Rickett's comments on his team

[Dunstons cannon]

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.

 

And Ricketts could simply say: "I am evaluating everyone and lets leave it that". After that, say: "Thanks, guys", and walk away. He really sounds like an idiot (whether he meant what he said or not) to use the injury card as an excuse for this horrid team.

[Dunstons cannon]

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

 

Read that again.

 

Meaning that top organiztions do not use: "injuries" as an excuse when things go bad. They say everyone has injuries and we have to play better. They consistently win because they have the talent to overcome injuries and do not have to use the injury card.

[SouthSideRyan]

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

 

Read that again.

 

Meaning that top organiztions do not use: "injuries" as an excuse when things go bad. They say everyone has injuries and we have to play better. They consistently win because they have the talent to overcome injuries and do not have to use the injury card.

 

You got all that from Ricketts's quote?

[Dunstons cannon]

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

 

Read that again.

 

Meaning that top organiztions do not use: "injuries" as an excuse when things go bad. They say everyone has injuries and we have to play better. They consistently win because they have the talent to overcome injuries and do not have to use the injury card.

 

You got all that from Ricketts's quote?

 

All of what? He said: "We have injuries and we will be fine". He is blaming this mess on injuries? If Randy Wells and Cash were healthy all year, this team still stinks. To say this team has more holes than swiss cheese would be an understatement. Injuries are preventing the Cubs from winning 75-80 games instead of 65-70.

[dew1679666265]

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.

 

And Ricketts could simply say: "I am evaluating everyone and lets leave it that". After that, say: "Thanks, guys", and walk away. He really sounds like an idiot (whether he meant what he said or not) to use the injury card as an excuse for this horrid team.

 

And speculation only increases that Hendry's days are numbered and then the first question (and an endless amount after that) in Hendry's next press conference is whether he thinks he'll be fired, whether he's talked to Ricketts about his job, etc. Thus making his job more tedious because he has to field even more questions about his job security.

 

I think the earlier comment about expectations was right on. If Ricketts knew this would be a difficult year and that we'd be fighting to stay around .500 most of the year, then he made a 100% accurate statement that the biggest thing wrong with this team is injuries, because without all the injuries all at the same time this team is probably a lot closer to .500 than it is now.

 

By answering the way he did, Ricketts showed faith in the original team that was constructed and didn't open any new cans of worms.

[Dunstons cannon]

because without all the injuries all at the same time this team is probably a lot closer to .500 than it is now.

By answering the way he did, Ricketts showed faith in the original team that was constructed and didn't open any new cans of worms.

 

Well, if Ricketts only goal this year was to be .500 and hope for the best, I would certainly hope he'd keep that part to himself. Talk about a good way to enrage an already testy (although increasingly apathetic) fanbase.

 

But I don't know about that. Part of me feels he really thought this team could make noise, which is a scary thought.

[CUBZ99]

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.

 

 

Gravely? Give me a break, it's baseball. Ricketts made a stupid comment that is all, I think he realized it and asked Chicagosports.com to remove it.

[CUBZ99]

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.

 

He is a big boy. He knew what he was getting into. Any season like this where your team is flat out sucking he should expect to get those questions. The "showing fire" comments are ones that you are trying to interject into the conversation. I could careless if an owner of a team shows fire or not. I'm just saying he sounds like an idiot based on the comments he made. He could have handled it a lot better.

[dew1679666265]

because without all the injuries all at the same time this team is probably a lot closer to .500 than it is now.

By answering the way he did, Ricketts showed faith in the original team that was constructed and didn't open any new cans of worms.

 

Well, if Ricketts only goal this year was to be .500 and hope for the best, I would certainly hope he'd keep that part to himself. Talk about a good way to enrage an already testy (although increasingly apathetic) fanbase.

 

But I don't know about that. Part of me feels he really thought this team could make noise, which is a scary thought.

 

I'm sure his goal was for the team to make the playoffs and win the World Series, but it wouldn't surprise me if Ricketts knew there was little flexibility on the roster and recognized that expecting more than a .500 season or so was being unrealistic. Obviously he couldn't say that to media members, so he glossed over the question and gave as positive an answer as possible.

 

I simply don't see a problem with it.

[Dunstons cannon]

I'm sure his goal was for the team to make the playoffs and win the World Series, but it wouldn't surprise me if Ricketts knew there was little flexibility on the roster and recognized that expecting more than a .500 season or so was being unrealistic. Obviously he couldn't say that to media members, so he glossed over the question and gave as positive an answer as possible.

 

I simply don't see a problem with it.

 

Well, I agree with the part about not telling the media he knew his team sucked and .500 would be great for this bunch. However, IF he knew that going into the season this was a bad team, he HAS to know that Hendry is the architect that put these last THREE teams together.

 

I just wish he would have been more to the point and put people in the organization on notice. The honeymoon is over.

[dew1679666265]

He is a big boy. He knew what he was getting into. Any season like this where your team is flat out sucking he should expect to get those questions.

 

He should expect to get those questions and he's fielding them instead of avoiding the media completely - so I guess he's being a big boy and not shirking his responsibility. However, he shouldn't be giving answers that only serve to increase how often those questions are asked. By brushing off the question, he would have made fans made. By hemming and hawing he would have made other fans mad. By answering the question the way he did, he made other fans mad. By saying the team sucks and he's pissed at Hendry, he would have made Hendry and most people in the organization mad.

 

No matter what answer Ricketts gave, somebody was going to be mad. So he just gave as positive a comment as he could - nothing wrong with that.

 

The "showing fire" comments are ones that you are trying to interject into the conversation. I could careless if an owner of a team shows fire or not.

 

My mistake, I was going off memory. It was somebody else who wanted him to sound angry.

[XZero771679666304]

because without all the injuries all at the same time this team is probably a lot closer to .500 than it is now.

By answering the way he did, Ricketts showed faith in the original team that was constructed and didn't open any new cans of worms.

 

Well, if Ricketts only goal this year was to be .500 and hope for the best, I would certainly hope he'd keep that part to himself. Talk about a good way to enrage an already testy (although increasingly apathetic) fanbase.

 

But I don't know about that. Part of me feels he really thought this team could make noise, which is a scary thought.

 

I'm sure his goal was for the team to make the playoffs and win the World Series, but it wouldn't surprise me if Ricketts knew there was little flexibility on the roster and recognized that expecting more than a .500 season or so was being unrealistic. Obviously he couldn't say that to media members, so he glossed over the question and gave as positive an answer as possible.

 

I simply don't see a problem with it.

 

 

We allw anted to see fur fly when the Ricketts' took over, but anyone with any real sense saw that new ownership really wasn't going to have an opportunity to make a big impact until this offseason. They could have fired Hendry right away, but a new GM would have been hamstrung, and the FA class was weak anyway.

 

This offseason there will be significant money freed and there will be players that fit the team's needs. This offseason will be the real test, not the 15 months preceding it.

[XZero771679666304]

 

I just wish he would have been more to the point and put people in the organization on notice. The honeymoon is over.

 

How do you know he hasn't? Do you think he should or would do it publicly?

[dew1679666265]

Well, I agree with the part about not telling the media he knew his team sucked and .500 would be great for this bunch. However, IF he knew that going into the season this was a bad team, he HAS to know that Hendry is the architect that put these last THREE teams together.

 

He may well. We'll see what he does in the offseason.

 

I just wish he would have been more to the point and put people in the organization on notice. The honeymoon is over.

 

I don't see the benefit to doing that in the media instead of behind the scenes. What good does Ricketts do by threatening a bunch of people's job in the newspaper or online? I'm quite sure everybody in the front office is trying as hard as they can to put together a winning team, they just haven't been doing a very good job of it.

[dew1679666265]

We allw anted to see fur fly when the Ricketts' took over, but anyone with any real sense saw that new ownership really wasn't going to have an opportunity to make a big impact until this offseason. They could have fired Hendry right away, but a new GM would have been hamstrung, and the FA class was weak anyway.

 

This offseason there will be significant money freed and there will be players that fit the team's needs. This offseason will be the real test, not the 15 months preceding it.

 

I agree.

[Dunstons cannon]

 

I just wish he would have been more to the point and put people in the organization on notice. The honeymoon is over.

 

How do you know he hasn't? Do you think he should or would do it publicly?

 

Not by name, but by saying that everyone is being looked at to the media would show a very apathetic fanbase he is not liking what he is seeing. He has to see the fans are staying away and apathy has set in. For him to come out and say injuries (Again, whether he meant that or not) is the cause for this teams suckage, is silly and not what the fans want to hear.

[Dunstons cannon]

I'm quite sure everybody in the front office is trying as hard as they can to put together a winning team, they just haven't been doing a very good job of it.

 

Exactly my point. Most fans know Hendry has failed miserably and to hear Ricketts say: "Well, we are fine, just injured" is only going to infuriate fans who know the truth. That being that this team has gotten progressively worse since the end of 2008. Bad move after bad move. Injuries have nothing to do with it.

[dew1679666265]

Not by name, but by saying that everyone is being looked at to the media would show a very apathetic fanbase he is not liking what he is seeing. He has to see the fans are staying away and apathy has set in. For him to come out and say injuries (Again, whether he meant that or not) is the cause for this teams suckage, is silly and not what the fans want to hear.

 

Would fans become less apathetic if he exchanged one meaningless platitude with another? The fans, by and large, will not be happy with anything Ricketts says at this point - they want to see changes being made.

[dew1679666265]

I'm quite sure everybody in the front office is trying as hard as they can to put together a winning team, they just haven't been doing a very good job of it.

 

Exactly my point. Most fans know Hendry has failed miserably and to hear Ricketts say: "Well, we are fine, just injured" is only going to infuriate fans who know the truth. That being that this team has gotten progressively worse since the end of 2008. Bad move after bad move. Injuries have nothing to do with it.

 

And that should be dealt with behind the scenes and not in the media.

[Dunstons cannon]

Would fans become less apathetic if he exchanged one meaningless platitude with another? The fans, by and large, will not be happy with anything Ricketts says at this point - they want to see changes being made.

 

Exactly. And when they hear the owner say injuries are the cause, they see him saying he thinks this is a good team if it were not for those injuries. They feel as if he is giving Hendry and Quade a pass and there is no need for change, which is baffling and scary.

[XZero771679666304]

Here's the thing: saying or directly implying the team was poorly constructed is not just an attack on Hendry, but the players. You can't just go about publicly casting aspersions without regard. I mean you could, but you're damaging your reputation and being unprofessional. Do you want players to want to play for you? You can get away with being an uncouth tyrant if you're a Steinbrenner, but the rest of the world has to at least try and be diplomatic.

 

Some people just want to see people called out in public, but that's not how you do business. Ideally, Ricketts should have just dodged the question, but the answer he gave was better than calling out his management team in front of the media. We might feel a little vindicated if he did, but we're not entitled to it and it would ultimately be counterproductive if we were.

 

Any "putting so-and-so on notice" should be done behind closed doors. Realistically, people aren't going to start coming out the ballpark because Tom Ricketts implied Jim Hendry's job is in jeopardy. They'll start coming out when change actually happens.

[SouthSideRyan]

THIS TEAM STINKS AND I'M GON FIRE ERRBODY

[Outshined_One]

Guys, guys, guys.

 

I know CubsGM has been really lonely since the new account registrations were disabled and is trying to make up for lost time, but you're giving him too much, too fast. Let him ease back into things.

[ctcf]

I must be seriously missing something in regards to how this is an actual topic worthy of discussion.

[biittner77]

Big starting rotation acquisition (Garza) on the DL

Hottest hitter (Baker) on the DL

#4 starter (Wells) spent a bunch of time on the DL

#5 starter (Cashner) on DL

opening Day CF (Byrd) on the DL

starting catcher (Soto) just returned from the DL

Soriano (actually not too bad so far) on the DL

 

I don't think it's such a stretch to say that injuries have played a big part in the Cubs record so far. Would they be any good with everyone healthy? Probably not but who's to say for sure. Cashner and Wells would have had to have been better than Russell and Coleman. Having 2 awful starters exposes the middle relief which is bad news for any team.