I started writing this article on the Cubs search for their next GM, but wasn’t able to finish it before it was announced that the Cubs have hired their new President of baseball Operations in Theo Epstein and General manager in Jed Hoyer. I decided to finish and post this article as planned and a future article will come on my opinion solely on the hire of the new Cubs front office with Epstein heading up baseball operations and the new direction for the organization. So please keep in mind that this article was written evaluating the Cubs front office and their options before they hired their new GM.
The Chicago Cubs will be looking for a new manager this off season. I am sure they have actually started their search since the day they announced they have let former General Manager Jim Hendry go. The Cubs have their handful finding the right guy to take over the reins for this job. The Cubs do not have anyone with baseball experience within their organization calling the shots now. Thus, the new General Manager will need to be very talented and insightful to clean up the mess he has inherited and build up the organization from the bottom up. The Cubs aren’t in the worse situation in the league, like some of the teams such as Houston, Seattle, to name a few. They have some prospects and some money off the books, but the new GM needs to build a plan for the organization, put an emphasize on the minor league system, stress the fundamentals from the minors league system to the Major league level, and find a Manager who knows how to coach. I figured we should look at some of the general manager candidates who may be mentioned and then those who probably won’t be considered, but should be who could possibly handle the job as General manager of the Chicago Cubs to end the drought and clean up the mess that keeps getting deeper from Ed Lynch to Andy MacPhail, to Jim Hendry.
The Cubs reached out to Hall of famer Pat Gillick recently and asked him to join the Cubs organization in some capacity such as a special assistant to the owner reporting to Tom Rickets. After Pat Gillick stepped down after the rigous duties of being an GM of the Phillies he became an advisor for them. The same type of role the Cubs have offered him. So why would he want to leave a team that when he took over as GM several years he built the team up to what it is today? They also have a great thing going in Philliadpha being a contender every year with the stellar rotation. If he left the good situation he is now to come to Chicago he would want a position of power to be able to steer this sinking ship in the right direction and get it pointed up instead of going further down. That is why he supposedly told the cubs he would only come as President. That way he would have control over the Cubs to set the direction for the organization from top to bottom. It is also rumored he doesn’t want to take orders from current Cubs president Crake Kennedy, even though he is a business guy. Because Kennedy is president he tries to get involved is all aspects of the club, even though his expertise is only business. Thus, having Kennedy as President has scared a Hall of famer like Gillick away. I would have liked them to bring Gillick in as President with him setting the tone for the organization and guiding the GM he picks. That way he can mentor someone who has some old school smarts like himself, but also may be a little more analytical and advanced stat savvy. Gillick coming to the Cubs is done so lets move on to possibly alternatives.
My first choice for GM would be Andrew Friedman whom I consider to be the best GM in baseball. He has one year left on his contract with the Rays, where he has a limited budget, and in a tough division with the Red Sox and Yankees. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he is interested in the Chicago Cubs job. He is very analytical, knows how to analyze numbers coming from wall street, and has experience running a baseball organization.
My second choice is Theo Epstein whom became the youngest GM at 28 for Boston. In 9 years he has won them 2 championships with a big payroll and rebuilt their farm system. He drafted superstars in Dustin Pedoria, Jacoby Ellsbury, Johnanton Pappelbon, and traded for many others to help them win their championship like Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett. He knows how to draft well and spend money wisely of a big market club, even though some may question that with the signings of John Lackey, Carl Crawford, and J.D. Drew. The only one of those that was really bad at the time and will be regretted is John Lackey. Oh, lets not forget about Dice-K.
Brian Chashman is rumored to be a candidate because his contract is up with the Yankees. I am not a big fan of Cashman though because I don’t know what he has done. He has an endless budget and has hired some good scouting directors to drafts some good talent to keep or use as trade bait. The Yankees may always be good and competeitve, but I don’t think Cashman could have the same success in Chicago and I think he would fail like MacPhail and Jim Hendry did.
Billy Beane has also been mentioned, but like I don’t think he is qualified for the difficulties of this job to turn things around. The Oakland Athletics’ haven’t been in the post season in years because other teams have adaptive to his style and he hasn’t adaptive to the game. He needs to balanced in his approach to the game to gain his advantage to put a winner on the field and he isn’t. That is why he isn’t our guy to run the Cubs.
The Cubs need someone who can turn around an entire organization from top to bottom and that is why Theo Epstein was a great choice. The Cubs have a few talented players thanks to Tim Wilken and isn’t in terrible shape like some teams, but needed someone like Epstein who is one on the few executives currently active in the game in the game that I like who is smart enough to turn around an organization in shambles!
Showing posts with label Tom Ricketts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Ricketts. Show all posts
The Dismissal of Jim Hendry
The Jim Hendry era has come to an end. It is bittersweet that after 9 years as General Manager and 17 years in the organization Jim Hendry was let go in the middle of the season. The timing made no sense. The Cubs should have let him go before the draft so Tim Wilken who has a good reputation as a scouting director around the league can be left alone to do his league. Tom Rickets has also gone on the record that he also like Wilken a lot and wants him to continue to stay with the organization through the next regime (which I agree with) so why not fire Hendry before the draft because the draft is the scouting director’s job after the first round pick or two. Even the first pick or two is with the General Manager, but if your going to fire the GM do you want his input and him affecting the organization and prospects for another year? I also don’t understand why the Cubs fired Hendry, but then asked him to keep it a secret until after the trade deadline. The time they realized they were going to let him go they should have cut him loose. As Hendry said, he didn’t want to make trades at the deadline such as unloading Ramirez, Pena, Byrd, Marmol, who all should have been tradable and possibly give you good trade chips in return, but he felt it should be the next GM making those decision’s. So by not making a quick decision it actually hurt the organization, because if the new GM wants to move these players, the Cubs probably would have received better value at the trade deadline than in the off season. When Andy McPhail took over as GM of the Cubs in the early 90’s from his predecessor Ed Lynch, he kept him on as a special advisor to the GM (McPhail) for several year and was even on the payroll for many of the Hendry years I believe.
It seems like the Ricketts were trying to send a message to all Cubs fans by firing Hendry when they did instead of waiting until after the season, but like some of the other decisions they have made, or lack their of since they over the team, has it helped the team more than it hurt?
It seems like the Ricketts were trying to send a message to all Cubs fans by firing Hendry when they did instead of waiting until after the season, but like some of the other decisions they have made, or lack their of since they over the team, has it helped the team more than it hurt?
Can The Cubs Please Fire Jim Hendry And Hire Josh Byrnes?
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.
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.
Cubs Raise Ticket Prices Again
The Chicago Cubs have raised ticket prices again. Here our country is in a recession, baseball claims that revenue is down and the game is being affected, and then they raise ticket prices. I understand the Cubs aren't affected like other markets. People are still going to the games and buying a lot on appeal and concessions. The Cubs still have a huge wait for season tickets, and still will even with raising ticket prices, but it is still wrong. Tom Ricketts said when he took over that they would make going to Cubs games at Wrigley field affordable for everyone and family's. They only raised ticket prices by an average of $4.82 for next season, but that still adds up considering ticket were already expensive. Only is Obama could put a cap on raising ticket prices for sporting events!
Cubs looking at new spring training Facilities
Tom Ricketts and his family just took over control of the Chicago Cubs last week. Their first order of business is figuring out what to do for a spring training facility. The Cubs have been in Mesa for spring training since the 1950s. The Cubs have been where they are now since 1979. With the spring training facility and HoHoKam Stadium being old now and outdated they are looking into other options. The Cubs have been talking with the mayor of Mesa, Scott Smith for a few years now and they have not seen enough improvements for their satisfaction. Scott Smith says they will do whatever they need to because they want the Cubs for revenue, but the Cubs are now getting some good offers by others.
The city of Naples in Florida is making some offers to try and lure the Cubs out of Mesa. They have said on Thursday that they will try and convince the Cubs to move to Naples. Recently Tom and Laura Ricketts have visited the Naples area to look at possible sites there. The Cubs is supposedly looking for a minimum of 120 contiguous acres for a 15,000-seat stadium, six practice fields, parking, and training area. The construction the Cubs would want would take approximately 11 months. The proposal by the city of Naples would have a "Wrigley village" to be a destination and complete area for fans to visit. The offer by Naples is supposed to be competitive with the spring training facility the Chicago White Sox and Dodgers share.
It would be weird for Mesa not to be home for the Cubs during Spring Training.
The city of Naples in Florida is making some offers to try and lure the Cubs out of Mesa. They have said on Thursday that they will try and convince the Cubs to move to Naples. Recently Tom and Laura Ricketts have visited the Naples area to look at possible sites there. The Cubs is supposedly looking for a minimum of 120 contiguous acres for a 15,000-seat stadium, six practice fields, parking, and training area. The construction the Cubs would want would take approximately 11 months. The proposal by the city of Naples would have a "Wrigley village" to be a destination and complete area for fans to visit. The offer by Naples is supposed to be competitive with the spring training facility the Chicago White Sox and Dodgers share.
It would be weird for Mesa not to be home for the Cubs during Spring Training.
Ricketts Keeping things the way they are…….for now
Tom Ricketts, the new chairman of the Chicago Cubs has said that he is not going to make any changes in personal. This means that Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry, and Lou Piniella, are all safe for the time being. I was hoping he would come in and clean house little. Jim Hendry has locked the Cubs into so much money over the next few years with these big back loaded deals and there doesn’t seem to be a need for Kenney now with Tom Ricketts, so why keep them? It looks that Tom Ricketts is going to keep things the same for next season and learn the business over the 2010 season. Then once he has a better understanding of it, he may make changes he can justify. Tom Ricketts has also said he doesn’t plan to bring in anymore baseball people to add another layer. He says he trusts the staff in place and doesn’t plan to do that. This was surprising to me because there were many reports he would. This makes sense though. Even though Hendry had a few years left on his contract, why bring in someone else and keep Hendry. That would just make things harder to do business. Let’s just hope they can get the team ready for next season!
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.
