It’s time to give Chicago Cubs' chairman Tom Ricketts some credit

The plan in 2021 for the Chicago Cubs was to hit the reset button. I’m thinking most of us didn’t like it but understood what needed to happen.  The team with its roster had become stagnant. The everyday players were inconsistent while the starting pitching production dropped way off. The farm system hadn’t developed quality Major League-ready players and needed to be rebuilt. Cubs’ owner Tom Ricketts signed off on the plan to start over and deserves credit for what he had accomplished.

Some within the Cubs fandom still hate this reality. Some of them will continue to hate this front office for unloading their favorite players. Forgetting the fact that payroll plays a huge part in an organization’s success. Financially, the Cubs were already near the top of spending and there was no way they could re-sign all of those beloved stars for what the players were wanting.

The plan was to get something back. Rebuild the farm system and look towards the future. It was fun to watch this previous team win but things needed to change. There were no guarantees all those stars would re-sign for the contracts that were being requested. The possibility of those players walking and receiving nothing in return would be unspeakable. 

Nevertheless, some of the Cubs faithful seem unconvinced by that reality. They tend to point towards the improvements around Wrigleyville and Tom Ricketts' other investment interests of purchasing a professional soccer franchise. Believing these other pursuits are too distracting to put together another great postseason run once again. 

This offseason should give every Cubs' fan some hope. Management said they would spend money  – and they did just that. The everyday player/lineup has five new faces. The players Ricketts helped bring in included a former National League MVP, four World Series titles, four All-Star appearances, two Silver Slugger awards, and eight Gold Gloves.

I’m not going to say this team will win the World Series in 2023. However, they have put some very interesting pieces in place to help build towards a better future or even potentially trade a couple away for more prospects – depending on how the season may go. The future has been created by the Trade Deadline Sell-Off frenzy of 2021 and will be greeted by veterans from this year's offseason free-agent signings.

I’ll side with Ricketts who said he would bring a World Series title to the North Side. I’ll continue to support the man who kept his promise and delivered a championship to a franchise that hadn’t won it in over 100 years. I believe talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. Ricketts helped do the seemingly impossible and has already begun writing the next chapter in the long history of this organization.