As you may or may not have heard, the Arizona Diamondbacks fired Josh Byrnes, one of baseball's smarter General Managers. As Dave Cameron of Fangraphs points out, ",if this was truly a decision made because of the D’Backs’ record the last few years, then I think their ownership just royally screwed up." I could not agree more.
Byrnes has built a quality young team in his brief tenure as GM and made some plus-quality moves this offseason in signing both Adam LaRoche and Kelly Johnson at basement bargain prices. Both players will likely fetch a quality investment return (both have already produced their salary's worth of production and could net a decent prospect) or, at least in Kelly Johnson's case, provide the Dbacks with a semi-long term, cost controlled option.
This move, a clear loss for the Dbacks organization, could be a big win for a team in need of a quality front office. Hint hint, Mr. Ricketts. This is the chance -- get rid of Hendry now and let Byrnes work his magic.
Showing posts with label Ricketts family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ricketts family. Show all posts
Go to Wrigley in Winter
Last year the NHL had the Winter Classic at Wrigley field. Briefly they allowed the public to go ice skating on this rink. So this winter they are building an ice skating rink west of Wrigley Field in a parking lot along Clark Street. They are calling this "The Rink at Wrigley" which is sponsored by many including the Ricketts family. Admission is $10 per adult and $6 per child. The Rink at Wrigley will be open December 15 through February 2010.
My question is why isn't the rink actually at Wrigley? I would go if it was in Wrigley Field like the ice rink was last year for the NHL Winter Classic. Here they call it "The Rink at Wrigley" but it isn’t at Wrigley!
New Ownership for the Cubs
Last week the reigns of the Chicago Cubs were handed over from the Tribune Company to the Ricketts family who bought the Cubs including Wrigley Field and a share in Comcast Sports Net Chicago for $845 million. On Friday The Ricketts family had a press conference to talk about the Cubs and their plans for them. The board of directors will be Tom, Pete, Todd, and Laura Ricketts. The chairmen will be Tom Ricketts whom will be the spokesman. They are going to be visible active owners. They said you will see all of them at the games. This will be a big change for Cubs fans because in the past we had the owners sitting high in the tribune towers, appearing not to even care about baseball. To management the Cubs were only a business and an investment. Now we have the Ricketts family who has a special connection and bond to the Cubs. The Cubs are a business to them, but it is also more than a business, it is a team they love and want to succeed before anything. Tom Ricketts said they will put profits back into the Cubs. That will be one of the biggest changes from the Tribune ownership. During the 80’s Tom would go to almost every weekend home game with his brothers. That is where he met his wife in the bleachers. Now after three years the Cubs ownership is settled and looks to have a good owner.
