5 reasons the fire sale was actually serendipitous for the Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs: Tom Ricketts wants a quick re-tool in order to make money

Many have suggested on social media that what has happened to the Cubs this season is somehow Tom Ricketts’ fault and that he’s unwilling to spend money to field a competitive team. While it may be difficult to defend the offseason moves to trade Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini in the name of competitiveness and not cutting salary, nothing else that has happened over the last decade would suggest that the Ricketts don’t want to spend money.

In fact, I’m sure they’re acutely aware of the fact that it takes money to make money, and at this point, it would behoove the team to be good in order to not only sell tickets, but fill the area around Wrigleyville and the rooftop bleachers, thus creating more money for the organization and Ricketts.

When Ricketts has said that Theo Epstein and now Jed Hoyer are responsible for player and contract decisions in almost all cases, I wholeheartedly believe him. Epstein and Hoyer have been unable to figure out how to extend or rework contracts for the core that was traded away, thus putting the club in the bind they found themselves heading into the season. While some extra money and the loosening of COVID restrictions allowed some spending after the earlier jettisoning of Darvish, Caratini, and even Kyle Schwarber, the inevitable happened to the Cubs after a hot start that had the Cubs in first place in the NL Central on June 24.

The old issues that had plagued the Cubs since making three-straight NLCS appearances were insurmountable and the fire sale began. The crazy thing though, was that had that 11-game losing streak never happened, the Cubs would have been buyers at the deadline, putting to bed the notion that the team wasn’t interested in spending money.

To that point, Ricketts doesn’t want to lose money, either on the gate or ancillary products/services in and around the ballpark. You can bet that this fire sale will serve as a kind of rebirth, with Hoyer remaking the club with prospects and some free agents over the next couple seasons. The club will spend money this offseason, because let’s face it: they have to in order to make money. Ricketts will want the product on the field to match the historic landmark and surrounding area that has been built up so nicely on his watch.

Chicago Cubs: Top draft picks can turn into stars of the future

One thing the Cubs did extremely well under Epstein and Hoyer (and even Jim Hendry) over the last decade was turn high draft picks into big league players quickly. Fans can dispute how good Albert Almora, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Ian Happ have been and will become, but they all turned out to be MLB ballplayers and were all in the big leagues helping the Cubs within four years from the day they were drafted.

Heck, Bryant and Happ needed less than two years and Schwarber was hacking in the bigs only a year after being drafted out of Indiana University.

It stinks to be back to top 10 draft pick mode, but if they Cubs hit on a top 10 pick in a quick re-tool, it could be another Bryant, Baez, or Schwarber. Or, it could be another guy like Brennen Davis. I think most fans would take that for a season that wasn’t going anywhere fast, even if we kept all the core stars.

What remains to be seen with the Cubs front office and scouting department is if they could possibly take a top 10 pick and go with an impact pitcher who would end up helping the team for the better park of a decade. Chances are with that kind of pick a college bat would be taken, but who knows what the 2022 draft might feature by the time the Cubs pick.

Chicago Cubs: More free time to watch Da Bears?

Let’s be real – with the Cubs struggling to hit, pitch or produce a lot of excitement, fans don’t have to be glued to the tube. There’s no need to live and die with every pitch, because most fans have already died a slow (or very quick firesale) death this season. It’s not to say that there won’t be fans in the stands at Wrigley or tuning in at home, but it’s already been painfully obvious for ownership that fans have better things to do than show up and tune in for a subpar product.

After yesterday’s preseason game and Justin Fields’ performance, a lot of Cubs fans may be trading in their round white orb for an oblong brown pigskin a little bit earlier than usual. The excitement of a new and possibly great quarterback sure doesn’t hurt, but a healthy defense could mean an intriguing Bears’ season and a reason to stop caring about baseball until hot stove time in the winter.

In addition to the Bears, people have found other things to do with their time and money due to the pandemic, and without a big pull or star draw at Wrigley, some fans may just elect to do something else, get outside, or even (gasp) become Southside fans for the rest of the summer and fall.

Chicago Cubs: What could some of these prospects become?

Greg Deichmann, Daniel Palencia, Caleb Killian, Alexander Canario, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alexander Vizcaino, Kevin Alcantara, Nick Madrigal, Cody Heuer, Bailey Horn, Anderson Espinoza. You can throw in Bryce Ball, Reginald Preciado, Owen Caissie, and others from the Pederson and Darvish trades as well.

That’s a lot of guys to pay attention and a lot of prospect power to sift through. For those fans who are into development and watching all of the Cub prospects come up through the pipeline, it has been an exciting couple weeks and will continue to be neat to watch what some of these guys become.

If just one or two become solid big league contributors, there will be a lot of happy people. Heck, by many accounts, Madrigal, Crow-Armstrong, Canario, and Preciado might even prove to be more than just contributors.

Supplementing a less than spectacular Cubs’ pipeline, the fire sale served to give the Cubs more chances to add quality players to the big league roster in the not-so-distant future. Watching some of them grow and progress now that they’re “ours” is going to be exciting in its own right and endear several of these new guys to the fanbase in the same way it happened for the original core that was just traded away.

The old Cubs don’t look all that hot right now anyhow…

I’m not saying that history is going to look favorably or kindly on the Cubs trading away its best and most endearing players this generation has seen. What I am saying is that as of August 15th, the Cubs have won the trade deadline based on the performance of their old guys with their new teams.

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• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis
• Cubs might start to limit Justin Steele’s workload soon

Anthony Rizzo isn’t even playing right now because he’s on the COVID list (although he was hot in his first few games with the Yankees), Baez is now on the IL after having dealt with numerous little maladies this season with the Cubs, and Craig Kimbrel is giving up runs and blowing saves in the eighth inning for goodness sakes!

Granted, Andrew Chafin and Kris Bryant have been themselves with their new teams, but so far the Cubs looked like they traded most of the guys at just the right time, especially given the struggles of Zach Davies, Kyle Hendricks, Adbert Alzolay, Ian Happ, and Willson Contreras since. They even said that Frank Schwindel had a higher WAR than all the traded players since the deadline the other night on the Marquee broadcast!

Perhaps there’s a chance Rizzo, Bryant, or Baez find their way back to the North Side in the offseason, but let’s face it – if they weren’t going to be re-signed (and they hadn’t by the deadline), trading them away for prospects was definitely the right decision, and it’s looking doubly that way now.

So, Cub fans – take heart – hopefully the CBA gets worked out, Hoyer works some magic, and the Cubs are contenders again soon. If not, there’s always Fields and the Bears…