NYP: During the World Series, what was your emotional investment watching all the guys you know in Boston. What was that like for you?
Theo: It was a lot of fun watching those guys. I still feel really
connected with a lot of guys in the baseball operations group. Still
very good friends with them. We spent a decade together. So it was great
to watch them have success after a really tough seven months of
baseball, going back to September, 2011 and then in 2012.
And then John did an outstanding job. Watching the players perform at
such a high level was great. Restoring the franchise back to where it
had been for most of the last 10 years, it was a lot of fun to watch.
NYP: What has it been like for you? Chicago is a great baseball city,
but I think Boston is just so intense, especially your role in the rise.
Theo: I think the biggest difference is … the difference exists because
of where we are in the process. Starting two years ago, really building
from the ground up in a lot of ways. Rebuilding the scouting
department. Rebuilding the player development operation. Trying to build
a base of young talent. But it takes time, and a lot of that work is
very enjoyable, but it’s also under the radar, which gives us space and
freedom and creativity. But it makes for a different experience.
Unfortunately, you can’t provide your fans with what they deserve along
the way, which is teams that play meaningful games all year long and
play until October. So we just have to take a patient, long view. It’s a
different experience.
But I’ve always enjoyed the scouting and player development aspects
of the game, the investing in young players, more than any other aspect
of it. So to that extent, it’s been really fulfilling. But it’s
different. It’s different. It’s strange walking around the meetings and
being a little irrelevant, because we’re not major players in some of
these deals.
NYP: And what about just walking around Chicago? Are you approached a lot less than you were in Boston?
Theo: Yeah. It’s been nice. It’s been a little more … Boston’s a great
place to live. In Chicago, it’s easier to blend in. There are more
teams, more professional teams around. We’re not exactly the talk of the
town right now, so it’s easier to go under the radar. It’s nice.
What Theo said gives us some insight on his viewpoint of the Cubs and their fans.
It is clear that Theo does not feel the pressure of winning in Chicago. He enjoys being under the radar. That is not what fans want to hear. They want their teams to be as hungry and aggressive to win as the fan base. Fans want to have their team winning games year after year. Otherwise, what is the point of being a fan?
Next, another clear signal that the Cubs are not going to spend any money on free agents. "We are not major players" means that the Cubs will not be interested in any of the top veteran players such as Cano, Choo, Tanaka, etc. Any player who turned down a qualifying offer is off the Cub radar. So, the 2014 team will not improve significantly if the Cubs are only bottom feeding with second or third tier free agents.
The idea that the Cubs are putting their resources into rebuilding the organization is an excuse not to spend money on major league roster players. Rebuilding means diversion of revenue. And in the Ricketts case, the diversion is more to the real estate development projects than fielding a competitive team on the field. As a large market team, fans are given excuses or promises for future greatness from home grown players rather than an operation that goes out and spends money to field good teams (such as the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, or Rangers). Good teams realize that they have to spend money on players to make money and keep fan support. Ownership and management need to want to have their team winning year after year. Otherwise, what is the point of running a team?
The last point Theo made was the Cub challenge was to rebuild the organization from the ground up. It is a backhanded slap to prior management (which during the Tribune tenure did get the post season by signing free agents, making trades, hiring veteran managers and developing young talent.) The "process" is a large tent in which we are not allowed to peek into. It is a nebulous concept that does not spell out how it gives the team "space and freedom and creativity." Fans want players who can hit, field and run. It is a condensing approach in talking down to the fans.
But the most disturbing quote from Theo was "Unfortunately, you can’t provide your fans with what they deserve along
the way." That is false. The Cubs can provide the fans an exciting, winning baseball product at Wrigley Field if ownership would spend the money to sign the quality talent available on the market. The Cubs are choosing not to spend money on free agents or build their team through trades for veterans. Yes, the Cub system has produced a few players during Ricketts 4 year tenure (such as Samardzija, Castro, Lake and Castillo), but to put the major league team into neutral for an undetermined amount of years so Theo's draft choices can work their way slowly through the minors is incomprehensible business model.
Look at Theo's prior nemesis, the Yankees. The Yankees spend more money than just about every team in the majors. In the Red Sox AL East Cold War, it was a race to sign the best free agents year after year. But the Yankees also had a good enough farm system to trade prospects for other key veterans. They restocked their farm system with supplemental high round draft picks when their players hit the free agent market and signed with another team (this year the Yanks are expected to get 3 supplemental first round picks). So there is a way that uses all the available tools to field a quality baseball team (free agent, high payroll, trades, and prospect development.) The Cubs are putting all their eggs (the future) on one aspect of roster building: prospect development. For all the acclaim that Theo is the smartest guy in baseball today, putting your eggs in one basket seems to be a dumb idea.
As we have discussed before, it is a risky gambit because statistically less than 6 percent of all minor leaguers ever reach the major league roster, and about 3 percent become quality starting players. The Cubs plan assumes that their prospects will hit at a 80-90 percent success rate, which is insane.
Theo's job now is the give the public enough corporate-speak to keep them at bay while Ricketts builds out his neighborhood real estate theme park of ancillary secondary buildings, businesses and commercial operations. You can see the business side of the organization already laying down the foundation for future excuses when it blames the neighborhood or adjoining business owners from delaying the rebuilding operations with the threat of lawsuits.
And then there was the Cubs General Manager, Jed Hoyer, who spoke to a local reporter and said the front office was not going to change its approach to placate anxious fans. "We will not hit the fast forward button on our plan simply because people are impatient," Hoyer said. "It will make it worth it in the end."
That is another discouraging quote from the front office because Hoyer is promising something he cannot guarantee.
And then there was the Cubs General Manager, Jed Hoyer, who spoke to a local reporter and said the front office was not going to change its approach to placate anxious fans. "We will not hit the fast forward button on our plan simply because people are impatient," Hoyer said. "It will make it worth it in the end."
That is another discouraging quote from the front office because Hoyer is promising something he cannot guarantee.
