CHICAGO − They jeered Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts for refusing to spend money with the big boys in Los Angeles and New York this winter.
They booed when Cubs president Jed Hoyer declined to say whether they had interest in signing free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman.
They moaned when hearing that the Cubs’ focus the remainder of the winter will be upgrading their bullpen and bench.
It’s life in Chicago at their annual Cubs convention, where thousands congregate and wildly cheer at the sight of everyone from their mascot to minor-league prospects to Sammy Sosa, with hope that they can re-create that magic of 2016 when they ended their 108-year World Series drought.
While Ricketts believes the Cubs – the only large-market team in the NL Central – should be the favorites to win the division, their fans express their disdain for having a current payroll of about $180 million. That ranks just 14th in baseball, and is dwarfed by the the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees.
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“Look, there’s other teams that have more resources than we do,’ Ricketts told USA TODAY Sports at the Cubs Convention. “I can’t change that. I tell our guys not to worry about it, and just do your best.’
Sorry, but these rabid Cubs fans don’t want to hear it. They don’t want excuses. They want to win now. And they want Ricketts to start spending.
“I don’t think fans should spend all their time thinking about which team has more money or how much they’re spending,’ Ricketts said during his radio appearance with 670 The Score at the convention. “It just becomes a big narrative that’s a distraction.’’
Well, that narrative isn’t about to go away, not when you reside in the third-largest market in America, are baseball’s fourth-richest team.
“Obviously, the Dodgers have done a really nice job of making good business decisions, making good player decisions,’’ Ricketts said, “and they built a fortress. That’s tough. But I don’t begrudge them any of that. It’s like the Yankees from 30 years ago or whatever, these things come and go.
“I think our fans somehow think we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have, and we just keep it. It’s not true. We just try to break even every year.’’
Ricketts insists they still have money to spend, whether it’s before spring training, before they get to Japan in March, or the trade deadline in July. Their 2025 payroll budget is $220, according to a high-ranking Cubs executive, keeping them from eclipsing the luxury tax threshold for the second consecutive year .
But, so far, they’ve been largely spectators watching the big-market teams jump into the deep end of the free-agent pool.
The Cubs’ biggest move has been trading for Houston Astros All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker. They signed him to a $16.5 million contract instead of going to arbitration. Still, the price of landing Tucker was parting company with All-Star outfielder Cody Bellinger and his $27.5 million salary, trading him to the Yankees.
“I think Cody is a great player…,’’ Hoyer said, “it just felt like we could kind of re-deploy those resources in a more efficient way to help the team in other ways. So that was really the gist of it. Once we acquired Tucker, it felt like that was the right move.’’
But you didn’t see the Mets dump players to sign Juan Soto to a record 15-year, $765 million contract. The Dodgers didn’t try to clear payroll when they shelled out $182.5 million for free-agent ace Blake Snell, $66 million for Teoscar Hernandez, before landing 23-year-old Japanese sensation Rōki Sasaki.
The Cubs certainly have the financial clout to dominate the National League Central, where they’re worth between $4.2 billion-$5.3 billion, the fourth-most valuable franchise in baseball. Yet, they’ve spent just $48.3 million in free agents this winter, which is less than Soto will make alone this season.
Still, living in the NL Central is one of the greatest luxuries in all of sports. The Cubs’ expenditures this winter are still nearly twice as more as the rest of the division combined. The Milwaukee Brewers, who have dominated the division by reaching the postseason six of the last seven years with four division titles, lost All-Star shortstop Willy Adames in free agency, traded All-Star closer Devin Williams and haven’t dipped into free agency. The Cardinals, the only other team to win the NL Central since 2012, are in the middle of a rebuild and haven’t spent a penny either.
“We should be the favorites (in the NL Central),’’ Ricketts said. ‘We’ve got to get back on the winning track.’’
Yes, they should, but would be anyone be surprised to see the Brewers win the division again? Or surprised that Terry Francona turns the clock back with the Cincinnati Reds? The Cubs should have the financial power to dominate the division year after year, just like the Dodgers are doing now in the NL West.
“Everybody’s goal is to win the World Series,’’ Ricketts said, “but the way you’re going to win the World Series is to make the playoffs as often as possible. If you keep making it to the playoffs, you should have a shot.’’
The last time they Cubs made the playoffs in a full season was in 2018, the final year of their four-year postseason run. It’s not as if the Dodgers and Mets are going to be responsible for keeping them out of the playoffs, not playing in the soft NL Central.
“We’ve got two teams in the National League, obviously from a financial standpoint, are able to do things other teams can’t do,’’ Hoyer said. “I guess that’s the best way to say it. I think that kind of raises the stakes for everyone to a certain extent.
“Listen on the Dodgers, people focus on the size of their payroll and the deferments, and stuff like that, but it’s just a great organization that’s kind of running on all the cylinders. They do well in the draft. They do well internationally. They make smart trades. They do a good job finding value on the margins. And they also can go sign major free agents.
“So, I just think that focusing on the amount of money they spend does a disservice to an organization that’s running at a really high level.’’
Even if the Dodgers continue to out-smart everyone, it would certainly make life easier in Chicago if they at least began writing out nine-figure checks, too. The Cubs never tried to get into the market for Soto. They passed on ace Corbin Burnes, who wound up getting $210 million from the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are not in the market for first baseman Pete Alonso, and unless Bregman’s price-tag dramatically drops, they’re out on him, too.
The Cubs were hoping to make their biggest splash by signing Japanese sensation Sasaki, spending hundreds of hours preparing and recruiting him as one of eight finalists Sasaki considered, only to be left standing when he signed Friday with the Dodgers.
It was the Dodgers’ third signing of a Japanese star in the last 13 months, and after spending $1.025 billion on Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, this one cost the bargain-basement price of only $6.5 million in their international spending fund.
“They have such a high profile in Japan,’’ Ricketts said. “When a player is going to make a decision based on equal economics, it’s going to be tough to compete for a Japanese player against the Dodgers for a long time.’’
Yet, to the Cubs’ credit, instead of bemoaning their fate, or joining the whisper campaign that there was a private deal arranged a year ago, the Cubs believe the process was perfectly legal.
It was just the outcome that was bitterly painful.
“It was a fair process,’’ Cubs GM Carter Hawkins said. “We had a clean shot to say what we wanted to say to Rōki and his representation. He heard everything that we wanted to say. It stinks not to get him, and it stinks for the 29 teams that didn’t get him.
“Kicking and screaming is not going to do us any good. We just got to figure out where we go next.’’
And, somehow, some way, find a way to keep up with the Dodgers and Mets without dipping heavily into that checking account.
“I think for us to complain about it,’’ Hawkins said, “would be silly. I feel pretty good about our ability to compete within those markets. If someone is going to offer more money, then they’re going to offer more money. It’s just something we can’t focus on.’’
Instead, that anxiety will rest with their passionate fanbase, wanting to believe this is the year the Cubs’ postseason drought ends, but if not, guess who’s going to be hearing about it loud and clear at next year’s Cubs convention?
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