Cafardo says Ricketts maybe ready for overhaul

[Dallas Green]

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/cubs-insider/2011/06/ricketts-maybe-thinking-of-overhaul-a-boston-overhaul.html

[Men in Blue]

I have a feeling Ricketts will go with the man below. He is a scout and had to work with his hands tied in Pittsburgh. And no, I am not suggesting I want Littlefield as the GM.

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070718pdpirates0717a_450.jpg

Edited June 13, 2011 by Men in Blue

[Men in Blue]

"Littlefield's first draft was where he first started his "legacy" when he drafted Bryan Bullington, first overall, while passing on BJ Upton. Although, the truth is Littlefield and his scouting crew wanted Upton but were overruled by ownership due to financial restrictions. Littlefield/Creech combo drafted pretty well the last four years selected first round picks, Neil Walker (04), Andrew McCutchen (05), Brad Lincoln (06), Moskos (07). Their drafts were never really deep though and usually centered around pitching, a huge trend they share with the Cubs' organization. Littlefield's strength is identifying and evaluating college pitchers and that's what Wilken will likely have him do.

[CubmanPi]

Ricketts maybe thinking of overhaul

Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Cafardo says there have been signs Tom Ricketts is thinking about that change.

Cafardo speculates that Ricketts was embarrassed by the Cubs-Red Sox series

Then, within that link, it links to this story, which states the following in the first two pages (tl;dnr the rest):

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts could solve the franchise’s 103-year-old problem — and some modern ones — if he heeds this advice: hire as many Red Sox people as possible to run the organization.

there have been signs that [Ricketts] is thinking about an overhaul

The Red Sox-Cubs series at Fenway Park in May was tough to watch....the Cubs looked uninterested....It had to be embarrassing to Ricketts and the entire Cubs staff, how poorly the players performed in such a historic setting

 

So there are all these quotes saying there are some signs from Ricketts indicating he may be feeling one way or another, but never does anyone discuss what those signs actually are. Instead, they just use it as the basis for this huge hypothetical circle jerk about how being more like Boston can even solve the Cubs' problems, and that it took the Cubs going to historic Boston and playing on that stage for the light to suddenly pop on in Ricketts's head.

 

Blowhard beat writers exist in every city. No exceptions here. Complete non-story. Any NSBB member who has ever tried to construct a hypothetical trade did so with the same amount of information these guys used.

[NOLA]

After buying the team in October 2009, Ricketts wanted to give the executives in place time to prove they were worthy of keeping their jobs. While Ricketts is a very private owner and rarely tips his hand, there have been signs that he is thinking about an overhaul. That could mean that Hendry, team president/CEO Crane Kenney, and manager Mike Quade are on the outs.

 

I have hoped that this all along was Rickett's CEO style. I have to believe that he is in fact not a dumb person, but wanted a bit of time to evaluate what he had in place. I am quite sure that he sees the empty seats.

 

If there is any silver lining in this trainwreck of a season, it may be that this is the year the Cubs started to run like a real organization. There are a few signs that could lead one to believe that a organizational change is happening. In a few months we may actually be excited to see an actual philosophy. Maybe I am drinking the Kool Aid, but I still have some faith in Ricketts.

 

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/cubs-insider/2011/06/ricketts-maybe-thinking-of-overhaul-a-boston-overhaul.html#ixzz1PCS9cxcz

[NOLA]

So there are all these quotes saying there are some signs from Ricketts indicating he may be feeling one way or another, but never does anyone discuss what those signs actually are. Instead, they just use it as the basis for this huge hypothetical circle jerk about how being more like Boston can even solve the Cubs' problems, and that it took the Cubs going to historic Boston and playing on that stage for the light to suddenly pop on in Ricketts's head.

 

Blowhard beat writers exist in every city. No exceptions here. Complete non-story. Any NSBB member who has ever tried to construct a hypothetical trade did so with the same amount of information these guys used.

 

Entirely possible that there's a ton of speculation there, but I don't think that it says that the Sox/Cubs series turned on the light bulb in Rickett's head. We were all embarassed that week as we have been all year. That series is as good an example as any of how pathetic the Cubs are, and he is a Boston writer. That writer might be a hack, but there might be some truth to the article. There has to be something to it one would think.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Why would one think that? It seems entirely made up. If he had sources, he'd list sources, and he didn't.

[Dallas Green]

Dont take the my hope away guys :(

[bhogg]

no time like the present. do it now.

[CubmanPi]

Why would one think that? It seems entirely made up. If he had sources, he'd list sources, and he didn't.

Exactly. His source is his own suspicion that Ricketts was embarrassed, and that the team seemed disinterested when they were in Boston. Then he realized that there are ex-Sox execs out there who know what it takes to turn a cursed team into a winner, and with the Billy Goat and the black cat and Bartman and all, this team is cursed, therefore he knows the winning formula, so here's a 5-page article about it, and everyone should listen, because Boston is so great, and then Boston could get credit for breaking another curse, and Boston is so great, and we have commercials about mom-and-pop sandwich shops that name sandwiches after all the great Sox that play in this great city for this great team. Somebody publish me.

[erik316wttn]

no time like the present. do it now.

 

Exactly. This is a lost season already and the sooner it happens, the better.

[questionmarkgrace]

After buying the team in October 2009, Ricketts wanted to give the executives in place time to prove they were worthy of keeping their jobs. While Ricketts is a very private owner and rarely tips his hand, there have been signs that he is thinking about an overhaul. That could mean that Hendry, team president/CEO Crane Kenney, and manager Mike Quade are on the outs.

 

I have hoped that this all along was Rickett's CEO style. I have to believe that he is in fact not a dumb person, but wanted a bit of time to evaluate what he had in place. I am quite sure that he sees the empty seats.

 

If there is any silver lining in this trainwreck of a season, it may be that this is the year the Cubs started to run like a real organization. There are a few signs that could lead one to believe that a organizational change is happening. In a few months we may actually be excited to see an actual philosophy. Maybe I am drinking the Kool Aid, but I still have some faith in Ricketts.

 

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/cubs-insider/2011/06/ricketts-maybe-thinking-of-overhaul-a-boston-overhaul.html#ixzz1PCS9cxcz

 

I hope this is the case.

[TruffleShuffle]

allard baird??? that guy did a terrible job in kansas city.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

espn.com is piling on. I am starting to believe there will be a major shake up sooner than later.

[KingCubsFan]

allard baird??? that guy did a terrible job in kansas city.

After he was fired, the speculation was that the owner basically controlled the decisionmaking. Still makes it hard to justify the Damon and Beltran trades though.

[jersey cubs fan]

espn.com is piling on. I am starting to believe there will be a major shake up sooner than later.

 

It's easy to just start piling on when the team is losing the vast majority of their games. By definition, every day that goes by is closer to the day Ricketts makes a change. Nobody has provided any meaningful information about what is going to happen. Ricketts has talked several times about trying to emulate the Red Sox. So it's a no brainer for a Boston beat writer to just throw some crap against the wall about Ricketts being inspired by the Boston series to make a move. If/when something happens, he's going to look good.

[Little Slide Rooter]

allard baird??? that guy did a terrible job in kansas city.

After he was fired, the speculation was that the owner basically controlled the decisionmaking. Still makes it hard to justify the Damon and Beltran trades though.

 

Beltran trade made sense. Astros got a few great months out of him, than he signed on with the Mets at a price that the Royals never could have come close to.

 

Part of the reason why its tough to judge a small market GM. Unless you pumping out a bunch of stud prospects as the Royals are doing now, its not east to put a competitve team together. Who knows how a guy like him or Beane would do with significantly more money at their disposal than they have had in the past.

[SouthSideRyan]

allard baird??? that guy did a terrible job in kansas city.

After he was fired, the speculation was that the owner basically controlled the decisionmaking. Still makes it hard to justify the Damon and Beltran trades though.

 

Beltran trade made sense. Astros got a few great months out of him, than he signed on with the Mets at a price that the Royals never could have come close to.

 

Part of the reason why its tough to judge a small market GM. Unless you pumping out a bunch of stud prospects as the Royals are doing now, its not east to put a competitve team together. Who knows how a guy like him or Beane would do with significantly more money at their disposal than they have had in the past.

 

Pretty sure he was talking about the poor returns for Beltran and Damon. The Beltran was especially Hendry-esque IIRC, in that he was determined to get a 3B and a catcher back, limiting what the return could be.

 

The Damon one was I dunno, Dave Littlefield-esque? in that he took back a 36 year old Roberto Hernandez for no apparent reason (Resulting in the trade not even clearing only 1M in salary) and threw in Mark Ellis for good measure.

[KingCubsFan]

allard baird??? that guy did a terrible job in kansas city.

After he was fired, the speculation was that the owner basically controlled the decisionmaking. Still makes it hard to justify the Damon and Beltran trades though.

 

Beltran trade made sense. Astros got a few great months out of him, than he signed on with the Mets at a price that the Royals never could have come close to.

 

Part of the reason why its tough to judge a small market GM. Unless you pumping out a bunch of stud prospects as the Royals are doing now, its not east to put a competitve team together. Who knows how a guy like him or Beane would do with significantly more money at their disposal than they have had in the past.

 

Pretty sure he was talking about the poor returns for Beltran and Damon. The Beltran was especially Hendry-esque IIRC, in that he was determined to get a 3B and a catcher back, limiting what the return could be.

 

The Damon one was I dunno, Dave Littlefield-esque? in that he took back a 36 year old Roberto Hernandez for no apparent reason (Resulting in the trade not even clearing only 1M in salary) and threw in Mark Ellis for good measure.

Here's from a Royals blog:

 

We know that ownership mandated Baird get players ready to contribute in the majors in exchange for Carlos Beltran. He had limited space to maneuver and everyone in baseball knew it. Faced with the directive from ownership, Baird looked at the roster and correctly reasoned that the team needed help at 3B, C, and SP. Let’s not gloss over the fact that Teahen and Buck were legit prospects with very bright futures when Kansas City got their hands on them. I remain steadfast in my opinion that both players were prevented from realizing their potential thanks to the ML coaching staff completely jacking up their swings. Mike Wood gave the Royals about what they could have expected from him.

 

We know that Allard Baird was given a mandate by ownership to get a ML player in return for OF-Jermaine Dye. This mandate came after Allard had worked out a deal for a young OF prospect, who’s name escapes me, but that trade was vetoed by ownership. The end result of course is that Baird had to settle for Neifi Perez.

[Post Count Padder]

Cafardo is usually pretty good, but I feel like this is just his speculating. There are no concrete facts here. Though I would love an overhaul; we're due for one. As respected and well liked by his peers as Hendry is, his decision-making with the payroll we have has been mediocre.

[SouthSideRyan]

Haha, oh man I forgot about Dye for Neifi

[TruffleShuffle]

The Damon one was I dunno, Dave Littlefield-esque? in that he took back a 36 year old Roberto Hernandez for no apparent reason (Resulting in the trade not even clearing only 1M in salary) and threw in Mark Ellis for good measure.

 

speaking of dave littlefield, one of my favorite mlb trades of all time was the one where the pirates acquired matt morris for rajai davis. the pirates were thoroughly out of the playoff race that year and took on like $3m of morris' salary in 2007, then $10m in 2008 (making him the highest-paid pirate in franchise history). he had an ERA around 7 for the pirates and was released 5 games into the 2008 season. littlefield is lucky to have a job in baseball after a trade like that.

[CubmanPi]

espn.com is piling on. I am starting to believe there will be a major shake up sooner than later.

 

It's easy to just start piling on when the team is losing the vast majority of their games. By definition, every day that goes by is closer to the day Ricketts makes a change. Nobody has provided any meaningful information about what is going to happen. Ricketts has talked several times about trying to emulate the Red Sox. So it's a no brainer for a Boston beat writer to just throw some crap against the wall about Ricketts being inspired by the Boston series to make a move. If/when something happens, he's going to look good.

 

Also, ESPN is piling on because it's ESPN and said beat writer(s) works in either Boston or New York. I'd be more surprised if ESPN didn't throw logs on the fire.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Damon one was I dunno, Dave Littlefield-esque? in that he took back a 36 year old Roberto Hernandez for no apparent reason (Resulting in the trade not even clearing only 1M in salary) and threw in Mark Ellis for good measure.

 

speaking of dave littlefield, one of my favorite mlb trades of all time was the one where the pirates acquired matt morris for rajai davis. the pirates were thoroughly out of the playoff race that year and took on like $3m of morris' salary in 2007, then $10m in 2008 (making him the highest-paid pirate in franchise history). he had an ERA around 7 for the pirates and was released 5 games into the 2008 season. littlefield is lucky to have a job in baseball after a trade like that.

 

That thing was so inexplicable before during and after. Never had any idea how or why they justified making the move.

[dew1679666265]

The Damon one was I dunno, Dave Littlefield-esque? in that he took back a 36 year old Roberto Hernandez for no apparent reason (Resulting in the trade not even clearing only 1M in salary) and threw in Mark Ellis for good measure.

 

speaking of dave littlefield, one of my favorite mlb trades of all time was the one where the pirates acquired matt morris for rajai davis. the pirates were thoroughly out of the playoff race that year and took on like $3m of morris' salary in 2007, then $10m in 2008 (making him the highest-paid pirate in franchise history). he had an ERA around 7 for the pirates and was released 5 games into the 2008 season. littlefield is lucky to have a job in baseball after a trade like that.

 

That thing was so inexplicable before during and after. Never had any idea how or why they justified making the move.

 

My guess would be he wanted a veteran "anchor" of the staff or something like that.