Terrible. Honestly it is like he asked G Dolphin to draft it as a trolling attempt.

Either Ricketts is the dumbest guy on the planet or he believes all Cubs fans are tied for the dumbest people on earth.

Conventional wisdom would say the latter, but I don’t know at this point. Pendulum might be swinging towards the former.

He's like Pace at this point. Just don't say anything.

Would you rather have him overpay for
players who haven't produced in the playoffs for five years?

I gotta find this letter. Sounds like GOLD.

Post it!

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The past week has been extremely hard for everyone, especially our team and our fans. It’s impossible to properly prepare for parting with players who personify what it means to be a Cub. While we believe the decisions we took were right for our organization, they were nonetheless difficult to make.

For nearly a decade, we’ve had the joy of watching Anthony Rizzo, Javy Báez and Kris Bryant set franchise records, win countless awards and become World Series champions and amazing ambassadors for our franchise and city. Their individual and collective contributions to our organization cannot be overstated. They are forever etched in Cubs history and the hearts of our fans.

Keeping our core together as long as we did helped create one of the most successful eras of Cubs baseball. It wasn’t without a price, as we traded several promising prospects from 2016-20 in our quest to win another World Series. Over the past few weeks, it became clear it was time to make decisions focused on our future not our past; however, we do not regret pouring everything we had into keeping this championship window open as long as possible.

As David Ross said, the greatest legacy of Anthony, Javy and Kris is they were part of a team that raised expectations. Cubs fans are no longer content with merely making the playoffs. As we reset our team, please know we share your higher expectations. With five postseason appearances in the last six years, including reaching the NLCS three times and our historic World Series championship, sustainable on-field success is the new standard.

We’re focused on replenishing our farm system and reloading our roster to build our next great Cubs team. The recent addition of several young, high-ceiling players, a highly effective player development system and additional financial resources underpin our position of strength.

Your support is critical to our success, and I want to thank you for your incredible loyalty now and through the years. During a season without fans due to COVID-19, you remained committed to our team, and you helped bring life and magic back to the Friendly Confines this year. You were extremely patient as we worked to build a championship roster and restore Wrigley Field. You believed in our plan to win and trusted us to deliver on our commitment to play championship baseball in the greatest ballpark in America. We did, and I assure you, we will do it again soon.

We understand it might take a little time to process these changes as we integrate new players into our already talented roster. If the past tells us anything, watching a remarkable team come together is extremely exciting and rewarding, especially when everyone is aligned on the goal of winning the World Series. Highly anticipated call-ups. Wrigley Field debuts. Immediate big-league impact. It’s all part of what makes our game so special. We’re grateful for the chance to share in that joy and journey together again.

Sincerely,
Tom Ricketts

_________________

Of course not. I just don't care what he has to say.

Ah, the Corey Patterson Strategy.

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My Maserati does 186.

Wasn't the whole point of the increased revenue streams to be like the Yankees and Red Sox and not the Rays?

I know he can't say "We have huge debt and are going to just make a ton of money the next 4 years while tanking" but it's just funny.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Agreed

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It's nuts that the dodgers payroll is 300 million and the Rays are at 72 million.. I'm pulling for Tampa this fall

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Cub fans shouldn't be turning their noses up at just a playoff appearance. Such a standard will seem impossible in a few years

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I really don't know if they will make a ton of money.

My guess is the debt from real estate purchases/development dwarfs that which cub payroll was causing. That hotel alone has to be bleeding money. I really wish one of the great reporters who loudly parroted the "streams of revenue" argument would do some work on whether that is a Ricketts family holding or a ground lease. Also, the rooftops were purchased for top dollar and were already becoming passe before Covid. They are only allowed to operate about 60 days per year and it appeared less than filled. The network is a disaster.

On the good side, the cub valuation has more than doubled.

Joe Ricketts probably thinks owning the team is good because it keeps the kids he doesn't like away from him in Nebraska

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think the full 26-man roster of the Orioles is less than what Heyward makes.

_________________

The only thing wrong with the letter is that it failed to point it the mis-management of funds by Theo after the 2016 World Series.

I understand why people hate Tom Ricketts, but it gutting this team was overdue.

_________________

From a baseball standpoint, agreed. But dolphin thru all of his trolling isn't wrong. In 2013 and 2014 when the Cubs were losing almost 190 games, the narrative was that once the current rebuild was over the Cubs would be a baseball powerhouse that would spend and do whatever they needed to do to keep winning. Over the last 3-4 years, that has been completely walked back and then some.

_________________

You're not wrong....that was the narrative. That narrative had the assumption that Theo wouldn't have made an absolute mess of the farm. It was a reckless assumption.

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Well, Cubs fans bought it hook line and sinker. I'm sure MANY will do so again.

_________________

They won the World Series.

Nobody cared back then what would happen after. We sold our souls for it. I saw it. I'm good.

Maybe they get it again. Maybe they don't. But, I have a long history of decades of watching them suck. It's not new.

_________________
My Maserati does 186.

Playoff teams in 15-20 sans 19. I listened my whole life as family and friends said they would never win a title. I almost started to believe that in 2003. They gave us the best Cubs run in my lifetime. Yeah, as GD points out Cubs fans are easy lays. But that team has been fun for a decent length of time.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

A letter from Joe Ricketts would have been more entertaining.

Maybe JERRY isn't the only cheap baseball owner in town?

https://sports.yahoo.com/anthony-rizzo- ... 57374.html

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Dear Mr.Rizzo,

Jason Heyward always bad
Kyle Schwarber flash in the pan that should have been traded right after the world series
Addison Russell
Yu Darvish 2018, 2019
Justin Wilson
Brandon Morrow
John Lackey got old and bad
Mike Montgomery got real bad
Pedro Strop was bad
Carl Edwards Jr was bad
Jon Lester 2019, 2020 was bad

_________________

Exactly. One title and nothing else matters.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Pretty much.

Had the experience. Know what it is like now.

Know a whole lot more about bad Cub baseball. It's not really a shock to the system.

_________________
My Maserati does 186.

If the cubs did not win a world series during that time period your argument would have a lot more weight. But we got one. We wanted more but things happen.

In a similar fashion Sox fans have bought into the plan of Hahn. You might get lucky and run off 3 WS titles in the next 5 years or you might get just 1 or you might even get none. Thata how it works.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Actually, I haven't "bought into" Hahn's plan. He wasted six seasons- that's more than ten percent of my life- to get to this point and there are no guarantees that this team will ever win a World Series. That's why what the Cubs are doing- AGAIN- is despicable.

Every team should be making their best effort to win every season. And MLB should be adjusting the rules to try to force that to happen.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

JORR, i definitely agree with your last statement. I would love to see that, but I dont see it happening any time soon.

And I know you say you haven't bought into the plan, but if that were really true you wouldn't be investing time and money into the Sox. So at some level you have bought in.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

If they spend nothing this off-season, criticism is warranted. Otherwise they did the right thing.

I invest my time and money when they suck. I'm gonna do it when they're pretty good.

But that's the problem I have with people who cheer on tanking. None of them actually go to games. They just watch Netflix for five years and come back when the team is good. If you go to games you don't want to watch "tank wins".

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.