Offseason Rumors

[Hairyducked Idiot]

@TyYoungfelt 1m

...both are as knowledgable as it gets, both, IMO are the best at what they do- really pulling for them to break the story- would be a coo

 

I'm not the best at anything, ever. He means reporters, I'm sure.

[MWV]

‏@sahadevsharma 1m

Passan says Ricketts stance is he won't spend until the Cubs start winning. Which obviously puts way too much pressure on Bryant, Baez, etc

 

Apparently Passan was on ESPN 1000 and this is from his appearance.

 

I presume this topic arose in the context of Passan's recent article slamming ownership, right?

There isn't any new info here, is there?

[Guest]

More full set of quotes from Sharma:

 

Passan talking about his Cubs column on ESPN 1000 right now. He's saying his point wasn't that the Cubs should spend just to spend...

 

Sounds like Passan is saying that when he talks to others around baseball, FO isn't getting the $ they expected to get when they were hired.

 

Passan says that's not solely re a budget for players but also for many of the things we don't see on the field, like research & development

 

Passan said that Cubs will have funds when TV deal comes and with Wrigley reno, but that doesn't matter unless Ricketts changes his stance

 

Passan says Ricketts stance is he won't spend until the Cubs start winning. Which obviously puts way too much pressure on Bryant, Baez, etc

 

As a counterpoint, one would think you could pretty easily point to the Dominican Academy, the spending to penalties in IFA and up to penalties in the draft, the growth in headcount in the FO, the Bloomberg tech they're licensing for video, etc. I honestly have no idea what Passan is talking about if he's not talking about MLB payroll.

[Pushfrog98]

If it's not broken by Friday night, I'll assume it was a false alarm and tell everyone on the assumption that it wasn't really true.

 

Honestly, I thought he was going to break it right after he messaged me or I wouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean for this to turn into some stupid drawn-out thing, but everything with these Cubs does.

I don't have any friends on here or in real life. You can tell me.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Maybe Passan meant that Epstein and Co. didn't want to have to eat into the MLB budget to get those things.

 

I'm still convinced our IFA splurge was paid for by giving away DeJesus for nothing.

[UMFan83]

More full set of quotes from Sharma:

 

Passan talking about his Cubs column on ESPN 1000 right now. He's saying his point wasn't that the Cubs should spend just to spend...

 

Sounds like Passan is saying that when he talks to others around baseball, FO isn't getting the $ they expected to get when they were hired.

 

Passan says that's not solely re a budget for players but also for many of the things we don't see on the field, like research & development

 

Passan said that Cubs will have funds when TV deal comes and with Wrigley reno, but that doesn't matter unless Ricketts changes his stance

 

Passan says Ricketts stance is he won't spend until the Cubs start winning. Which obviously puts way too much pressure on Bryant, Baez, etc

 

As a counterpoint, one would think you could pretty easily point to the Dominican Academy, the spending to penalties in IFA and up to penalties in the draft, the growth in headcount in the FO, the Bloomberg tech they're licensing for video, etc. I honestly have no idea what Passan is talking about if he's not talking about MLB payroll.

 

Well the comment was that they aren't getting the budget they expected. So while the Cubs are spending in those areas, perhaps the FO was led to believe the budget was even higher than what they have?

[Sammys Boombox]

As has been for the last year or so, I am thoroughly confused as to whether or not I should be excited about the future of this franchise.

 

Even though I find the "We won't spend until we're winning" stance hard to believe, I think there is probably a lot of truth to the rest of the claims made by Passan.

[jersey cubs fan]

More full set of quotes from Sharma:

 

Passan talking about his Cubs column on ESPN 1000 right now. He's saying his point wasn't that the Cubs should spend just to spend...

 

Sounds like Passan is saying that when he talks to others around baseball, FO isn't getting the $ they expected to get when they were hired.

 

Passan says that's not solely re a budget for players but also for many of the things we don't see on the field, like research & development

 

Passan said that Cubs will have funds when TV deal comes and with Wrigley reno, but that doesn't matter unless Ricketts changes his stance

 

Passan says Ricketts stance is he won't spend until the Cubs start winning. Which obviously puts way too much pressure on Bryant, Baez, etc

 

As a counterpoint, one would think you could pretty easily point to the Dominican Academy, the spending to penalties in IFA and up to penalties in the draft, the growth in headcount in the FO, the Bloomberg tech they're licensing for video, etc. I honestly have no idea what Passan is talking about if he's not talking about MLB payroll.

 

Well the comment was that they aren't getting the budget they expected. So while the Cubs are spending in those areas, perhaps the FO was led to believe the budget was even higher than what they have?

 

Yeah, it's an overall budget thing.

[nolanwood]

‏@sahadevsharma 1m

Passan says Ricketts stance is he won't spend until the Cubs start winning. Which obviously puts way too much pressure on Bryant, Baez, etc

 

That makes absolutely zero sense. :banghead:

[Guest]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

[mul21]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

 

Yeah, if they're leaking things I would think they're setting themselves up to bolt after the 5 year mark for sure.

[jersey cubs fan]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

 

Yeah, if they're leaking things I would think they're setting themselves up to bolt after the 5 year mark for sure.

 

Not sure why they would need to set themselves up for that. They can just walk away after 5 years.

[MWV]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

 

Yeah, if they're leaking things I would think they're setting themselves up to bolt after the 5 year mark for sure.

 

Not sure why they would need to set themselves up for that. They can just walk away after 5 years.

 

Maybe they're planning to bolt before 5 years.

That would be pretty [expletive] seismic, IMO.

[mul21]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

 

Yeah, if they're leaking things I would think they're setting themselves up to bolt after the 5 year mark for sure.

 

Not sure why they would need to set themselves up for that. They can just walk away after 5 years.

 

A whole bunch of reasons, first and foremost to make it look like it's not their fault if there isn't a bunch of winning going on at that point.

[jersey cubs fan]

If Theo and/or Jed are leaking this stuffto reporters this is about the worst news this offseason and does not bode well for the state of franchise.If its Passan speculating that's a different matter. Did he say he has source?

 

Yeah, if they're leaking things I would think they're setting themselves up to bolt after the 5 year mark for sure.

 

Not sure why they would need to set themselves up for that. They can just walk away after 5 years.

 

A whole bunch of reasons, first and foremost to make it look like it's not their fault if there isn't a bunch of winning going on at that point.

 

Sure, but you leak that now and the story dies before you hit the market.

 

If anything, I would view them leaking the information as an arm twist of Ricketts and/or the business people.

[ctcf]

Yup, officially the dumbest thing ever.

[NewUserName]

I think when ranking teams before last season Yahoo had the Dodgers, Angels and Blue Jays all in the top 5. They are easily impressed by teams that add shiny things, so I am sure what the Cubs are doing is rather frustrating to them. So I really don't care that much if Passon disagrees with our ownership.

[davell]

As much as I bitch about Ricketts, I don't think he is evil and I actually DO think his heart is in the right place, when it comes to the Cubs. I think he may be a little too green in some areas, which may have helped cause a stall in the renovations.(worst case) But it will get worked out at some point in the near future in one way or another. I think that they sorely need a money influx and thought that it would have happened by now. That includes Ricketts AND the FO.

 

Nothing has gone right for Theo since he's gotten here, from the renovations to the changes in the CBA. I think they had planned on going completely apeshit in the draft and with IFA's, then found out they couldn't almost immediately. I think they had planned to be spending quite a bit more by now, but are restricted, for lack of renovation money. Again, that WILL get handled relatively soon.

 

In the end, I can't see Theo/Jed leaving after 5 years, even if things haven't changed much from a monetary standpoint. Because they have built a future lineup that may very well be lethal and should be rounding into form right around that time. Theo knows the kind of legacy he'd have for ending 2 "curses", if we're showing signs of life, even with a sub-100 mill payroll, he'll see it through, for that reason alone.

[Sammys Boombox]

Podcast of Passan's interview is up Waddle and Silvy's website.

 

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=10300042

 

Starts around 56:00 or 57:00 mark.

 

Actual quotes from Passan:

 

"Jed and Theo are trying to work on baseball ops. The question is whether the Ricketts and Crane Kenney are letting them work on baseball ops."

 

He said Ricketts is withholding money from baseball ops budgets, not just MLB roster, but research, etc.

 

"So, there will be money to spend. But, unless Tom Ricketts changes his tone which is that 'we're not going to spend until we win.'"

 

I take this much more as, "We're not going to spend on the baseball ops just to have an ok team. We're going to spend on baseball ops when we plan on competing." However, I question his sources and think it is more like "We're not going to spend on the MLB roster just to have an ok team. We're going to spend on the MLB roster when we plan on competing."

 

Industry sources and people within the organization (not Theo and assuming not Jed) have told Passan they (Theo and Jed) thought they would have more money to spend on baseball ops.

 

I honestly feel like Passan is just stretching facts that we already know and making Ricketts sound like he is cheap.

 

Theo and Jed thought they would have more money by now.

Ricketts is using money to do other things like build academies, improve facilities, etc.

They are not going to spend money on the MLB roster just to win 75 games instead of 70 games.

 

He then goes on to talk about how the Cubs will have tons of TV money coming soon and really talks up the Big Four.

[Guest]

You don't know how many games your team will win before the season starts. The best plan to win the most games is to make the team as good as you can before the season starts.They can talk about middling around but it's just a [expletive] excuse for not trying to win.

[Guest]

i guess i'm ok with two wasted years, but there were wasted years before that. i just can't believe that Ricketts, as a lifelong Cub fan, would have this lack of urgency.

[Clem Fandango]

I think Passan is making idle speculation based on facts that have already been presented and the lack of offseason activity and people are getting into a hissy about it.

[bhogg]

If it's not broken by Friday night, I'll assume it was a false alarm and tell everyone on the assumption that it wasn't really true.

 

Honestly, I thought he was going to break it right after he messaged me or I wouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean for this to turn into some stupid drawn-out thing, but everything with these Cubs does.

I don't have any friends on here or in real life. You can tell me.

 

 

I thought we were friends.

[Guest]

i guess i'm ok with two wasted years, but there were wasted years before that. i just can't believe that Ricketts, as a lifelong Cub fan, would have this lack of urgency.

 

I don't think he really is much of a life long Cub fan.

 

I think he came here for college, liked going to games and drinking, and got an apartment in Wrigleyville.

 

 

Not that I think that matters in much of any way.

[Boris]

He probably secretly loves the Cardinals.