Chicago Cubs: Tom Ricketts ‘feels strongly’ the team can win as built

Chicago Cubs: Problems with Marquee won’t help matters

One thing that could help? A successful roll-out of Marquee Network, which announced Hulu as its first major streaming service partner on Monday. Still, there’s no deal in place with any other streaming services or Comcast, which would leave most of Chicagoland without access to Cubs broadcasts when Cactus League action starts this weekend.

"“I can’t speculate on exactly how much the Marquee network will change the financial picture of the team, and I can’t speculate on where Competitive Balance Taxes are going,” Ricketts said. “(The network) is a good thing for the team. Once it’s fully distributed and fully operational, it will give us more financial resources. But how we put those to use or how much that is, it’s way too early to tell.”"

So, despite the past comments of Crane Kenney, the team’s president of business operations, there’s now a lag on when that faucet of financial capital will be at ownership’s disposal. Even when it is in the hands of Ricketts, there’s no clear answer how it’ll be put to use, either.

That’s hardly encouraging if you’re a fan who’s grown frustrated with two consecutive offseasons of inactivity. Sure, Epstein was able to pull off the midseason acquisition of Castellanos and signed Craig Kimbrel, but even those moves – namely the latter – has consequences for Chicago.