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That (and the Latin American "academy" and expansion) is what you can point to if you wonder what the Ricketts' commitments are to this team being better down the line. Again, I really want them to take another huge step and drop the deadweight that is Hendry, but the repeated insistence that they're doing "nothing" or idiots like Rosenbloom and his "fanboy" garbage are just ignorant. I'm not sure if I agree with you. Yes it seems like he is doing more, but in actuality the majority of this stuff was already in place under the tribune. We had already been scouting big in asia in 06,07, and 08. Before Ricketts owned the team. Guys like Dhee Eun Rhee and Hak Ju Lee were tribune(Sam Zell) signings. In Latin America nothing has really changed we still sign mid level guys and refuse to get into bidding wars for the top talents. We may have signed more of those guys last year, im not sure, but we also put up top dollar for guys like larry suarez with the tribune. Also dont forget, the cubs didnt decide to begin building a new latin america complex until multiple articles detailed the deplorable conditions and slave like quarters the kids were being kept in. The fight for a new spring complex has been going on for years and any owner would have been negotiating with Mesa to get a new stadium built as Ho Ho Kam was severely out dated and our contract was up. Plans for the wrigley complex and the triangle building have been in place since I think 05 or 06 when they first hit the papers. I guess my point is he is doing pretty much what the tribune already had planned or were in the process of doing. Sure thats an improvement off of the tribune in the 80's and 90's but its not what most expected a new owner to do. The only decisions that I have seen him make were concerning new revenue sources, increasing ticket prices, soliciting the state for more revenue (with really bad timing), overseeing the choice for a new manager. I think I speak for most when I thought a new owner would bring more to the table. And what exactly did you hope a new owner would bring to the table in a season and a half outside of getting rid of Hendry? And the Tribune was all talk. The Ricketts are actually laying the groundwork for improving this organization across the board. It's all well and good what the Tribune claimed it WANTED to do, but the Ricketts are already actually taking the steps to get these things done. Well its not like the tribune was going to get mesa done before the contract was up. That would just sabotage their leverage. That really was the only thing Ricketts has moved forward on. Like I said the complex in latin america would probably have remained the same if it wasnt for the media pressure at which point they would have been forced to make changes as well. We can all agree he should have fired hendry and hired someone with a clear organizational philosophy. He probably should have fired a lot of our scouts and upper management with him. Some of these guys have been working for the cubs for 20 to 30 years (no joke read it in an article last year) contributing to a losing environment. Hire good experienced coaches in the minors, not just ex-players with some former cubs affiliation. Keep scouting in Asia, but commit even more to Latin America, not just the islands but central and south america, where more and more prospects are coming from. Moreover, I really expected him to be better equipped to handle the economic affairs of the cubs. Any serious fan could have told you that three ticket increases in a row in the midst of a recession and predictably poor play would lead to a dramatic decline in attendance. Or that political leaders would be apprehensive to divert revenue toward a stadium in the midst of a recession.

Free agents + homegrown talent = good team. Not just one or the other. You need to fill in the holes as they come up by the best means possible.

That (and the Latin American "academy" and expansion) is what you can point to if you wonder what the Ricketts' commitments are to this team being better down the line. Again, I really want them to take another huge step and drop the deadweight that is Hendry, but the repeated insistence that they're doing "nothing" or idiots like Rosenbloom and his "fanboy" garbage are just ignorant. I'm not sure if I agree with you. Yes it seems like he is doing more, but in actuality the majority of this stuff was already in place under the tribune. We had already been scouting big in asia in 06,07, and 08. Before Ricketts owned the team. Guys like Dhee Eun Rhee and Hak Ju Lee were tribune(Sam Zell) signings. In Latin America nothing has really changed we still sign mid level guys and refuse to get into bidding wars for the top talents. We may have signed more of those guys last year, im not sure, but we also put up top dollar for guys like larry suarez with the tribune. Also dont forget, the cubs didnt decide to begin building a new latin america complex until multiple articles detailed the deplorable conditions and slave like quarters the kids were being kept in. The fight for a new spring complex has been going on for years and any owner would have been negotiating with Mesa to get a new stadium built as Ho Ho Kam was severely out dated and our contract was up. Plans for the wrigley complex and the triangle building have been in place since I think 05 or 06 when they first hit the papers. I guess my point is he is doing pretty much what the tribune already had planned or were in the process of doing. Sure thats an improvement off of the tribune in the 80's and 90's but its not what most expected a new owner to do. The only decisions that I have seen him make were concerning new revenue sources, increasing ticket prices, soliciting the state for more revenue (with really bad timing), overseeing the choice for a new manager. I think I speak for most when I thought a new owner would bring more to the table.

When they're ready to decrease his value to the team. your right he is an incredible catcher but they have another nice catcher in the wings. If they want him to last then they will move him. Hes only 28 but this will be his second season missing 50 games or more that doesnt bode well for the future. Ideally they move him and he produces more consistent power with less demand on his body. Obviously I would like him at 3rd base or the outfield given the way that the twins are constructed. On the flip side he just got that contract so he probably wont move for at least another year.

The score has nothing to do with it, it was his natural reaction to missing on a hittable pitch. I don't care if it was the 9th and they were up 14, it comes back to this unwritten [expletive], "stop trying when I think you should" If Bautista grounds out to the 2B and doesn't run it out, who's going to be the first piece of [expletive] calling him out on it? Somebody needs to light the White Sox booth on fire. ETA: Do you honestly think the 2 buffoons in their booth were defending Danks based on how they believe baseball players should act? You think if Konerko spiked his bat after Jo-Jo Reyes threw a meatball that they'd be chiding Konerko? No they'd tell Reyes how Luis Tiant used to act when that happened to him. I tell you what partner, Tiant was such a pitbull he was pissed at himself for not striking him out, and I guarantee. He'd strike out Paulie the next 5 times he came up to bat, just because that's the type of competitor he was! just saw this. Danks is just sour that he cant get a win and that Bautista could very well have had 2 dingers off of him that day. At any rate, Bautista is having one of the more impressive seasons that I can remember for a guy who I have no reason to doubt his performance. He has to be getting tested pretty consistently these days. love that OPS, its a thing of beauty. The jays are looking real smart for signing him up last year because he would be making alot more on the open market as a FA this year. Its too bad because he would like nice at the hot corner for us.

our media guys are really turning into a bunch of sensationalist drama queens. Or maybe they always were. Either way it seems much more annoying how they dramatize every little [expletive] thing. Z tells it how it is, and they are all over him. If he didnt say anything all they would have been writing articles saying pretty much the same things pointing out how the team had no leadership.

I wish it would end sullivan's tenure here. is that possible?

My gut says that they take Sonny Gray, who didnt sign for overslot a couple years back. It just seems like a no brainer to pick a polished pitcher who can move quickly given the recent dearth of pitching depth in the organization. Plus that would be a very Hendry like move to get the guy that got away. I really dig Springer's skill set though I think he could be a fantastic compliment to brett jackson

that blows. Whitenack was starting to look like a really interesting prospect. Its strange he only had that one bad start right? Either he was pitching through the pain or it just snuck up on him.

No I meant half of what he paid for it, which is quite the loss. Yes I realize the debt is from the purchase. But when the stadium half full it becomes an issue to pay back what was borrowed

It clearly says in that article that Sam Zells share of csn chicago was worth 180million at the time of sale. Look again. As far as the draft, yes I forgot about the Cuban guys. So ill give you that they have been on par drafting or above the trib. But that still doesn't negate the fact that ricketts isn't the shrewd businessman we all thought he was for the other reasons I listed above. Southside Ryan do you really think he's has done a good job since taking over? It's been one blunder after another and now the debt is rising to the point that the mlb is sending warnings. This is not how I saw this transition going that's for sure

Note from CubColtPacer: I apologize. I went to quote part of this post and write a response and instead I accidentally edited and deleted it. The first paragraph is still quoted in my response below.

I dont get all the sandberg hate, its like Steve Stone all over again. Let alone his playing career, he was by all accounts a pretty decent manager for our system won a couple of manager of the year awards etc. got alot out of the players and taught the fundamentals of the game. I'm not saying he's better than Quade. The cubs probably made the right choice but Hendry pretty much promised him the job only to give it to someone else, so its understandable why he was miffed. Was he the ego maniac or poor manager some are portraying him to be? I say hardly.

Well said. plus pretty much everyone has a no trade clause so if, for some crazy reason, any of these guys wants to stay in chicago we are stuck with them. But yeah, I expect little to no movement.

It doesn't matter if he said it, just as long as he's not stupid enough to believe it. Because only a complete freaking moron would think it's true. So basically you think Ricketts has done everything right the past 18 months? Good to know. The Hayden Simpson pick, retaining Hendry, completely [expletive] up the asking for public money to fix Wrigley, Todd appearing on Undercover Boss and looking like a moron, and now pretending that injuries are the only thing wrong with this awful team is OK with you? -Did Tom Ricketts run the draft? -Any team owner with half a brain will try and get the state to kick in money for a stadium. It happens everywhere, but somehow our guy is the idiot. -Who cares about him going on Undercover Boss? Would it make you feel better if, instead of helping a bunch of hot dog vendors and car valets, he spent those 4 days screaming obscenities at Jim Hendry from a box seat, throwing paper clips at Alfonso Soriano and berating Chad Marshall? It just seems like the way he has gone about things is less than what we all would have expected. Hayden Simpson was a D2 guy drafted in the first round for pure money concerns. The stadium thing just alienated pretty much everyone who pays taxes in this damn state because its already broke and the tax payers are already footing enough of the bill. True most would have made a proposal but that it was so out of line with reality and present revenue concerns it smacked of arrogance and ignorance which is why it had virtually zero backers. The undercover boss stuff just screams un-professionalism. I think I speak for most when we thought that the new ownership group would be an improvement over the tribune or sam zell. I'm not seeing it thus far. I see a goofy guy, who instead of buying a convertible had enough money to buy a baseball team in order to re-live his twenties in wrigleyville. All that would be fine if it just looked like he knew what he was doing. Between the above things and underestimating the park's condition, the team's perpetual marketability, fan reception to annual ticket raises, and the viability of a number of overpaid declining players; they have looked ill-prepared from the start. But I guess thats what happens when you pay roughly twice what the cubs were worth to begin with. Also its Sean Marshall not Chad.

When the team is playing this bad it will bring the meathead out in even the most diplomatic and even keeled NSBB member.

Yeah, I couldnt even watch that. I think what did it for me was the news conference wearing the harry carrey glasses. It really seemed to contribute to that cuddly, carefree, 90 loss portrayal of the cubs. Something only a cubs owner could do. And this is supposed to be the suave business man who made billions of dollars innovating how stocks are traded today. Dude looked like some jag at a carnival.

Ugh. Thats about as bad of a line that a first round pick can possibly put up. I know mono is difficult to get over and what ever else he went through but if thats the case send him back to extended spring training until he is ready.

I think the 1 for his last 22 with men in scoring position is even more telling, and that was two days ago. Anyone is better than aramis in the four hole right now. Anytime men are on base its swing at the first pitch and a sky high pop up to the infield. Its really getting old watching him continue to be so undisciplined at the plate. On a related note according to Mlbtraderumors via John Heyman the cubs have already decided not to pick up Aramis' option for next year which is a no brainer. Whether they sign him to a smaller deal for next year remains to be seen. Unfortunately we are stuck with Aramis until the end of the year anyways because any attempt to trade him makes is 16 million dollar option for next year guaranteed. Plus he has a full no trade clause. In other words, no one in their right mind is trading for him. Plus even if Vitters was tearing the cover off the ball, which hes not, we probably wouldnt see him up until september. And there really arent any viable third base free agents for next year so apparently we will be revisiting the black hole days at third base again. Not good.

who would you have expected? possibly someone who can play centerfield, not another rightfielder. But I guess Koske and Campana will share centerfield duties for a while

if I remember correctly, Hendry has had a thing for Lopez dating back to the Brian Roberts rumors of years past. Either way, he cant be much worse than casey coleman. Glad to see him sent down.

Aramis has lost a bit of power at the plate, that much is clear. But since he has never been a guy who swung at pitches in the right counts or, for that matter, in the strike zone; its all the more damaging. if he plans on being a major leaguer past next year he really needs to develop some discipline at the plate. That way he can key in on those pitches in the zone in hitters counts rather than the first pitch of every at bat.

eh Choi was never the guy we thought he was either. Great trade though.

More likely that Castillo is trade bait. Depending on what you consider a top starter, I don't think that Soto would land us such a creature. More likely a Jake Westbrook type. I disagree, soto has shown that he really cant stay healthy for a whole season for like three years in a row now. If Castillo tears it up soto could definitely be a trade candidate this year or in the offseason.

I'm not a Hendry fan but if all he has given up was two middle relievers thats probably pretty good in the grand scheme of things. If you want to be upset that he gave up too much in a trade be so about Nolasco or the guys in the garza trade that may come back to bite us.