Baseball Media Roasts Chicago Cubs Ownership
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016, and for the most part, have been content to print money ever since. While the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and the New York Yankees invest heavily in their on-field product, Cubs ownership have turned the franchise into a profit center first, and competitive enterprise second.
People are finally noticing.
While Chicago did sign Dansby Swanson, for their most part, their investments have been in the short-term, or in the moderate pricing tier. Cody Bellinger was in town for two seasons, before being traded to New York. Seiya Suzuki. Shota Imanaga. Jameson Taillon.
The Cubs find themselves in one of baseball's weakest divisions, in a top-3 market, and with a historic ballpark that routinely sells out. Especially with a competitive team. They also entered the offseason with a desperate need for a third baseman. Enter top free agent Alex Bregman, right?
Except Bregman wound up with the Boston Red Sox, who already had Rafael Devers at third base. So what went wrong? The Cubs, as usual, went cheap.
Jul 5, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts on the field before the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Cubs Never Made Competitive Offer To Alex Bregman
Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has yet to speak to the media about his bizarre lack of spending, but several reporters with knowledge of the situation said he and the front office never made a competitive offer to Bregman. Despite him being a perfect fit.
"Nothing about the Cubs’ offer [to Alex Bregman] could’ve given them a legitimate shot at landing a player who would’ve been a perfect fit …. It was as if the Cubs wanted Bregman to play for less money and the privilege of being part of their organization," said ESPN's Buster Olney.
"But it’s hard to see that being appealing enough to convince someone like Bregman, who has played in the postseason in every year of his career and aims to continue that tradition. Despite the fact that the Cubs are playing in baseball’s land of opportunity, the incredibly weak NL Central, they’ve given no indication that winning is actually a priority. Making money seems to be the modus operandi."
And that is the real problem with the modern baseball landscape, not the Dodgers actively trying to win.
READ: Rob Manfred Says Dodgers Spending Complies With MLB Rules, Acknowledges Concerns
It wasn't just Olney. The Athletic's Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney joined "The North Side Territory" podcast and lambasted the team's ownership group.
"How about you give [the front office] the money to act like a big market team? … It’s sad that we have to listen to this. There’s a reason Theo Epstein left," they said. "There’s a reason they weren’t adding after they added Yu Darvish. And suddenly they’re just not this big market team that can go and spend and act like the Chicago Cubs …. The NL Central cannot compete financially with the Chicago Cubs. They can compete in other ways. And now you’re not giving [the team] that full advantage, and you’re handcuffing this front office. And thankfully I feel like I’m seeing some people more and more talk about how this is mostly on ownership. Act like a big market team. Stop with this nonsense. It’s a joke."
Ken Rosenthal on the "Foul Territory" show said that for the Cubs, the answer to "if not now, when?" appears to be "never."
Oof.
The Cubs reportedly made the fourth-highest offer, behind even the Detroit Tigers. So they enter the season with a third base depth chart of Vidal Brujan and Jon Berti. The Chicago Cubs.
This is what happens when teams care about financial flexibility and profit over on-field quality. They have Kyle Tucker for one season, they're built to compete now, and instead they're crying poor over signing good players. Doesn't get much worse.