Cubs Convention takeaways
Let's break down the family and baseball operation panels



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With the Bears season conveniently out of the way, the only Cubs column you’ll ever need is back to its normal slot on Mondays.
Thanks to Marquee televising a stupefying amount of the Cubs Convention we were able to consume it at our leisure, and I watched too damned much of it. Here are a few (many) observations.
Saturday morning - Ricketts Family Panel
- Cole Wright moderated, and only Laura and Tom Ricketts were there to represent the family. Cole lost his voice bleating repeatedly during the previous night’s opening ceremonies, but that didn’t stop him from power through a scratchy throat to serve up softballs to his bosses’ bosses.
- Laura talked for quite a while about Cubs Charities. Look, I know they do a lot of good work, but nobody in that room came to hear that stuff. Even Tom couldn’t pretend to be interested. Though, at one point he woke up and said he’s proud of how the charity has grown since his dad bought the team for the kids to play with. He said Cubs Charities was a modest effort when Tribune Company owned the team, and when they took over he asked an owner of another team what their charity raised and knew they needed to step it up. “Because we have to be number one at everything.” Yeah, sure, buddy. Though I can see how being number one at having people give you money would be on your list.
- Tom said he never expected that they’d have to do another rebuild, “But a lot of things happened. We couldn’t get extensions done with our players, some trades to add talent while we were ‘going for it’ traded talent away from the minors.” Yeah, like Eloy and Gleyber and then…who? Nobody, that’s who.
- Tom worked in his new favorite talking point about how the last 15 World Series winners had a top 10 farm system before they won. That’s just an ambiguous statement to mean nothing and everything all at once.
- He says they have a “great shot to win the division.” One in five, it seems like. And that “Andy Green and David Ross will have ‘thoughtful lineups’ to compete each day.” It’s funny that he listed the bench coach first, and what the hell is a thoughtful lineup? Is Emily Post on the staff now?
- Laura said she cried when they traded “Rizzo.” It’s a weird Ricketts family thing that they never call him Anthony or Anthony Rizzo, just Rizzo. I think it’s a purposeful thing to make sure the players know they are just “the help.” She also said, “It’s tempting to throw a lot of money around, but that’s not going to get you where you want to go.” It might. Let’s find out.
- Tom said that Jed “hasn’t signed any problematic contracts for us.” Call me back in two years and we’ll see how you feel about Dansby’s deal.
- Tom says he talks to Jed “multiple times per day.” Oof. Why? You know what? File that fact away. Trust me.
- The first fan question was about how the crystal cat box the team is building to be the DraftKings Sportsbook (use code: POINTLESS) doesn’t have any relation to the rest of the architecture of Wrigley Field. The lady wondered why getting federal landmark status was so important to them if they were just going to ruin the look of things two years later with that weird glass shoebox. Tom got pissy and explained that all the money from the sportsbook will go right to the payroll (which is bullshit), and never addressed her actual question, which isn’t why did you build a sportsbook, it’s why does it look like that?
- The next fan question is about why the family is being such dicks about Sammy Sosa. Tom says, “I see both sides of this issue.” But he won’t say what either side are. The whole thing is just so dumb.
- A lady says she’s been a Cubs fan for “at least 75 years” (she needs to up her Prevagen dose) and she complains about all the night games. Her and her equally ancient husband can’t be out until 11 p.m. (you and me both, lady) and she wants more day games so they can go to more. She then says she, “Has a blue heart.” And that sounds serious, I hope she’s seen a doctor. She also says she knows where Tom Ricketts lives, which I enjoyed as a very friendly, kindly, veiled threat.
- Tom gets another Sammy question and he’s clearly peeved and comes as close as he ever has to giving a reason why the family has exiled him. He alludes that the issue is steroids. You know what? Feel free to shun one of the most popular Cubs of all-time from your imaginary high horse, right after you refund fans for all the money they spent on your team because Sammy gave them the only reason to be a fan for several years.
- Cole tries to change the mood in the room by leading Tom to announce Ryne Sandberg is going to get a statue at Gallagher Way. Then they bring the statue up on the stage…no, wait, that was actually Ryne himself.
Tom said he’s excited about how the guys “gelled” last year. Did you know that the last 15 World Series winners all turned to gelatin at some point before they won? They’ve already taken a crucial first step.