Rickett's comments on his team

[scarey]

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.

 

So Ricketts owns Chicagosports.com? Or he sent his goons to the editor?

 

Seriously. Take a step back and think about it. What difference would it really make either way? Is it really worth getting this upset about a throw away comment? They are mid season, there's no reason for the owner to get over dramatic about the team so a portion of the fan base will feel better that he's "angry". He has a lot more to lose than to gain by doing that.

[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.

 

So Ricketts owns Chicagosports.com? Or he sent his goons to the editor?

 

Seriously. Take a step back and think about it. What difference would it really make either way? Is it really worth getting this upset about a throw away comment? They are mid season, there's no reason for the owner to get over dramatic about the team so a portion of the fan base will feel better that he's "angry". He has a lot more to lose than to gain by doing that.

 

Since when did criticism become synonymous with upset? You appear to be taking the criticism of Ricketts personal.

[jersey cubs fan]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

[SouthSideRyan]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We went over this before. Soriano and Johnson are the only ones that should be "expected" (I guess Garza as well due to the rain delay)

[Tarver]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We don't know if he truly believes it. Let's see what happens after the draft.

[jersey cubs fan]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We went over this before. Soriano and Johnson are the only ones that should be "expected" (I guess Garza as well due to the rain delay)

 

That's simply not true. Cashner is a reliever who was yoyoed last year and then shoved into a starting role he was clearly not ready for. He was a 4+ inning pitcher for the most part in the minors and the last time he pitched when it counted he was a reliever. You can't treat a young arm with such limited use that way and expect it to go swimmingly. Wells was converted to pitcher and got stretched out in a hurry from a 100-120 inning pitcher to a nearly 200 inning pitcher. That's rough on an arm. Soto has been hurt every year. He's an unathletic catcher, that's going to be lead to DL stints. And then there was the reckless use of Garza.

 

Byrd was the only weird one.

[jersey cubs fan]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We don't know if he truly believes it. Let's see what happens after the draft.

 

We know he truly believed that Hendry was the right man for the job this year, long after it was pretty clear he was not. We know he's allowed every nonsensical excuse in the book to justify keeping the status quo on a failing organization. I wouldn't be surprised if he was dumb enough to think the only thing wrong with this team was injuries.

[NOLA]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We don't know if he truly believes it. Let's see what happens after the draft.

 

We know he truly believed that Hendry was the right man for the job this year, long after it was pretty clear he was not. We know he's allowed every nonsensical excuse in the book to justify keeping the status quo on a failing organization. I wouldn't be surprised if he was dumb enough to think the only thing wrong with this team was injuries.

 

Two different arguments going on here. One being his response to a loaded question in early June, the other being how he handles Quade, Hendry and the future of the franchise.

 

As to the first, he handled it fine in basically brushing off the question. No good in throwing the media a bone to run with.

As to the second, let's wait and see. I will be as angry as anyone if nothing is changed in the offseason.

[SouthSideRyan]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We went over this before. Soriano and Johnson are the only ones that should be "expected" (I guess Garza as well due to the rain delay)

 

That's simply not true. Cashner is a reliever who was yoyoed last year and then shoved into a starting role he was clearly not ready for. He was a 4+ inning pitcher for the most part in the minors and the last time he pitched when it counted he was a reliever. You can't treat a young arm with such limited use that way and expect it to go swimmingly. Wells was converted to pitcher and got stretched out in a hurry from a 100-120 inning pitcher to a nearly 200 inning pitcher. That's rough on an arm. Soto has been hurt every year. He's an unathletic catcher, that's going to be lead to DL stints. And then there was the reckless use of Garza.

 

Byrd was the only weird one.

 

Cashner was hurt after 5 innings. If he was hurt after 150, you'd have a point.

 

On Wells I told you this last time. He went to 190 in '09, no issues. 195 in '10, no issues. Additionally as you mentioned prior, he's a converted catcher, meaning he had less miles on his arm than the average guy his age.

 

Soto was never on the DL in '08. He hit it for 1 15 dayish trip each in '09(when he was fatty fat fat) and '10. Hardly a pattern.

[jersey cubs fan]

Cashner was hurt after 5 innings. If he was hurt after 150, you'd have a point.

 

On Wells I told you this last time. He went to 190 in '09, no issues. 195 in '10, no issues. Additionally as you mentioned prior, he's a converted catcher, meaning he had less miles on his arm than the average guy his age.

 

Soto was never on the DL in '08. He hit it for 1 15 dayish trip each in '09(when he was fatty fat fat) and '10. Hardly a pattern.

 

Cashner was hurt after being a college reliever pushed into a starting role where he was basically a 4 inning pitcher, then pushed back into a relief role and suddenly back into a starting role. It's lunacy to pretend this wasn't dangerous. Going 190 no issues doesn't mean you have established yourself as a guy who can't get hurt. He went from 100-120 to 190, then got hurt. His lack of wear and tear on his arm is a double edge sword. He wasn't already broken down, but neither was he built up.

 

An unathletic catcher with multiple DL trips is a really strong bet to have more DL stints.

[SouthSideRyan]

Again, you keep acting like Wells went from 100 innings in '09 to 190 in '10, it's not the case.

[jersey cubs fan]

The bottom line is pitchers get hurt and they purposefully depleted their depth before the season despite having one highly questionable arm, a vet with TJS in his past, a vet with multple injuries in his past, a relatively unestablished arm and to top it all off they recklessly utilized their most stable veteran after they already suffered injuries.

 

You don't get to blame injuries when you don't plan for them and play with fire as they are happening.

[CubColtPacer]

It doesn't matter if he says it, what matters is if he's dumb enough to believe it. There was a lot wrong with this team before anybody got hurt, and aside from Byrd's freak injury there isn't a single odd thing about any of the rest of the injuries.

 

We went over this before. Soriano and Johnson are the only ones that should be "expected" (I guess Garza as well due to the rain delay)

 

That's simply not true. Cashner is a reliever who was yoyoed last year and then shoved into a starting role he was clearly not ready for. He was a 4+ inning pitcher for the most part in the minors and the last time he pitched when it counted he was a reliever. You can't treat a young arm with such limited use that way and expect it to go swimmingly. Wells was converted to pitcher and got stretched out in a hurry from a 100-120 inning pitcher to a nearly 200 inning pitcher. That's rough on an arm. Soto has been hurt every year. He's an unathletic catcher, that's going to be lead to DL stints. And then there was the reckless use of Garza.

 

Byrd was the only weird one.

 

Cashner might be expected to miss some time. But not 97% of the season so far.

 

Wells I don't buy that he's much more of an injury risk than any other pitcher. If he was going to have a problem with throwing 200 innings it should have shown up last year not suddenly at the beginning of the season. But even if he's an injury risk, he should miss less than 80% of the season.

 

Soto's had slightly more injury days then he should so far, but nothing too far out of the ordinary.

 

Baker and Johnson should probably both have DL stints in the course of a season, but they probably shouldn't both have had them already.

 

The problem isn't that these guys weren't expected to miss any time. The problem is that they have all missed so much time already. If everybody gets healthy and the team is mostly healthy all the rest of the way, the injuries won't have been much of a problem. If the injuries occur with the frequency in the last 2/3 of the season then they have the 1/3, then players will have missed a ton more games than expected.

[SouthSideRyan]

And you're continuing to act like Wells converted from catcher like last year. This is his 7th professional season as a pitcher. He's had plenty of build-up in his arm to handle a full season.

[jersey cubs fan]

Again, you keep acting like Wells went from 100 innings in '09 to 190 in '10, it's not the case.

 

You keep acting like he didn't jump from 120 to 190 in one year and didn't have to be treated with kid gloves late last season.

[CubColtPacer]

Cashner was hurt after 5 innings. If he was hurt after 150, you'd have a point.

 

On Wells I told you this last time. He went to 190 in '09, no issues. 195 in '10, no issues. Additionally as you mentioned prior, he's a converted catcher, meaning he had less miles on his arm than the average guy his age.

 

Soto was never on the DL in '08. He hit it for 1 15 dayish trip each in '09(when he was fatty fat fat) and '10. Hardly a pattern.

 

Cashner was hurt after being a college reliever pushed into a starting role where he was basically a 4 inning pitcher, then pushed back into a relief role and suddenly back into a starting role. It's lunacy to pretend this wasn't dangerous. Going 190 no issues doesn't mean you have established yourself as a guy who can't get hurt. He went from 100-120 to 190, then got hurt. His lack of wear and tear on his arm is a double edge sword. He wasn't already broken down, but neither was he built up.

 

An unathletic catcher with multiple DL trips is a really strong bet to have more DL stints.

 

Pitchers do what Cashner did all the time. Probably the only slightly different thing in Cashner's case is that he was a college reliever for 1 year almost 4 years ago. And that should have no bearing on his arm state now. And by the way, he was hardly a 4 inning pitcher last year.

 

And if Wells isn't built up by now, how many 200 inning seasons did he have to have before he wasn't considered an injury risk anymore?

[jersey cubs fan]

And you're continuing to act like Wells converted from catcher like last year. This is his 7th professional season as a pitcher. He's had plenty of build-up in his arm to handle a full season.

 

He went from 95 (mostly as a reliever), to 123 to 193. Are you really going to be so ridiculous as to pretend there were no warning signs with Randy Wells? A 70 inning jump in one season is huge. The facd he didn't get hurt the next day does not mean he was scott-free.

[jersey cubs fan]

Pitchers do what Cashner did all the time. Probably the only slightly different thing in Cashner's case is that he was a college reliever for 1 year almost 4 years ago. And that should have no bearing on his arm state now. And by the way, he was hardly a 4 inning pitcher last year.

 

And if Wells isn't built up by now, how many 200 inning seasons did he have to have before he wasn't considered an injury risk anymore?

 

You are a such a liar it is ridiculous. Pitchers do not do what Cashner did all the time. Last year he was a reliever. It doesn't matter that he went a little deeper in starts in April and May. He was a reliever for four months pitching nearly every other day for 1 inning at a time. You don't just maintain your starting capacity for workload when you actually perform as a reliever, especially when you had such a limited capacity for workload as a starter in the first place.

 

Wells needed to gradually build up to 200 innings if they wanted to be cautious about future healthy. He went from 120 to 190 and then just had one more 190. Your statement suggests he has a slew of 190 seasons coming in. He did not. He made a huge jump. And now he's paying the price.

[bukie]

Pitchers do what Cashner did all the time. Probably the only slightly different thing in Cashner's case is that he was a college reliever for 1 year almost 4 years ago. And that should have no bearing on his arm state now. And by the way, he was hardly a 4 inning pitcher last year.

 

And if Wells isn't built up by now, how many 200 inning seasons did he have to have before he wasn't considered an injury risk anymore?

 

You are a such a liar it is ridiculous. Pitchers do not do what Cashner did all the time. Last year he was a reliever. It doesn't matter that he went a little deeper in starts in April and May. He was a reliever for four months pitching nearly every other day for 1 inning at a time. You don't just maintain your starting capacity for workload when you actually perform as a reliever, especially when you had such a limited capacity for workload as a starter in the first place.

 

Wells needed to gradually build up to 200 innings if they wanted to be cautious about future healthy. He went from 120 to 190 and then just had one more 190. Your statement suggests he has a slew of 190 seasons coming in. He did not. He made a huge jump. And now he's paying the price.

Your argument is so ludicrous it's insulting. Relievers are converted to starters all the time. Pitchers going from the minors to the majors have a jump in innings all the time.

 

Your argument essentially boils down to this: Every pitcher is an injury risk. The Cubs employ pitchers, therefore they should've expected 2/3 of them to go down in the first month of the season. Serves them right for employing pitchers.

[CubColtPacer]

Pitchers do what Cashner did all the time. Probably the only slightly different thing in Cashner's case is that he was a college reliever for 1 year almost 4 years ago. And that should have no bearing on his arm state now. And by the way, he was hardly a 4 inning pitcher last year.

 

And if Wells isn't built up by now, how many 200 inning seasons did he have to have before he wasn't considered an injury risk anymore?

 

You are a such a liar it is ridiculous. Pitchers do not do what Cashner did all the time. Last year he was a reliever. It doesn't matter that he went a little deeper in starts in April and May. He was a reliever for four months pitching nearly every other day for 1 inning at a time. You don't just maintain your starting capacity for workload when you actually perform as a reliever, especially when you had such a limited capacity for workload as a starter in the first place.

 

Wells needed to gradually build up to 200 innings if they wanted to be cautious about future healthy. He went from 120 to 190 and then just had one more 190. Your statement suggests he has a slew of 190 seasons coming in. He did not. He made a huge jump. And now he's paying the price.

 

Pitchers don't win a starting job in spring training after being a reliever the previous year? It happens every year around baseball. Cashner was told he was a starting option and had all winter to build up. He was used as a starter all of spring training. He's been starting the majority of his life (he had only been a reliever for 1 1/2 years of his entire career). This was not an unusual situation whatsoever.

 

In Wells case, once the second 200 inning season goes under his belt the injury risk becomes a lot less. And a guy with Wells type of stuff should be much less of an injury risk anyway because he shouldn't put as much stress on his arm as a Marmol/Zambrano/Wood does.

[Backtobanks]

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.

 

I totally agree. Everybody knew this was going to be a difficult year and the Cubs would be a borderline .500 team. Any optimism was based on everything going right for the Cubs and going wrong for the Reds and Cards. The team has totally sucked, but all of the injuries has to be considered as the main reason this team hasn't played somewhere near expected (borderline .500, not contenders). With minor leaguers and bench players filling up 40% - 50% of the starting lineup and rotation on a daily basis, it's not surprising that they're getting their rear ends kicked daily.

[SouthSideRyan]

How exactly was Wells treated with kid gloves late last season?

[Tarver]

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.

 

I totally agree. Everybody knew this was going to be a difficult year and the Cubs would be a borderline .500 team. Any optimism was based on everything going right for the Cubs and going wrong for the Reds and Cards. The team has totally sucked, but all of the injuries has to be considered as the main reason this team hasn't played somewhere near expected (borderline .500, not contenders). With minor leaguers and bench players filling up 40% - 50% of the starting lineup and rotation on a daily basis, it's not surprising that they're getting their rear ends kicked daily.

 

Isn't that kind of a pointless distinction? Either way the Cub's weren't going to contend, which is unacceptable.

[JeffH]

This is a really dumb argument. And irrelevant.

 

How Hendry did or did not plan for or react to injuries is essentially meaningless.

 

It is dwarfed by the staggering lack of talent on a $130 million payroll baseball team and the woeful farm system.

[CubColtPacer]

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.

 

I totally agree. Everybody knew this was going to be a difficult year and the Cubs would be a borderline .500 team. Any optimism was based on everything going right for the Cubs and going wrong for the Reds and Cards. The team has totally sucked, but all of the injuries has to be considered as the main reason this team hasn't played somewhere near expected (borderline .500, not contenders). With minor leaguers and bench players filling up 40% - 50% of the starting lineup and rotation on a daily basis, it's not surprising that they're getting their rear ends kicked daily.

 

Isn't that kind of a pointless distinction? Either way the Cub's weren't going to contend, which is unacceptable.

 

It makes a big difference in the philosophy for 2012. If the Cubs are an 80-85 win team that has been hurt by injuries, then they can sign an elite talent or two and get into contention. If they are a 70 win team, then they should probably pack it in and start preparing for 2013 or 2014.