Blog No. 297. The Chicago Cubs and the Purge of July

Longtime readers of RINOcracy.com may recall that I have sometimes digressed from the world of politics to comment on the fortunes of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. This is one of those days, and readers for whom baseball in general, and the Cubs in particular, hold no interest, are politely excused.

As readers may know, I have some long-standing credentials as a Cubs fan. I am one of the few living fans who can claim to have attended a Cubs game in each of two World Series: my first, a 1945 game against the Detroit Tigers and my second in 2016. when I traveled from California with my daughter, Heather for a game against the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs lost both of those games, but no matter. (I also traveled from Cape Cod in 2003 to be at the ill fated “Bartman Game”–in which a fan appeared to interfere with a fly ball leading to loss of the game and, a day later, loss of that National League Championship Series.)

Last week was a historic milestone in Cubs history. Cubs President, Jed Hoyer, engineered the departure of one third of the Cubs opening day roster. In the process, he dismantled the remains of the wonderful 2016 team that brought the Cubs their first National League pennant since 1945 and their first World Series championship since 1908. Thus, for Cubs fans, 2021 is a very sad milestone indeed. The heart of the 2016 championship team–Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez–left for the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees and New York Mets respectively. They were individuals who had distinguished themselves not only for skills on field but for character, personality and contributions to the community. (Notably, each hit a home run in his first game with his new team. Now that was making a statement.) Also departing were several talented players who had joined the Cubs since 2016, most notably Craig Kimbrel, currently the most effective closer in the major leagues.

The Cubs have claimed that they are “retooling” rather than “rebuilding,” a bit of semantic sophistry worthy of a White House press secretary. Whatever the term, it is clear that the Cubs today and going forward will be a radically different team. Paul Sullivan, the veteran Chicago Tribune sportswriter observed “There’s no room for sentimentality in baseball, as Anthony Rizzo learned on his final day with Chicago Cubs.” Well, perhaps; baseball is indeed a business and a fairly big business at that. But isn’t “sentimentality,” the deep bond that many fans feel with the players, a significant part of what enables teams to sell their product at rather high prices. (According to one analysis the cost of taking a family of four to Wrigley Field in 2020 was $370 including tickets and a modest allowance for refreshments and souvenirs.)

Sullivan suggested that last week’s disposal of outstanding players was not unprecedented, citing among other examples, the Cubs sell-off in 1974 of veterans of a talented 1969 team. But his example is not quite comparable. While the 1969 Cubs team was memorable, they did not win a pennant, let alone a World Series, nor did the Cubs reach post-season play in any year between 1969 and 1974. By contrast, the Cubs have reached the playoffs every year since 2016, and might well have been in contention this year if they had not jettisoned three other key players: Kyle Schwarber (another hero of 2016), Nick Castellanos and Yu Darvish) before the start of the season. Moreover, it may be noted that the 1974 exodus did not improve the Cubs fortunes; it would be ten more years before they would experience a winning season.

In fairness to the Cubs, Bryant, Baez and Rizzo will all become free agents at the end of the season and would have been free to go elsewhere. Thus, by trading them for various “prospects” (generally young minor league players) the Cubs at least got something of value. The measure of that value, however, remains to be seen, and we are left with the question of whether the Cubs should have tried harder (been willing to pay more) to sign the exiting trio to contract extensions before the beginning of the season. That is a complicated question. One may ask what team is in a better position than the Cubs to afford one or all of those players, given the Cubs enviable position in a major market and enjoyment a national fan base. Reportedly, the Cubs are 5th among all teams in revenue ($163 million) but only 15^th in payroll cost for 2021 ($140 million). They are listed by Forbes as the fourth most valuable franchise in baseball.

On the other side of the ledger the players. Bryant ($18.6 million), Rizzo ($16.5 million) and Baez ($11.6 million) are all, no doubt, in for substantial raises. (By way of comparison, baseball’s top earner, Mike Trout, is paid $37 million.) It is not known what offers the Cubs made to each of them, and who is to say what would be “fair”? It is at least possible that one or more of the trio could exercise their free agency to return to the Cubs, but that seems unlikely. As much as one may admire these players’ athletic skills and personal qualities, and regret the disruption of their lives, it is hard to feel too sorry for them. They are going to be just fine.

True, Paul Sullivan may be right, after all, and sentimentality may turn out to be irrelevant. As a legend in another sport, Vince Lombardi, reportedly observed “Winning isn’t the most important thing; it’s the only thing.” Still, much may depend on whether and how quickly the prospects acquired by Cubs President Hoyer, together with the holdovers who remain and some new hires, can become a winning team. Until that happens, Hoyer may be haunted by memories of the Purge of July and by reports of Cubs alumni performing brilliantly in their new venues.

Hoyer himself acknowledged the high expectations he will have to meet:

We have raised the expectations of what people want in this city. Cubs fans don’t expect to make the playoffs every 13 years like they did before. They expect to be in the playoffs, they expect to win. And I’m super proud that we created that, we caused that expectation. And now we have to live up to that expectation, and that’s fantastic.

If Hoyer cannot meet those fans’ expectations, he too may earn a ticket out of town. Of course, Hoyer’s purge may have stemmed largely from financial constraints imposed by the Cubs owner, Thomas S. Ricketts. So what of Ricketts? Owners don’t get fired, but they may experience a significant decline in the value of their investment. Stay tuned.