Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread
January 9th, 2011
Almost a week has passed since Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts spoke out against Jim Hendry's failures with regards to roster improvements. Ricketts has stayed out of the media, and so has Hendry. That is, until now. A little less than fifteen minutes ago, Tom Ricketts and Jim Hendry appeared together in the Marquette Room, at the Hilton and Chicago Towers for a breaking press conference. Ricketts began the conference with a public apology to Hendry concerning Rickett's appearance a six days earlier on Chicago's 1000 WMVP-AM, in which he criticized Hendry's inability to act at the Winter Meetings. This was expected, but what happened next was less like Major League Baseball and more like a backroom meeting at the White House.
Rickett's let Hendry take the floor, "I will be the first to admit that the Winter Meetings were not only a failure for the Chicago Cubs, but for me as well. That being said, I've thought long and hard about what I could do to make this team better, and I spoke to Mr. Ricketts privately last evening." Ricketts added more detail, "Jim came to my office at Wrigley and we talked into the night and early morning for a good five hours about his failures and my statements. We had just about finished our conversation when Dombrowski [Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski] called Jim and brought up, among other things, Alfonso [Alfonso Soriano, Cubs Left Fielder]. We [Hendry and Ricketts] said later we thought he was calling to mock our situation with him. But he mentioned Maggy and Miggy, [Magglio Ordonez announced earlier this week his retirement, and Miguel Cabrera's off-field troubles with police] and how that left potentially two holes in their lineup. We agreed to talk soon about a possible deal with Soriano, and we left it at that." That information would have been satisfying to the media and to fans, until Hendry concluded the story with, "Dombrowski called back a few hours later and said if we ate up half of Soriano's contract, he'd do a deal tonight. I called Ricks [Tom Ricketts] and he agreed, and so we're pleased to announce that Max Scherzer and Ryan Raburn have joined the Chicago Cubs. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Alfonso Soriano for the time he has spent in Chicago and with the Cubs organization. Casey Coleman was also involved in the deal." An eruption of applause and stunned faces defined the gathering people. They traded him? They did the impossible.
Ricketts thanked everyone and let Hendry finish with a final statement, "This is certainly not our last move. We accomplished a lot last night, and we look forward to building a contending team in the near-future." What this means for the Cubs this season is still a mystery, but Max Scherzer looks to be a budding ace, and Ryan Raburn offers much better defense and a higher batting average than Soriano. Stay tuned.
January 9th, 2011
Almost a week has passed since Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts spoke out against Jim Hendry's failures with regards to roster improvements. Ricketts has stayed out of the media, and so has Hendry. That is, until now. A little less than fifteen minutes ago, Tom Ricketts and Jim Hendry appeared together in the Marquette Room, at the Hilton and Chicago Towers for a breaking press conference. Ricketts began the conference with a public apology to Hendry concerning Rickett's appearance a six days earlier on Chicago's 1000 WMVP-AM, in which he criticized Hendry's inability to act at the Winter Meetings. This was expected, but what happened next was less like Major League Baseball and more like a backroom meeting at the White House.
Rickett's let Hendry take the floor, "I will be the first to admit that the Winter Meetings were not only a failure for the Chicago Cubs, but for me as well. That being said, I've thought long and hard about what I could do to make this team better, and I spoke to Mr. Ricketts privately last evening." Ricketts added more detail, "Jim came to my office at Wrigley and we talked into the night and early morning for a good five hours about his failures and my statements. We had just about finished our conversation when Dombrowski [Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski] called Jim and brought up, among other things, Alfonso [Alfonso Soriano, Cubs Left Fielder]. We [Hendry and Ricketts] said later we thought he was calling to mock our situation with him. But he mentioned Maggy and Miggy, [Magglio Ordonez announced earlier this week his retirement, and Miguel Cabrera's off-field troubles with police] and how that left potentially two holes in their lineup. We agreed to talk soon about a possible deal with Soriano, and we left it at that." That information would have been satisfying to the media and to fans, until Hendry concluded the story with, "Dombrowski called back a few hours later and said if we ate up half of Soriano's contract, he'd do a deal tonight. I called Ricks [Tom Ricketts] and he agreed, and so we're pleased to announce that Max Scherzer and Ryan Raburn have joined the Chicago Cubs. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Alfonso Soriano for the time he has spent in Chicago and with the Cubs organization. Casey Coleman was also involved in the deal." An eruption of applause and stunned faces defined the gathering people. They traded him? They did the impossible.
Ricketts thanked everyone and let Hendry finish with a final statement, "This is certainly not our last move. We accomplished a lot last night, and we look forward to building a contending team in the near-future." What this means for the Cubs this season is still a mystery, but Max Scherzer looks to be a budding ace, and Ryan Raburn offers much better defense and a higher batting average than Soriano. Stay tuned.
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