Artie Johnsoning...
Mike Downey with his first interesting column in years:
A couple of months ago, MacPhail and I went to lunch. It was
strictly social, off the record, although he never insisted it be
so.
I remember asking how it worked when the Cubs wanted to make a
costly acquisition or a major trade. Was the team president
empowered to OK it? Or did he need a stamp of approval from someone
at Tribune Tower?
MacPhail said it varied. But generally, out of courtesy or
necessity, he'd run it by Crane Kenney.
"Who's Crane Kenney?" I wondered to myself.
Turns out Kenney is a formidable figure in my workplace, a Tribune
Co. senior vice president and general counsel. Yet from a baseball
standpoint, he might as well be the invisible man.
It's a good thing the Cubs have always been run independently from the
Trib.
// posted by Chuck @ 10/01/2006 10:28:00 PM
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Reading The Lines
First, some massive applause to "Pestilence" Byron for transcribing
Andy MacPhail's press conference. The full text can be found here.
Some comments on the press conference. First, what Andy MacPhail said:
"Obviously, I haven't been as effective as I wanted to be. I think
it's pretty thin soup for a franchise that's had a payroll
generally in the top four or five or six or seven over the course
of that time. We should be doing better and we're not. I'm the CEO
and I'm responsible."
Agreed. Nice to see the chief saying that it's his fault.
"I did meet with Dennis a couple of weeks later (some time between
mid-July and mid-August). It's obvious to me that the losses were
wearing on Dennis. He's a very competitive guy. He wants to win. It
was at that point he said, 'Hey look Andy, we've just got to try
something different. It's time.'"
So, this was decided at least two months ago. Hmmm..... What was going
on at the Trib back in the July/August time frame?
"The last couple of years, three now, at least the last two. we've
had our highest priced players on the disabled list for most of the
season."
And your GM made delayed efforts to replace them. Injuries happen.
Smart people make adjustments. Especially teams with "a payroll
generally in the top four or five or six or seven" of teams in the
league. And where's the mention of Mark Prior who was hurt when he was
cheap? What about the key minor league pitchers who were hurt?
Spare the fans the injury excuse.
Oh wait, he brings it up again later.
Too much of the payroll has been sitting on the the sidelines. It's
nobody's fault. It's just fact. Whether it was Nomar and Kerry last
year, or D-Lee this year.
"over the last ten, twelve years, the Cubs have developed more
pitching than any team in the big-leagues. So we've done great.
With position players we've done poor. We don't have the numbers
that we have [with pitching], part of that is just, you know by the
fact that we emphasize pitching.
More garbage. How about the objective measure of "good players"? The
pitcher stats he's using include players who made the majors. This
means he's including the David Aardsmas, Angel Guzmans and Jae-kuk
Ryus. About the only real head he can hang his hat on is Carlos
Zambrano. Kerry Wood and Mark Prior? Top 10 picks. They were
no-brainers.
Andy MacPhail is gone exactly because he and his farm directors have
produced low yield crops of major leaguers.
Let's move on to Denis FitzSimons who took a few minutes from
spreading fertilizer on avocado groves to show up at Wrigley.
Q: In light of Pressures on Dennis and other companies in the
Tribune. Was this just something else that was one more thing that
you couldn't accept the failure of this franchise and what you have
invested in these last few years?
DF: "You know, it's always good to see you guys. I could have done
without this press conference.
"This is a baseball decision. It's an issue of making sure our fans
know that we are committed to winning. Andy MacPhail has been
committed to winning, For whatever reasons it didn't work out, and
we're at this point getting ready to work on 2007 and those
baseball decisions will continually be made out here at Wrigley
Field."
Q: On the Tribune selling the team?
DF: "We retained financial advisors last week to look at strategic
alternatives. We will not be discussing the sale of any individual
assets."
Q: "So you are going to keep the team for the time being?"
DF: "Yes, yes, yes."
"Nice to see you guys"? My, my. Pretty testy for a newspaper man.
Looks like a big non-denial denial. The Cubs are certainly an asset
that the Trib is willing to part with. It may not be number one on
Fitz's list, but he makes it very clear that he is no longer in
control of what will and will not be sold. The Trib Board of Directors
is in charge, now. "For the time being" would seem to end in December.
On to John McDonough, the man who is so brilliant in his marketing
that he could have Don Zimmer endorse Popeye's Chicken in the first
half of 1989 and Nutrisystem after the All-Star Break that same year:
The purpose of why I have been asked to do this job is for the Cubs
to win the World Series. Not win the wild card or win the division
or win the pennant, but it's time to win. It's time to win the
World Series. And I think we need to reward these tens of millions
of fans who have waited for a long time.
If he'd said anything else, he should have been lynched (not Ed).
The greatest fan experience is winning. It's not about marketing.
It's not about being creative it's not about bringing people into
the ball park or the seventh inning stretch or any of these other
things. It's all about winning. Winning is the greatest marketing
idea of all time.
Well, at least he says that. Too bad more fans don't agree.
Q: Have you thought about structual changes in the front office?
JM: "I don't have that answer just yet. That's something that will
develop over the next few weeks."
Read: Jim Hendry's job is not guaranteed.
There are a lot more questions as to why now? Where do the go from
here? How long does McDonough have? More on that later.
// posted by Chuck @ 10/01/2006 09:38:00 PM
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DOUBLE ALERT!!!!!
ANDY MACPHAIL HAS RESIGNED!!!!
John McDonough as temporary President!
More to follow
// posted by Chuck @ 10/01/2006 04:32:00 PM
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ALERT!
If anyone TIVO'd the end of the Cubs game, see if you can upload the
video montage to You Tube. Must. Watch. Video. And, if you can, send
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