According to multiple reports, the sale of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and 25% of Comcast SportsNet was finalized over the weekend between the Tribune Company and the Ricketts family.
Sources indicate that the final hurdles are the approval of Major League Baseball and the bankruptcy court.
After two and a half years, the sale of the Chicago Cubs appears to be nearing the end.
The final sale price appears to be near the original $900 million agreed upon nearly six months ago.
For more, click on this link and go to the CCO Community Blog
Stay tuned...
Thank God!.. It it were Cuban, he probably would have wrote them a check right there!
I just hope these guys plan on actually spending money instead of going with what we have in our system. We're already too deep into a "win now" mode, so we can't change that now. I just get this bad feeling that Chicago is going to get the McCaskey family part deux.
Big difference between McCaskey and
Ricketts...Ricketts is a true fan and has the passion for a winner.
McCaskey inherited GrandDads business...
without the passion.
Yup...the payroll will probably go down
for awhile...but the management will get better...so who's the better Left Fielder
Fox or Fuld at 400K or Soriano at 18 million?...Good management...prudent judgement and money (where needed) is better than money thrown around without
a clue.
We finally will have a head with direction...This is a great day...Boseph
Only $900 mill?
Neil, surely you could have bid on that. That T-Mobile banner itself would have covered the cost.
Gloom and doom, come on people this is a good thing... a very GOOD thing. Zell was a puppet owner, and we have had out ups and downs with the trib. Rumors flying already that he wants to clean out the GM's closet, that would be a bonus right there!. It has been a good weekend... things are starting to look up. They had better just make the right roster moves today to correspond to the returning wounded. and by right I mean NOT JAKE FOX!!!!!!!!
Those are just that: rumors. Hendry should be gone, but chances are he's not, simply because he knows the Ricketts family. Chances are very good he will weasel his way to another season.
Thats the bad thing about rumors... sometimes they sound like the absolute perfect scenario. Usually too good to be true is... especially when it comes to the Cubbies. Oh well. We are good at hoping for things that may never happen aren't we?
Maybe...or maybe he gets an Ed Lynch
deal since his contract runs another 3 years...but he now has a check on his imbalance...someone that can say no.
I'm just glad to finally see this all come to an end. I absolutely LOVE the idea of having a FAN own the team. Hopefully, Tom Ricketts will make some smart decisions as it is now HIS money on the line. Great step today.
Certainly creating some suspense regarding the roster moves today aren't they.
I just want to make a comment about Jake Fox.
I like Jake Fox and I would like him to be a Cub........If we were in the American League where he DH.
He is a DH if I ever saw one.
We need to trade him and get good value for him. I mean good value. He just isn't good enough defensively to play everyday in the National League.
Other than the scouting reports...what have you SEEN to make that assumption. IMHO...Ramirez had Defensive issues for a few years, people chastised him for his D and he seemed to turn out OK.
Nothing has shown me by his play alone that he is bad, terrible awful, or even not good enough, he has been adequate defensively and his bat is stellar!
Ryan Freel has been traded to KC for a PTBNL.
Just a little tidbit to share...
If you go to the White Sox website...and click on "Roster"...go to Scott Podsednick and click on his profile.
Halfway down the page you'll see...
"The Chicago Cubs claimed Scott Podsednick off waivers on Friday."
???????????????
I think they were trying to fool you, I did not see that listed
i saw it. maybe there's a trade brewing.
I know they did that last year...or the year before...I would check the year. They obviously pulled him back...
not a chance...Teams routinely post their veteran players on waivers just to see if there's interest out there. It actually helps out in trade talks in the future when you know who might be interested (it's called 'leverage'). The White Sox do NOT want to trade Podsednik, as he is their table-setter, and has played very well. They DO, however, want to trade Brian Anderson, one of their former top prospects who could never put it together at the MLB level. He was the one they refused to part with in the Javier Vazquez trade with the D'Backs, who ultimately "settled" for Chris Young...bet Kenny Williams wants a do-over on that one...so, it's clear other GM's have missed on trades, but Hendry clearly misses more than most...anyway, sorry I went on a tangent there.
here was something I came across on the blogosphere...thought it was an interesting take:
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Hendry is not a good GM. Instead he has the luxury of one of the game’s biggest payrolls to mask his ineptitude and make up for mistakes.
Kenny Williams runs circles around Hendry with a fraction of the payroll. So too do any number of GMs in the game. Hendy would utterly FAIL if he were in charge of a team with a payroll situation like they have in most places. I’m sick and tired of him living in denial about the deficiencies and downturn of certain player and the continuing lackluster farm system he presides over.
As far as I’m concerned job one for Tom Ricketts should be to fire Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry and Oneri Flieta.
****************************************
this guy seems like my brother or something...it actually sounds like something he'd say (he's a lot like me)...but the thing I have to point out, and give props to him about this post in particular is the assessment in the 2nd paragraph about Williams and other GM's running circles around him, not just in the draft, free agency, and trades, but also with a much smaller payroll than the Cubs have.
Hendry continues to justify his stupidity by saying the circumstances he was under with the uncertain future of the team, blah blah blah, led him to make some undesirable outcomes with his decision-making. Really? So, giving yourself a 4 year extension, doling out multitudes of no-trade clauses, and presiding over an inept scouting department that has yet to produce a steady contributor from the first round of the draft since Kerry Wood in 1995. Keep in mind, Hendry has essentially presided over every daft since then. Mark Prior was decent, but flamed out, Corey Patterson was decent, but flamed out BIG time, and we recently released like 5 of our last 6 first round draft picks earlier this year. LOL...you simply don't have that type of ineptitude in other organizations. They've realized you can't buy your way out of mistakes like Hendry is trying to do (like the Yankees did earlier this decade)...you must grow your own talent.
We've had many good contributions from AAA this year...but how many of those are actual full-timers? Fox might be the only one that's a full-time player at the MLB level.
Hoffpauir, Theriot, and Fontenot will all be 30 next year. Only Theriot has proven he can play everday. (Hoffpauir really hasn't been given a chance, but that's beside the point). Fuld, Blanco, and Scales are merely role players.
So, if you were to look at what our system has produced, it's really just down to Theriot and Soto as regular contributors. That's pretty pathetic. Our OF of Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley is particularly ugly...and to think that Hendry has this OF locked up for the next 2 years when they'll be 35 (though, who knows if Soriano isn't really older than that, as with most Dominicans), 34, and 33 years old respectively. YIKES!!!!
In fact, by the time Lee's deal is up, Hoffpauir will be 31 years old...how much can you really expect of him then? ARAM's bum shoulder? Who knows what happens there...plus, like his last contract, he has an opt out clause yet again that he most surely would use, rather than play for a team that in all likelihood will be going nowhere.
Here's a list of the Cubs 1st rounders since 1995 (Wood):
1995-Kerry Wood (over 10 yrs MLB service), McNichol, Yoder, Adam Everett (didn't know we drafted him...), Villegas (Chris Booker and Justin Speier-55th rd other notables)
1996-Todd Noel, Quincy Carter (better known as QB of the Cowboys at one point), Ames, Gissell, Chad Meyers (Phil Norton, Courtney Duncan, Jason Smith, Kyle Lohse- 29th rd other notables)
1997-Jon Garland-traded in infamous deal for Matt Karchner, Scott Downs, Teut, Randolph, Mauck (Wuertz, Randy Williams, Piersoll, Rupe, and Jeff Duncan others of note)
1998-Corey Patterson, Kelton, Goldbach, Bass, Gomer (Ohman, Hinske, Lunsford others of note)
1999-Ben Christensen, Mallory, Gripp, Smyth, Denninger (John Webb, Zoccillo, and Ray Sadler others of note)
2000-Luis Montanez, Bobby Hill, Krawiec, Nic Jackson, Wellemeyer (Jorgensen, Willis, Leicester, DuBois, Coats, Pignatiello, Szuminiski, and Barnes were others that made MLB appearances)
2001-Mark Prior, Sisco, Theriot, Nolasco, Brendan Harris (Mitre, Soto, Khalil Greene-14th rd, Jeff Larish, and Jesse Chavez were others of note..by far his most successful draft, hitting on his first 5 picks)
2002-Bobby Brownlie, Haggerty, Blasko, Clanton, Dopirak (Petrick, Rich Hill, Greenberg, Hoffpauir, Rocky Cherry, Taylor Teagarden-22nd rd, and Randy Wells were others of note)
2003-Ryan Harvey, Jake Fox, Ritchie, Darin Downs, Sean Marshall (McGehee, Matt Laporta-14th rd, and Tim Lincecum-48th rd were others of note)
2004-(none), Johnson, Reed, Shaver, Adrian Ortiz, Layden, (Atkins, E Patterson, Fuld, Gallagher, Mathes, Blevins, and Micah Owings were notable draftees...in fact, this one might go down as his most recent successful draft...but still with 5 failed top 5 picks...it's abysmal nevertheless)
2005-Mark Pawelek, Veal, Billek, Holliman, Johnston
2006-Tyler Colvin, Samardzija, Lansford, Clevenger, Mulldowney
2007-Josh Vitters, Donaldson, Thomas, Barney, Guyer
2008-Andrew Cashner, Flaherty, Shafer, Carpenter, Cerda
2009-Brett Jackson, LeMahieu, Kirk, Rusin, Darvil (only Jackson and Darvil have signed)
so, all in all, we have only Kerry Wood as a true star that we've drafted and developed in nearly 15 years that Hendry has presided over the draft both in a player development capacity, Assistant GM, and now GM....
If you're not responsible directly for it...you ARE responsible for hiring people responsible, and it's quite clear that Hendry has FAILED miserably in the draft...though he has produced MLB talent, that's for sure---none have been stars, and only Prior, Willis, Soto, and Wood have been All-Stars...3 of which were pitchers....that is PATHETIC
In the whole you are right...I didn't see Angel Guzman's name in there...and Will Ohman turned into Wells.
Guzman was never drafted....he was an international signing, just as Marmol and Zambrano were.
We've done very well for ourselves with scouting pitchers in Latin America, but we've been piss poor at developing any position talent.
Look, the point of my post above was to show how awful Hendry and his staff have been at the draft, and how bad he's also been on the free agent market. Sure, he's taken pieces of our minor leagues like Willis, Mitre, Nolasco, Pinto, Choi, Bobby Hill, Justin Jones, Brendan Harris, Francis Beltran, etc., and he's landed the likes of Clement, Alfon-sucks, Pierre, D Lee, ARAM, and Nomar, but Pierre was a one year rental, Lee was a steal for Choi, but was very inconsistent before that, ARAM was a salary dump move by Pittsburgh, and at the time, was considered to be an enigma, much like Bradley---ARAM was actually a throw-in with the deal, as the Cubs needed Lofton to replace Patterson, who injured his knee. ARAM turned to gold, and I credit Hendry for that, but make no mistake about it...he was a throw-in in that deal, as the Pirates were tired of his act, and poor fielding. Nomar was a similar trade, where Boston was so tired of him, just like Manny last year, that they orchestrated a multi-team deal just to rid themselves of Nomar, and for Justin Jones, Brendan Harris, and Francis Beltran, the Cubs got Nomar, his ego, injuries, and large salary...along with Murton.
But let's analyze it even more: Nolasco, Willis, Mitre, Hill, Harris, and Jones were the only draftees traded. Everyone else was an international signing, which makes his track record even worse.
In fact, post steroids, you will see an even greater emphasis placed on the draft and international signings. (we're lagging behind SIGNIFICANTLY in Latin America, but advanced in Asia....but how long until others catch up in Asia?) So, for the future, we're pretty much screwed. Why do you think the Yankees started hiring back all these former players as instructors at their Tampa facility, and in other player development capacities? They started doing this back in about 2004 or so. At that point, they also stopped trading away significant pieces in their system for aging veterans like they did before.
As some have pointed out very astutely on here in the past, Ricketts has been totally dicked over by Hendry for the future...and Hendry dicked over Cubs fans in future generations by his ill-advised moves the past few offseasons, cash-strapping the team with immovable parts and albatross contracts that the future owner (Ricketts) might actually have to cut costs immediately just to save himself from bankruptcy in the future. The sheer volume of the deal, and complexity of interest rates, escalating costs, a stadium in need of a major overhaul, etc. will warrant cost cutting moves very shortly. So those looking for a quick fix in the free agent market.....it just ain't going to happen unless we can find a sucker to take on Lee, Dempster, Soriano, Fukudome, or Bradley's contracts next year.
Which is again why I posted the draft history.....it's quite clear he does not have this organization headed in the right direction.
I completely understand your point of view and agree that we and Ricketts are
hamstrung into a bad situation...and there will be..." a market correction"....shall we say?
I unlike you...don't view Hendry as the sole villain...is he a shrewd and astute
GM? NO.
But 2 1/2 years drifting with no direction...no "baseball President" or owner with future interest in the organization...and a directive from the suits to make it "look good for now"...
causes me to believe that some of your
disdain should be directed toward Zell
and the Tribune...for the situation....
for exacting top $$$.
I hate Soriano...always have...but he was THE free agent that year...and I believe it was more McDonough than Hendry
that signed him.
2) Many people were after Fukodome...including Kenny Williams...so we can't fault him there...though it didn't pan out.
3)This year...it's like Hendry and Lou both mailed it in.
But beyond that...the scouting, minors,
trades...and long term contracts...Yes
...Hendry failed.... and we will suffer...but I don't see it as a generational thing...maybe 2/3 years...to right the ship...anyhow...it will be an interesting ride.
Kenny Williams and Jim Hendry are equal in the level of suck they possess, but they're sucky in two different ways. Hendry's main strength is that he can obtain any player that is obtainable if he so chooses, and he can obtain them for relatively cheap. On the same note, he cannot draft, and he is completely suckered by other GMs if they want a player from the Cubs.
On the other hand, Kenny Williams has an eye that is second to none when judging talent. Him obtaining Carlos Quentin was a masterpiece and a half, and he typically gets some great prospects in drafts. However, when it comes to trading for great, MLB-Proven talent, he sucks on the buying end, as well as the selling end (case in point: last year or the year before, the Cubs wanted Jermaine Dye and Kenny William's written-in-stone offer for him was Carlos Marmol (and cash from some accounts), which was clearly a no-win for the Cubs; you can also look at how much he had to give up to get Ken Griffey Jr last year).
Too bad Chicago can't just merge their great qualities into one GM for the Cubs and give their sucky qualities as another GM for the Sox.