The only way to stumble upon the Cubs game is to flip through Storm Terror Watch channels during the thunderstorms. Jake Arrieta was pitching a no-hitter in the sixth. He had a repeating, sweeping slider into the corner of the zone like a sniper using a semi-automatic.
Arrieta set a career high in pitches before he gave up his first hit in the 8th. He was pulled, and the Cubs hung on for a 2-0 victory over Boston. Note to Samardzija: this is how one pitches he way out of Chicago.
Besides the actual drama of the no-hitter in progress, what I took away from the game was the panoramic shots of Fenway Park. Then it hit me.
Everyone knows about the Green Monster. The Red Sox added rows of seats on top of it. The Cubs created their own mini-Green Monster in the RF corner, complete with rows of terraced seats.
Down the Fenway right field corner, there is a large old fashion, scripted Budweiser sign. The Cubs original renovation plans had a large scripted sign just like this one to be placed in the middle of the RF outfield.
Fenway has two electronic scoreboards: one in straight away center field and one in left-center, just to the right of the Green Monster. The Cubs have to keep the landmarked center field scoreboard at Wrigley, but ownership wants to put in a large video scoreboard in left field.
There are also other advertising signs on the upper decks at Fenway. The Cubs now want to squeeze in a total of seven (7) outfield signs, including it is believed two (2) electronic video boards.
Ricketts brought in Boston's former general manager, Theo Epstein, to run the baseball operations. Epstein had been the GM when Boston lifted its curse and won two championships. But Epstein was let go in a power scrape with the team president and ownership over credit for their franchise's success.
When adding up all of these elements last night, I came to the conclusion that Ricketts did not buy the Cubs, he was in a personal delusion, thinking that he was really trying to buy the Red Sox. By trying to transform Wrigley Field into Fenway Park, Ricketts thinks he will be the successful championship Red Sox owner - - - the model for all other league owners. But doing major cosmetic surgery on Wrigley Field will not transform the Cubs into a championship team. The Red Sox spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create winning teams. The Cubs continue to spend down their payroll like an elderly nursing home patient trying to qualify for public aid assistance. The Cubs actual payroll for actual players on their roster is falling to the $60 million level. Next year, dead money deals will fall away putting the payroll toward $31 million. This is opposite of the championship style Red Sox. Instead, the Chicago Beancounters are in charge of the baseball operations, turning it into a small market franchise selling hopes and dreams.
Perhaps this is why Epstein said he would stay with the Cubs as long as the owners wanted him. It left him an out not to extend his own contract term. Maybe he thought that the deep pocket Ricketts would run the Cubs like his former bosses did in Boston: spend to win. But when confronted with a business operation run by Crane Kenney and the stumbling grand real estate plans of Tommy Boy, there was no money for Theo. So what could he do? His only alternative to get talent for the team is through the minor league system. The original two year plan has crawled past the four year plan and is heading toward the ten year plan. Successful teams cannot win just by home grown talent because the odds of consistently finding and developing impact ball players is nearly impossible. So all Theo has is his repeated phrase that they have a plan, a process but no time table for success.
So Ricketts may have purchased his dream Red Sox franchise, but little did we realize that it was the 1906 Red Sox.
