Cubs fire Jim Hendry

Aren't there still questions about how much the Ricketts are willing to spend on payroll?

I'm not suggesting the Cubs are going to slip into Marlins territory, but are they willing to throw down serious cash? Especially with the continuing specter of Wrigley Field renovations being much more costly than originally presumed?

 

I didn't mean the Blackhawks comparison to be one-to-one. Just meaning that they had a short window because of big contracts. In the Blackhawks case, it was a cap thing. In the Cubs case, it was the opposite - they had to keep those guys after they aged.

 

The Blackhawks' window is still very much open.

 

There were questions, in the same vein as the national reporter who said last week that Hendry was definitely staying.

Ricketts' statements in the past have been that revenue will still be poured back into the team at the same rate, but that includes all baseball operations. So his recent $10 million addition to the draft/IFA budget might be coming out of the MLB payroll, but I don't think it's going to go any further than that.

 

Not if one of their two best players continues to prefer drinking himself into early retirement or jail time rather than getting better at hockey.

 

He's already pretty darn good at hockey.

 

The Cubs have a very big problem in that aside from Castro who is young and on the rise in their organization? No young stud arms, not big hitters. Soto looked like he would be but then he slid back. I guess their 2B is decent. But that's it. Otherwise the team/organization is littered with "just some guys."

I brought up those contracts more with think of what they could have done with that $$ rather than what they got.

 

I think it's an issue that everyone in that division has though. Heck, the Pirates were competitive for a couple weeks with one superstar (McCutchen) and a bunch of average guys. I guess the Cards are the Alpha team of the division for the past decade, but they're not getting any younger either, and the Brewers are going into vintage Marlins mode after this year because they're losing Fielder and others.

Of the teams in the division, the Cubs have the greatest potential for revenue, although I do think the Cardinals are still seen as a "small" team to people. (They aren't in the slightest.)

 

The Cubs do have some talent in the minor league system, but most of it is still a few years away.

I'm hoping the increase in the draft budget is an indication of that the organization is going to spend money on free agency, as well, rather than an indication that they are only going to spend money on development.

The right hire could make the Cubs perennial contenders. The Evil Empire in quick order -- not so much. But there's a lot to work with.

 

Agreed. The organization is full of cheap, useful filler. Besides Castro, Darwin Barney is the epitome of "okay starter during his cheap pre-FA years." They have a lot more guys like that coming. They need to surround it with a few, high-paid stars, which they can afford to do.

And oh, look, two of the biggest offensive stars in the game are available this offseason, and they both play the position where the Cubs have a clear hole. And signing either one of them would cripple a key divisional rival.

Going after Pujols or Fielder has to be the biggest no-brainer for the Cubs since Dawson showed up with a blank contract.

 

This hire is Tom Ricketts' Dallas Green Moment. This is a franchise desperately in need of a new direction and an outside perspective.

The Trib completely changed the culture of the franchise at the time when they hired Green in the early 80s. That same need for change exists again today.

Green built not only the '84 division winner but the '89 winner as well and if the Trib hadn't fucked up and fired him the last 25 years would probably have looked a lot different.

The new guy needs to change not only the way the operate at the MLB level but developmentally as well. I don't think they draft poorly but they sure do a shitty job of grooming guys on the way up.

 

I'm convinced that if they sign either guy he will immediately break down and not come close to earning his contract.