Rickett's comments on his team

[Dunstons cannon]

During a brief meeting with the media before Wednesday's game, Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts was asked what was wrong with his team. "Nothing," he replied. "Just a lot of injuries. We'll be fine".

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0602-cubs-astros-chicago--20110601,0,4281482.story

 

And you have a team with a serious talent problem, a terrible GM and a triple A at best manager, Tom. But, hey, keep making excuses. So glad we have a good owner :roll:

[SouthSideRyan]

He should've said "these guys suck"

[CUBZ99]

He should've said "these guys suck"

 

 

I don't think anybody is expecting him to say that. His comments insult even the average Cub fan's intelligence. Sure injuries haven't helped, but this team wouldn't have been good even if healthy. And as much as he is being bad mouthed by the casual cubs fan, you would think he would want to try to placate them a little rather than alienate them.

[Sammy Sofa]

How?

[illiniguy]

Yeah we can't really read much into this. Think of what it says to the fans if he does come out and say, "Man this team sucks better hope we sign Pujols." His actions are what will matter. If we lose 90 games again and Hendry is retained then we can panic.

[SouthSideRyan]

The quote is gone from the article.

[PrimeTime]

I know he can't come out and say this team blows, but he never seems to ever seem frustrated or even care, It'd be nice to have a owner that shows he wants to win, show's some fire and at least acts frustrated and pissed off somewhat on how the teams playing and everything else that's going on with this ball club instead of saying what a great job Kenny and Hendry are doing even though those 2 guys are complete goons. I really hope that attendance dip is burning a hole in the Ricketts pockets. I wanted Mark Cuban to have a chance at getting the team when they were for sale, boy that would've nice. Atleast he shows some passion and wants to win.

[XZero771679666304]

Can you imagine an owner sitting down the media and saying "Yeah, this thing is a real mess, the result of a litany of horrid decision making. There's not much to be done for it but to purge the front office and make wholesale roster changes."

 

Sure we may want to hear that, but it would be appallingly, unthinkably bad business to actually say it. Hell, just saying change is needed would be fairly extreme.

 

If this season plays out like it seems it will and Ricketts & Co. don't make some hay in the offseason, then we can start drawing conclusions about his ability and intent.

[SouthSideRyan]

Owners aren't there to show fire and passion.

[TruffleShuffle]

rickett's charge

[CUBZ99]

Can you imagine an owner sitting down the media and saying "Yeah, this thing is a real mess, the result of a litany of horrid decision making. There's not much to be done for it but to purge the front office and make wholesale roster changes."

 

Sure we may want to hear that, but it would be appallingly, unthinkably bad business to actually say it. Hell, just saying change is needed would be fairly extreme.

 

If this season plays out like it seems it will and Ricketts & Co. don't make some hay in the offseason, then we can start drawing conclusions about his ability and intent.

 

Nobody expects him to throw the GM and front office under the bus, yet. It still doesn't make his statement any more accurate. As you point out, if anything Ricketts purchased this mess of a team and was pretty much saddled with the roster as we know it. Maybe his whole plan all along was to let Hendry take the blame for a season no one expected the Cubs to do anything with, and give the new GM a fresh start. Who knows, but to blame this year on injuries is a ridiculous nonetheless.

[Bote McBoteface]

Yesterday I had a horrible headache, I misplaced two important papers, broke the door off of a company aircraft, and while at work from 7am to 8pm I made a little over twenty dollars. Before tax. Then I went to the gas station and the lady behind the counter asked me how my day was going. I replied, "Pretty well, how about you?"

[javy knows my name]

I know he can't come out and say this team blows, but he never seems to ever seem frustrated or even care, It'd be nice to have a owner that shows he wants to win, show's some fire and at least acts frustrated and pissed off somewhat on how the teams playing and everything else that's going on with this ball club instead of saying what a great job Kenny and Hendry are doing even though those 2 guys are complete goons. I really hope that attendance dip is burning a hole in the Ricketts pockets. I wanted Mark Cuban to have a chance at getting the team when they were for sale, boy that would've nice. Atleast he shows some passion and wants to win.

 

Sounds like you would've been happier as a Sox fan. Personally, I prefer that my team's executives not act like clowns in order to pander to their idiot fanbase. Good to see where you stand, though.

[NOLA]

Sure we may want to hear that, but it would be appallingly, unthinkably bad business to actually say it....

 

If this season plays out like it seems it will and Ricketts & Co. don't make some hay in the offseason, then we can start drawing conclusions about his ability and intent.

 

Absolutely. One thing sure to make this season even more of a disaster would be some internal war waged in the media.

 

 

Nobody expects him to throw the GM and front office under the bus, yet. It still doesn't make his statement any more accurate. As you point out, if anything Ricketts purchased this mess of a team and was pretty much saddled with the roster as we know it. Maybe his whole plan all along was to let Hendry take the blame for a season no one expected the Cubs to do anything with, and give the new GM a fresh start. Who knows, but to blame this year on injuries is a ridiculous nonetheless.

 

I hate, hate, hate this type of reasoning. No offense man, but I hardly believe Ricketts bought his favorite baseball team and decided he would tank his first season all in a scheme to allow a new GM to start fresh in his second year.

 

What's the matter with a little professionalism, or with telling his club that maybe if they start to get healthy they can put together a good run? Does everything have to be Jerry Springer-like? Not everything has to be aired in the press.

[CUBZ99]

Sure we may want to hear that, but it would be appallingly, unthinkably bad business to actually say it....

 

If this season plays out like it seems it will and Ricketts & Co. don't make some hay in the offseason, then we can start drawing conclusions about his ability and intent.

 

Absolutely. One thing sure to make this season even more of a disaster would be some internal war waged in the media.

 

 

Nobody expects him to throw the GM and front office under the bus, yet. It still doesn't make his statement any more accurate. As you point out, if anything Ricketts purchased this mess of a team and was pretty much saddled with the roster as we know it. Maybe his whole plan all along was to let Hendry take the blame for a season no one expected the Cubs to do anything with, and give the new GM a fresh start. Who knows, but to blame this year on injuries is a ridiculous nonetheless.

 

I hate, hate, hate this type of reasoning. No offense man, but I hardly believe Ricketts bought his favorite baseball team and decided he would tank his first season all in a scheme to allow a new GM to start fresh in his second year.

 

What's the matter with a little professionalism, or with telling his club that maybe if they start to get healthy they can put together a good run? Does everything have to be Jerry Springer-like? Not everything has to be aired in the press.

 

His comment was demeaning to the people that are paying for a product he is trying to sell to them. Nothing at all is wrong with wrong with professionalism, and no one said he should have acted Jerry Springer-like. But his comment to the press was ignorant and not factually accurate.

[J.R.]

I won't complain. He's at the park regularly, taking his lumps with the rest of us. He surely knows the truth but isn't ready to hit the front pages with a Boss-style media war.

 

I will be enraged if he goes on vacation without deposing Hendry.

[dew1679666265]

His comment was demeaning to the people that are paying for a product he is trying to sell to them. Nothing at all is wrong with wrong with professionalism, and no one said he should have acted Jerry Springer-like. But his comment to the press was ignorant and not factually accurate.

 

What exactly would you have liked him to say? How do you approach that question with professionalism and still say the talent on the team is lacking?

 

It's a loaded question that the reporter knows he's not going to get an accurate answer to, but has to ask anyway just in the random chance that the owner vents more than he ought to.

Edited June 2, 2011 by dew

[CUBZ99]

I know he can't come out and say this team blows, but he never seems to ever seem frustrated or even care, It'd be nice to have a owner that shows he wants to win, show's some fire and at least acts frustrated and pissed off somewhat on how the teams playing and everything else that's going on with this ball club instead of saying what a great job Kenny and Hendry are doing even though those 2 guys are complete goons. I really hope that attendance dip is burning a hole in the Ricketts pockets. I wanted Mark Cuban to have a chance at getting the team when they were for sale, boy that would've nice. Atleast he shows some passion and wants to win.

 

Sounds like you would've been happier as a Sox fan. Personally, I prefer that my team's executives not act like clowns in order to pander to their idiot fanbase. Good to see where you stand, though.

 

Why because Cub fans are supposed to be happy with losing? How is Ricketts giving an honest answer, acting like a clown to please his fan base? And do you include yourself as part of the "idiot fanbase"?

 

The funny thing is that the quote has already been removed from Chicagosports.com and my guess is that after seeing it that Ricketts realized that he made a mistake.

Edited June 2, 2011 by CUBZ99

[CUBZ99]

His comment was demeaning to the people that are paying for a product he is trying to sell to them. Nothing at all is wrong with wrong with professionalism, and no one said he should have acted Jerry Springer-like. But his comment to the press was ignorant and not factually accurate.

 

What exactly would you have liked him to say? How do you approach that question with professionalism and still say the talent on the team is lacking?

 

It was a loaded question "What is wrong with the team?" He would have been better off giving no answer at all or reciting the same boilerplate language all other losing teams recite. "..the guys are trying hard...we lost some tough ones.....not where we want to be...it's only May...." " Ricketts is a businessman and should have been bright enough to not take the bait.

[WrigleyField 22]

Also, if Ricketts is smart he knows this team wasn't really in a position to win this year. Nothing is wrong in the sense that we had too much salary committed to not good enough players to really put a good roster together. In that sense, we were hoping to be around a .500 team and all those injuries have us below that mark.

 

When you consider the expectations going into the season based on what we had to work with, injuries are the biggest problem.

[javy knows my name]

I'm trying to reconcile you making these posts back to back

 

Why because Cub fans are supposed to be happy with losing? How is Ricketts giving an honest answer, acting like a clown to please his fan base? And do you include yourself as part of the "idiot fanbase"?

 

The funny thing is that the quote has already been removed from Chicagosports.com and my guess is that after seeing it that Ricketts realized that he made a mistake.

 

It was a loaded question "What is wrong with the team?" He would have been better off giving no answer at all or reciting the same boilerplate language all other losing teams recite. "..the guys are trying hard...we lost some tough ones.....not where we want to be...it's only May...." " Ricketts is a businessman and should have been bright enough to not take the bait.

 

Did he take the bait or not? Did he do proper damage control or not? All I can tell is that Ricketts did something gravely wrong in your eyes.

[Dunstons cannon]

He would have been wise to be honest and say that this season has been far less than he had hoped for and that everyone here is to blame. You do not see organizations that win consistently blame injuries for bad seasons. The Cardinals have injuries but there they are at the top of the standings.

 

That is not coincidence, that is called having depth to fall back on via good drafting and good free agent signings. Sure, if you lose players of the magnitude of say a Starlin Castro you'll have some drop off. But we are talking about the Randy Wells and Cashners of the world (Now Garza). The first two are not exactly Cy Young candidates. Wells is a journeyman and Casher is just getting his career off the ground.

 

These guys were not the rocks that were going to carry this team to the playoffs this year. This mess (as most of know) is the creation of Jim Hendry. Now we have all this money to spend in the off season and we have to see Hendry at the controls of where it is spent.

 

I say that Hendry is going to be at the controls because there is very little chance Ricketts launches him before the 2012 season because there is this fantasy (and it is just that, fantasy) that Pujols is coming here and we want "stability in the front office". If that is the case, can Hendry now because Pujols would be an absolute fool to come here given the current climate of the organization.

[dew1679666265]

It was a loaded question "What is wrong with the team?" He would have been better off giving no answer at all or reciting the same boilerplate language all other losing teams recite. "..the guys are trying hard...we lost some tough ones.....not where we want to be...it's only May...." " Ricketts is a businessman and should have been bright enough to not take the bait.

 

If all he does is hem and haw and avoid the question, then a whole group of fans are complaining that he didn't answer the question and he obviously doesn't care about the team if he's not showing more fire than that. If he responds with simply, "no comment" then reporters and fans start rumormongering that he's obviously extremely upset and a complete clearing of the front office is eminent and then he spends the next month answering those questions.

 

I also don't see how your suggestion of what Ricketts should have said makes him any more fiery or placating to the angry fans. His best choice was to answer as positively as he could and that's what he did. The answer was meaningless, as it should have been.

[dew1679666265]

He would have been wise to be honest and say that this season has been far less than he had hoped for and that everyone here is to blame.

 

And then the questions immediately start popping up about how much blame should be pinned on Hendry, how much on Quade and is either of their jobs in jeopardy. That's exactly the answer the reporter wants because it opens Ricketts up to follow up questions trying to bait him into saying he's considering firing Hendry/Quade.

 

There is no "right" answer to the question, you simply spin it as positively as you can and move on. The important thing isn't what Ricketts is saying to the reporter anyway, the important thing is what Ricketts truly believes - and those two things could be completely different.

[SouthSideRyan]

You do not see organizations that win consistently blame injuries for bad seasons.

 

Read that again.