Chicago Cubs: Ownership must be transparent about rebuild
It’s time for the Chicago Cubs to come clean.
The Chicago Cubs must come clean to their fans and be entirely transparent about the extent of their pending “rebuild.” If they don’t, they run the risk of alienating a large portion of their fanbase who may not return to the same extent they otherwise would if the team was honest about their intentions.
For starters, it is clear the Cubs are entering a full-on rebuild. While there may have been a school of thought that the Cubs could attempt to “reload” similar to what the New York Yankees did a few years ago when they dealt Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs, and stayed competitive, the North Siders latest move signals that is not going to be the case.
After sending Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres for a bag of empty peanut shells, it seems clear the team is going to shed many of their high-paid players, leaving many to speculate a Kris Bryant deal is inevitable.
If so, then ownership must be transparent and sell the fans on their vision. You may recall Theo Epstein was very open about his plan to make the Cubs contenders and how long it would take.
The Cubs must do the same here for a few reasons.
First, when fans return to the stands, they will likely be asked to pay even more for their tickets as teams try to recoup their 2020 losses.
It will be a hard sell to the average fan that he or she should pay a premium to help a billionaire recoup losses if they don’t feel the team has a vision they are working toward.
Second, the Ricketts family needs to improve their image and standing with their fan base. They are, at the moment, very unpopular owners. To regain the trust of the fans and prove they are not only interested in maximizing profits (which they may be) they should lay out their plan for when they anticipate beginning to spend more.
dark. Next. Darvish deal not good for Cubs
Fans are very loyal and can be extremely patient when they feel they have hope or something to look forward to. But when your team’s billionaire owner sells off its star players to save moment, without any defined plan, fans will lose patience quickly.