In football, you cannot intentionally fumble forward in order to gain a field advantage.
As the season winds down with meaningless games, it is clear that the Cubs as an organization have fumbled through the 2013 campaign.
OWNERSHIP:
Owner Tom Ricketts said that the payrolls from
the final years of Tribune Co. ownership “unsustainable.” As a result, the Cubs payroll has steadily declined in recent years, with help by trading high payroll players like Soriano. Also as a result, the Cubs will end with a
fourth straight sub-.500 finish with 90-plus losses for three consecutive years.
The New Cubs have been in a fiscal bind. The Ricketts family overpaid for the franchise on a highly leveraged $845
million deal in October 2009 (which also included a stake in Comcast
SportsNet Chicago). Ricketts failed to understand the Tribune's internal sweetheart broadcast deals would be problematic in the short term. Ricketts failed to get price concessions for the lack of maintenance to Wrigley Field. Then the league has put the Cubs on a debt watch list. Declining attendance (especially in the no-shows) has impacted on the team's cash flow. The team paid the first installment of its real estate taxes late.
Then the season became a footnote in the political circus of Ricketts trying to mash through a $500 million real estate development project, which included new signage inside and outside Wrigley Field and a dense commercial retail development across Clark Street. Rooftop owners, local businessmen and residents were upset with the initial plans. The "save Wrigley" message from the team diverted attention from the apparent breach of the rooftop agreement and the true impact of the new real estate developments outside of Wrigley.
Ricketts stumbled his way to a city approval, but then he pulled back any renovation work unless the rooftop owners agreed not to sue him. There is currently a stand still. Ricketts has made the odd statement that even the renovations of the locker room, training facilities under Wrigley would be halted until everything was in place. The Cubs don't need neighborhood approval to do work inside the bowels of the locker room. It seems like an excuse not to borrow or spend money this off season.
MANAGEMENT:
Team president continues to state that he has been "transparent" about his direction for the team. Theo Epstein has cautioned fans that it will take time to rebuild the organization. But he won't say when all the new prospects will bear witness on a major league roster. And he steadfastly refuses to respond to inquiries about how much of the "new revenues" from the building renovations will actually be at the Cubs disposal for payroll and free agency.
The reason is little of the new revenue streams will be earmarked for the baseball operations. The commercial-retail-hotel building will be be owned by a separate company. The triangle commercial building will be owned by a different company. And the new signage for Wrigley Field may go into the ownership entity for the field, which is not the Cubs franchise. The Cubs are merely one tenant of Wrigley Field.
Epstein's baseball budget continues to be squeezed by Crane Kenney's business side. Epstein plan has been to sign second tier free agents, usually rehabbing pitchers, to flip them at the trade deadline for prospects. This season, Scott Feldman was traded for two pitchers, Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop who look like possible bullpen arms. Scott Baker spend most of the season rehabbing and will get paid $5.5 million for three meaningless starts. He will head off to free agency healed on the Cubs dime.
But no matter, for the front office solidified the rotation by acquiring an consistent, inning eating starter in Edwin Jackson. Jackson (8-16, 4.75 ERA) has been a
major disappointment, but the Cubs gave him a four-year, $52 million
deal last winter thinking he could be a rotation piece for a rebuilding
team and anchor the team when it would be competitive in 2016.
But the real fumble by management this season has been another 50 plus players filling the roster at a Class AAA level of performance. The major league roster was never constructed to win now. Epstein recently said that his manager would not be evaluated based on his win-loss record, which is a glaring admission that the front office never expected this team to win.
THE TEAM:
Fans have been critical of manager Dale Sveum and his decisions when to bunt and how he uses his bullpen. Some fans will state that the real issue with this team is the lack of talent. But there is also a perception that Sveum has not given the talent their best opportunity to succeed. Sveum's moving Castro around the lineup, benching him for boneheaded plays in the field, and basically throwing his hands up on his regression show a tense leadership void. The double standard between a disappointing Castro and a disappointing Rizzo season makes little sense. As a manager, it is Sveum's job to continue to develop his young talent - - - but Castro and Rizzo have regressed so hard this year it makes people wonder.
The pitching staff again has performed well as a unit. But since the offense has been pathetic for most of the year, the quality starts have been mostly wasted efforts. The frustration as boiled over with two back-to-back dugout arguments by pitchers Jackson and Samardzija on how Sveum made in-game decisions.
Sveum may believe he is in a comfortable position since Epstein and Hoyer like him. Sveum may think he is doing exactly what management wants of him during these dark rebuilding years. But Sveum has not used the roster to manufacture runs, seize on good match-ups, or get his team to give maximum effort. Fans have witnessed for the last two months a lethargic team playing through the motions.
Sveum may be slowly losing his clubhouse because of the team's constant losing during his tenure.
