I have friends who support other teams that are constantly telling me they are not impressed with the Ricketts family so far, especially Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, who has the final say on moves being made by the franchise. I, too, have fallen victim to this line of thinking until Jim Hendry was fired.
I have the feeling that my friends see what is happening and it may be fear of future Cubs domination that makes them say these things. They are trying to convince themselves that the Ricketts approach will not work.
This is really the first time in my lifetime that the Cubs have had an actual plan. A plan to win consistently. During Tom Ricketts first press conference as owner of the Cubs he specifically said several times that he wanted to build a foundation and focus on the minor leagues. Most fans only heard that he wanted to fix the bathrooms.
Ricketts has diligently stuck to his word and will break ground on a new spring training facility in Arizona, the designs look awesome, and will break ground soon on a new Dominican Academy soon as well. He has asked that the Boise Hawks(Cubs minor league affiliate) upgrade their stadium or the Cubs will leave. The other minor league stadiums are all up to par as of right now.
It is common knowledge what the Cubs did in the draft last year and in overseas signings. They spent over 20 million dollars on those endeavors. There have been scouts of other teams that wish that they had the authority to draft like the Cubs have this year. The spending of the Cubs helped them draft players in the later rounds that were considered top three round talents by draft analysts.
The Cubs finally have a plan and they have money to spend. Will this combination work or will my friends continue to be unimpressed?
I am betting on the plan to work.