Ricketts next number? Making 101 years go away
Tom Ricketts has spent his life becoming an expert at handling big numbers, whether in the form of multi-million-dollar stocks and bonds trades or $845-million purchases of sports franchises.
But he’s never taken on a number as big as the 101 he inherited the day his family’s purchase of the Cubs closed this week.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
The Ricketts Family
Q&A with new owner Tom Ricketts
That historic championship drought, which reached the century mark with last year’s second straight playoff stinker, makes Ricketts the great hope for North Side baseball as he rescues the franchise from nearly three decades held hostage by the faceless, bureaucratic ownership wasteland of Tribune Co. — but also makes him the most scrutinized sports figure in Chicago during his first few telling steps as the new boss.
What happens when he doesn’t clean out the front office and fire the manager and general manager (something he doesn’t plan to do)— What happens when he doesn’t turbo-charge the payroll enough to make a run at Roy Halladay or some other flavor of the month (something else he doesn’t plan to do)—
What happens if the Cubs aren’t any better in 2010 than they were in 2009 — or 2008 for that matter—
‘‘It kind of goes with the territory to face public heat,’’ said the 44-year-old Ricketts, the team’s ownership point man for the family. ‘‘Hopefully, every informed fan will at least know that we do have a plan in place and we really do have a philosophy that’s going to get this team to the World Series. And hopefully everyone will know that if we don’t get there, no one will be more disappointed than me and my siblings.
‘‘We feel the pain, so we definitely want to be part of the solution.’’
He delivers that last line as well as Bill Clinton ever did, the sincerity apparently coming out of all those afternoons in his 20s — when he lived across the street from Wrigley Field for a year — spent drinking beer in the bleachers and watching countless Cubs fall short.
‘‘My street cred on the fan side should be pretty solid,’’ he says.
But that doesn’t mean he’s going to throw good money after bad money at the Cubs’ misspent century.
And it also doesn’t mean he’s going to be the game’s next George Steinbrenner, interfering with personnel moves and field decisions.
Ricketts, who met with a panel of Sun-Times reporters and columnists recently to discuss the sale and his family’s plans for the team, said he plans to take a hands-off approach and give his baseball operations people room to do their jobs — and be a ‘‘seen, not heard’’ owner publicly.
He said the payroll budget will rise annually, including a ‘‘slightly higher’’ ceiling next season than the 2009 budget of $140 million, but he doesn’t plan for the kind of off-season sprees the Yankees had last winter, when they signed CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett to a combined $424 million over 20 contract years — or even the $300 million off-season the Cubs had after 2006.
‘‘It’s not like they’re not spending money already,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s no magic formula for winning a World Series, but it has to be the goal every single year. You have to be consistent and you have to think long term. The one big signing is fool’s gold. You have to have a team that’s put together thoughtfully, and you have to be thinking more than one year ahead.’’
Ricketts seems to be taking a cue from traditionally successful franchises when he points to the farm system as a key to long-term, sustained success and says he’s optimistic about what appears to be a strong group of prospects nearing the majors since scouting director Tim Wilken took over four years ago — although Ricketts admits he has no outside, objective source for that optimism.
‘‘The way you win the World Series is to consistently make the playoffs and hope that you’re the team that is the hot one when you get to that point,’’ he said. ‘‘The way you consistently make the playoffs is to have the right player-development process, to have the right guys drafting the right talented kids and the right coaches and scouts working together to see them be productive at the major-league level.
‘‘There’s no load up for one season, or there’s never one guy or one contract or one level of spending that’s going to get you there. You just have to be consistent and you have to keep the right people pushing the team forward. And you have to build from the bottom up.’’
For now, Ricketts said he likes GM Jim Hendry and the rest of his front office, is comfortable with Cubs chairman-turned-president Crane Kenney and considers Lou Piniella ‘‘one of the best managers in baseball.’’
But with Piniella’s retirement expected after the 2010 season, Ricketts hinted that he won’t hesitate to make other changes he might deem necessary at that point.
‘‘From our standpoint today, Jim’s our guy,’’ he said of Hendry, who has three years left on his contract. ‘‘He has the opportunity to mold the team for next season. After next season, we’ll take a look and see how it went. But he has 100 percent of our support and we think he’s the right guy. I think he’s had a pretty good track record. This year was disappointing, but in general I think the team’s headed in the right direction.’’
He plans to start learning about his team first-hand as a quiet observer at next week’s organizational meetings in Mesa, Ariz., where he and other execs are also expected to get a sales pitch from that city on a long-term plan for a mega-site for spring training.
If there’s a bottom line to the promises, it might be that in leaving the corporate ownership model, the new owners aren’t beholden to profit-making and -taking for shareholders.
‘‘We’ll probably make a profit in Year 1, but the goal is not necessarily to make a profit every year,’’ Ricketts said. ‘‘The goal is to invest in the franchise. Our goal is to be the best franchise in baseball. To have the best facilities in baseball. And to win the World Series.’’
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2010
• General manager Jim Hendry, the rest of his front office, and manager Lou Piniella all are returning with Ricketts’ ‘‘100 percent support’’ for at least the new owners’ first year.
• The $140 million payroll budget will rise ‘‘slightly.’’ (Note: About $116.3 million is already committed to 10 players.)
• Don’t expect a big-splash free agent signing or blockbuster trade that takes on major salary, beyond a possible dollar-for-dollar deal involving last winter’s bust, Milton Bradley.
• Yes, Bradley will be gone, despite the recent hiring of his old Texas hitting coach, Rudy Jaramillo. But Ricketts isn’t going to allow the team to eat the lion’s share of the $21 million left on the contract.
• Ticket prices will go up again, and despite that precedent Arte Moreno set when he bought the Angels six years ago, beer prices won’t be going down.