RICKETTS PLUNGES INTO CHICAGO’S DREGS WITH THE REINSDORFS AND MCCASKEYS
His intolerable lowball of Alex Bregman — when Boston offered $120 million for three years — confirmed the Cubs owner as another deceptive sort who doesn’t want to win while counting his $4.22 billion
Once, a tug at my conscience prevented me from lumping Tom Ricketts into the depths of Chicago infamy. Once, before placing him with the Reinsdorfs and McCaskeys, I noted he did win the 2016 World Series and purged 108 years of abject failure. But then came an unacceptable week almost a decade later.
He lowballed Alex Bregman. The marquee malfunctioned at Clark and Addison.
Can we lower Ricketts toward the bottom of crappy owners? How does he use Wrigley Field as a faux romantic courtship while going cheapo in the age of the feral Dodgers? He is functioning in America’s No. 3 market, correct? He offered an unworkable, why-bother deal of four years and $115 million to Bregman. The Boston Red Sox, who have won four World Series in recent memory, gave the All-Star third baseman and two-time champion more money — $120 million, for only three years — with opt-outs and deferrals. The Cubs issued a flat no to $40 million in annual salary, though they are about $30 million under their Competitive Balance Tax limit.
It’s another malignment of Ricketts, who is veering backward in financial might when the Dodgers and even Red Sox are using hand grenades and bulldozers. Similar to what I’ve written about the janitors who run the Bears, White Sox and Bulls, Ricketts should not be owning his team with his siblings. They are ripping off fans who enjoy nice days at the park but should realize their bosses are pocketing money, which has become deficient in a National League payroll ruled by Los Angeles and New York.
“Given where we are with our budget right now,” said Jed Hoyer, currently known as the president of baseball operations until he loses the gig in November. “I think we made the best offer we could make. The way I look at this job is I try to make good investments. I thought this was a great investment. So we had a lot of communication, and they were certainly receptive to that.”
It was not a great investment. It was a joke designed to be rejected. Ricketts has hope in prospect Matt Shaw, who makes gambling sites anxious about the Cubs reaching the postseason in an undersized NL Central. “Would I like to play with him? One thousand percent,” said Ryan Pressly, Bregman’s former teammate in Houston. “I would love to play with him.”
“An incredible player,” pitcher Jameson Taillon said.
Rather than exceed $241 million in luxury tax leanings this year — remember, Ricketts bought the Cubs for $845 million and has seen value increase to $4.22 billion — the owner prefers to play the disgusting underdog role in Chicago. It’s the city where Mark Walter made his billions before buying the Dodgers and turning them into an all-time financial brute. Walter is primed to win three World Series in three years before the end of the collective bargaining agreement in late 2026. Ricketts is primed to never contend.
Asked if he thought Bregman was considering the Cubs, Hoyer said “no.” Then why make an offer that would be mocked? If Ricketts wasn’t legitimate, then bow out quickly, as he did when Juan Soto was available. “The Red Sox got a great player. They were aggressive. Kudos to them,” Hoyer said. “We definitely recognized the opportunity. I was really thankful to Tom. … I spent a lot of time talking about the pursuit of him, and they were willing to green-light us pushing our budget. It’s free agency. Ultimately, they got a deal in structure and amount that we couldn’t match. But that’s just the nature of it. I’m thankful that I was able to pursue it. It was a really good opportunity.
“And now we move forward.”
Forward to what? Hopefully finishing above the Milwaukee Brewers, where manager Craig Counsell was raided for a daunting $40 million over five seasons? Imagine if the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a deadly kid pitcher in Paul Skenes, are in the race? Don’t expect bold moves from the Cubs at the trade deadline. “The things we’re going to be doing now are probably going to be smaller things financially,” Hoyer said. “We’ll always look, but I think that right now the big blocks, so to speak, are sort of on this team. We’ll be able to make moves in-season. We’ll be able to be opportunistic as things come up. But my expectation is that the group we have right now is really close to what we’re going to go forward with.”
So last year, the Cubs signed Cody Bellinger to a three-year deal — only to watch him depart this winter for the New York Yankees. Now they’ve allowed Bregman to sign with the divisional rival Red Sox. A Chicago franchise has become a creampuff — again — for bigger operations. How long do fans tolerate Ricketts when his family bought the team 16 years ago? Someday, will he become the new Jerry Reinsdorf?
“We were at our budget last year, and Bellinger was still available,” Hoyer said. “I was really thankful that the (Ricketts) family allowed us to go way over budget last year to sign Belli. It was the same thing. We have a little bit of money for some small in-season things. But this was obviously a significant exception. Certainly, I had no expectation on Feb. 12 that Alex Bregman was going to sign. It’s important to be opportunistic. That was sort of the case I was making. I realize this is a financial stretch above our budget, but I realize this is the moment to do it.”
He didn’t do anything but make an offer tossed in a waste can. Now it’s off to Tokyo, where the Cubs will face the Dodgers in two regular-season openers and likely will return at 0-2. Will they win 87 games and squeeze into the playoffs? If not?
They had a shot at Alex Bregman and chose to be deceptive.
Take that $4.22 billion — fourth in Major League Baseball — and enjoy it, Tom Ricketts. Say hi to Jerry, Michael and George down there.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.