewid on Aug 24, 2009 4:01 PM CDT up reply actions
Never gonna happen.
I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.
Tribune's Sullivan Advises Ricketts too
Funny how these media guys feel the need to advise the new owners as if the Ricketts, life-long Cubs fans, don’t know this stuff already. Must be an easy column to write since everyone has an opinion and a theory or two on how to “fix” the team.
Interesting reading, though nothing we don’t already know.
and isn't it terrible
that if it’s such an easy job, Sullivan is so BAD at it?
"I’m not going to allow Al Yellon to flush this thing down the crapper without a fight." (BLOU)
Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.
by drewishdrewid on Aug 22, 2009 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Apparently Sullivan has some issue with Crane Kenney.
They both forgot to list getting rid of the urinal troughs.
Dallas Green!
I think the troughs greatly reduce mens room waiting times- LET THEM STAY!
Everywhere else (UC, Toyota, Soldier, Obama’s Cominskey) the urinal lines get ten deep.
The only downfall in the Wrigley wc’s is the really crowded times when the sinks are “mistaken” for semi-circular troughs.
Come visit me inside Wrigley along the Addison side mezzanine fence straight up from 1st base.
by section229beer on Aug 23, 2009 12:28 AM CDT up reply actions
This is true.
Dodger Stadium’s small mens rooms have troughs. However, renovation means that plumbing is gone — it’s NOT up to modern building codes. Those at Wrigley and Dodger Stadium are grandfathered in. You can get in and out of those rest rooms quite quickly. FYI, I don’t think the President had anything to do with building US Cellular Field. Jim Thompson would be a better name to drop. After all, he rammed the Illinois Sports Authority through the Illinois legislature. Thompson’s Toilets…..I like that. Nice ring to it.
New ballparks, like Petco (and the new Soldier Field) have very long waits, even with bigger rest rooms. But that’s forced upon builders.
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Aug 23, 2009 1:28 AM CDT up reply actions
I was only crediting Obama with the spelling on that one...
he was in Law school when the Cell was built.
Thompson’s toilets sound like a fun amusement park ride.
Come visit me inside Wrigley along the Addison side mezzanine fence straight up from 1st base.
by section229beer on Aug 23, 2009 2:26 AM CDT up reply actions
And yet...
His is so much worse. Ditch the triangle building? What? We need to get that thing built! Lower beer prices? So we can see more of what happened at the Phillies game? Great. And have Ricketts stay away from the players like he’s typhoid Mary? He makes our players out to be some sort of prima donnas who can’t possibly abide having a non baseball player present in the baseball player only facilities. The horror!
$845-million is ridonculous.
If that’s what the “lowly” Cubs went for, I would hate to see how much some sucker would have to pay to assume control of the Yankees. Not that it would ever leave the Steinbrenner Family. A six-million dollar investment on George’s part has turned into a net-worth of over a billion; that’s crazy.
Rickey has spoken. Keep the Athletics in Bump City.
It's a good article...
…but, I disagree about Z’s contract. Z is needed in the Cubs organization, and fronting the rotation as he has been.
My most emphatic agreement, however, is about the farm system. Why the Cubs aren’t producing quality minor-league talent is absolutely baffling. Well, not really: they’ve mortgaged the farm in order to win now. Longevity over immediate gratification.
Rickey has spoken. Keep the Athletics in Bump City.
The first one is my favorite
And exactly my thought. Lou has had the look and tone all year of a guy who just doesn’t care anymore, doesn’t want the second-guessing, doesn’t want the stress, doesn’t want the trouble.
Honestly, if he said “no, I’m not really into it any more, but I can’t see myself away from the game”, I would high five him, hand him his walking papers, and offer him a job as a scout or a minor league roving instructor.
Jackie likes the smell of cut grass, he used to play ball on Saturdays, Playin in the sun...
WELL LOU DOES
Not really say it look at the body language . He acts like he is a million miles from the dugout . I can’t beleive the Ricketts group will put up with Lou . Gotta wonder if their Attorneys are already trying to find a way to put Lou on the back burner .
Lou said today "He'll be back next year."
Translated: “You’ll have to pay me to go away. I may be old, but I’m not stupid."
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Aug 23, 2009 1:30 AM CDT up reply actions
I agree
fully with the Lou assessment.
Scouting, player development, and adding staffing is a must. Cubs must improve.
And the additions or ideas to give Wrigley a lift, great idea.
"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"
What comes first??
Improving the organization?
or
Improving the ballpark?
I vote organization, but I know a renovation could negatively affect my employment.
Come visit me inside Wrigley along the Addison side mezzanine fence straight up from 1st base.
by section229beer on Aug 23, 2009 12:30 AM CDT reply actions
Nice list...
…and 2, 3 and 4 stand out for me because these are the areas that have had a “slow burn” on bringing on the problems that have come to a head in 09. The big spending of 07 and 08 hid these issues for a while, but if you aren’t strong from an organization standpoint, it will always rise to the surface.
Number 1 is actually the easiest to fix on this list, but the organizational issues have been loosening the lug nuts on the bus for many many years, and will take several years to fix. This is exactly why delaying this any longer is a bad bad decision.
"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel
Yep, nice job by Mr. Castle.
My fav:
4. Survey the staffing levels of the entire Cubs front office. A recession is no excuse to cut. Rather, the Cubs need to add on. They ranked 29th out of 30th in front-office staffing under penurious former president Andy MacPhail.
Mr. Ricketts, bring this organization into the 21st Century!
I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.
red sox
that organization is solid top to bottom. and it shows going to the playoffs every year. you need more than good players. you need the gm and the scouts and good talent evaluators. lets hope the ricketts take us forward and not backwards. this team needs to start thinking about winning instead of worrying about goats and curses and 101 year droughts.
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