Reaction: "Foul Territory" CALLS OUT the Cubs Ownership and Jed Hoyer

I don’t care if we’re not in on Soto and Burns. BUT - we need to get (1) a big bat, clutch, true cleanup hitter that doesn’t cost $700M; (2) another strong starter, like Fried; and (3) a true consistent closer (and maybe another bridge guy too). Also, let Shaw play and keep other top prospects for 1-2 years from now. (And I said this before getting to where you said exactly this.).

Cubs just got lucky 2016, Except for Schwarberg, all players are either not playing or average hitters

I have my disagreements with the guys at FT quite a bit. Largely because they're seemingly biased towards the Cubs. AJ Pierzynski is a known Cubs hater and Kratz leans that way as well due to his time with the Brewers.

All of that aside I do occasionally agree with them on some things regarding the Cubs. This happens to be one of the times they're correct. I'd also recommend going back a couple weeks and watching a segment they did about MLB teams "Scrooge index". The Cubs to no one's surprise are very high on that list. They're spending a good amount less than 50% of their profits on the teams payroll. Again I recommend going an watching the segment as they go into detail about it much better than I can.

The Cubs have 2 big issues to me. 1 of which is that Ricketts is not a good owner by essentially giving this team a salary cap at the first luxury tax. 2nd is that Hoyer thus far has shown he doesn't spend the money in his given budget wisely enough to make this team truly competitive.

Its pathetic man truly i live in texas and whent to go watch the cubs on opening day when they played the rangers and let me tell you the house was packed and i tought to my self must be nice when your front office actually spends money...new stadium and all star ball players on the field it was nice

Sell the cubs, Tom! I’m done. I’ll enjoy Wrigley field, but other than that I’m done. This organization doesn’t have a future.

All the other teams that had expensive experiences went to the playoffs.

I have a feeling that marquee is losing alot of money and the sports betting (thanks governor tubby) is not the cash cow that ricketts thinks it is.

If the Cubs plan is anything less than "win 100 games, win the division, crush the NLDS opponent" I'm watching the Dodgers. I moved to California 25 years ago. I gave up on the Bears 15 years ago to improve my mental health. I thank the Ricketts for the World Series, but we deserve more than to revert to being a forgettable team in a Historic ballpark.

These guys are not smart lol. Don’t care what they want or say

Ricketts is the prob. They have to have a owner that wants to win.

Jed has made some good moves and some bad moves, unfortunately his bad move far exceed the good ones. Ricketts has joined the Chicago failed ownership club. For a major market city, we have some of the worst owners in all of sports.

It was on the downside from 2015-2020 when Theo left, but you still felt confident in him. After 2018 it’s all gone downhill, and I know Theo wasn’t gonna stay forever but when he said “the offense is broken” and then that off-season all the sudden they can barely afford $5 million for journeyman backups - writing was on the wall. No ability to act like a major market team unless you were starting at a near Pirates level payroll (2012-2013).

You can win with the Cubs budget, but you can’t be scared to death of risk Jed and do it. You need to make bold moves and have a top star ALWAYS. If your top star is aging out you start the process to get the next one. You can’t just get a ton of “meh pretty good” and spend $200m+ that way.

All I wanna know is what the F ever happened to the Cubs Way that built the first title in 108 years? It’s been straight up abandoned.

thank you so much for this video, you are The Man! or Setup Man! or Both. Just thank you my friend

I hope they go after Roki Sasaki now that he's gonna be posted.

Yeah Tom Ricketts is a terrible owner. He's not even the owner of the Cubs and won't be until his father passes away. Then his 3 siblings Steve Dave, Karen and Billy Joe Bob with each inherit an equal share 25% each.

Incredibly well done, sir. I have to agree. The frustrations are rising and getting ready to boil over. Tom Ricketts wanted to buy the team because he was a fan. Wouldn't a fan want to see them win? Was he really ever a true fan? Hell with the profits, go win and watch your money double and triple. I'm starting to wane on the Ricketts is a garbage owner too. But again, awesome piece of content.

Trade Ricketts and Marquee, WAIT! I'll sweeten the deal. I'll toss in Reinsdorf and Chigago Sports Net.

Ricketts allocated the funds; Hoyer just misspent them.

As a loyal Cubs fan, let me inform you of what their M.O. is, and has been for the past decade or so.

The Cubs are willing to do, what they consider to be, one "big" contract at a time. Keep in mind, the Cubs definition of a "big" contract differs greatly from what the Dodgers or Mets would consider a big contract. The Cubs definition of big is roughly 5 + years and $175M+ in money. Anything that meets or exceeds that criteria is what they consider "big." Additionally, the Cubs are willing to do one, just one, of these types of contracts at a time. Meaning, they are willing to let the team have one of those contracts on the books at a time, but never more than one. So, in the past, this "big" contract was Heyward. We finally got rid of him, so they were willing to do another one, which turned out to be Swanson, so that's it for them. They will not sign another, what they consider to be, "big" contract as long as Swanson is on the team. That equals no Soto and no Burnes, which they've basically admitted already. They will swim in the mid to lower tier of free agents, going for quantity over quality. Players like Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Patrick Corbin, Frankie Montas, Shane Bieber, Joc Pederson, Christian Walker, etc etc. Maybe a reliever or two. That's all we can expect from them.

I know it;s easy to say..., but as long as Wrigley Field is packed every game , Rickett's will never spend for superstars and big name players !!! So we will have to live with this , until they sell the team!!

Nobody gives a damn how these losers feel. None of them work or have ever worked in a front office for a reason.

Also, what is your source for why Theo left? I call BS on the source that you won’t name. Don’t record something based on a rumor from somebody that refuses to put their name with it.

Well said. In the rickets letter, he stated how the Cubs are more than just about winning. Touting the charities and Wrigleyville experience. Why did he feel the need to bring that up? It’s an indirect way of telling cubs fans that winning another World Series isn’t number one on the list.

The Cubs are not a big market team. They never have been. They don't sign players to massive contracts. We all knew they were never gonna sign Soto. Why is this surprising? They are trying to draft right and develop young talent like with the 2016 team.

Sad about Soto story!

No one compares to Ohtani. Giving Soto 500M or more is screwing the franchise. His defense sucks can’t run for a young guy… he’s overrated. Ohtani brings you tons of money and team Japan that won WBC. No one is even close.

We have Wood!! That’s Kerry with A K!

If your from Chicago you know

Cub fans need to choose... party @ Wrigley or boycott until ricketts either sells or builds a WS team. YOU ARE NOT GETTING BOTH
Stop subscribing to marquee

What's their long term plan? To be as rich as Elon Musk? Winning another title couldn't be further from their plans, long term or otherwise.

I've been a fan of the Cubs since 1950, went to my first game in 1958. I don't give a shit about Wrigleyville, the Jumbotrons, the ivy, the pretty girls, the beer cup snakes in the bleachers, that stupid mascot running out waving a W flag, or all of that between inning crap on the boards. I only want the Cubs to win the division, then go deep in the playoffs and win another world series. The Cubs could have signed Justin Verlander in 2017 but chose to keep John Lackey instead. How did that work out, Ricketts, Epstein, Hoyer?

At least he’s not my A’s owner John Fisher

“Spending less when they are making more” - How do we know the Cubs are making a lot of money though? Might not be true

great video, love the perspectives given here. it's just like sad that after the 2015 ~ 2021 core broke up, the cubs are just sitting in mediocrity forever. we all love wrigley field, we love chicago, we go and spend on the expensive hot dogs and expensive tickets, just to have a dead 50/50 chance to see a win.

it's frustrating that every chicago team is like this, or worse: bears, bulls, cubs, white sox, blackhawks, sky, etc. are all just "mid at best, awful at worst". it's a little sad that every podcast for every chicago team is "how can we fix our billionaire owners?" because every franchise (mccaskeys, reinsdorf, ricketts, etc.) deals with the same rich, greedy, issues.

I completely agree with your take on the Morel situation; we should have let him play a regular position instead of moving him around. Following the same concept, maybe 2025 is the right time for guys like Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie to have regular roles on the big league roster and see how they perform. Unless we can trade these prospects for a superstar like Kyle Tucker, it may be better to focus on long-term success rather than going all-in now due to contract structures.

For the Cubs' long-term success, it would be wise to let Owen Caissie play right field and Matt Shaw play second base at the beginning of the 2025 season. This might make it necessary to trade Cody Bellinger or even Nico Hoerner.

If Cody has an MVP-caliber season like in 2023, he’ll likely opt out, and the Cubs may not pursue him. If he plays similarly to his 2024 level, he’ll likely opt in again and block Cubs' prospects. Cody doesn’t seem to be in the Cubs' long-term plan, so why not trade him this year? The same goes for Nico. Are we going to re-sign him after 2026? If we’re confident that Matt Shaw will perform, the answer is probably no.

I agree if your not willing to do the job of being the owner of the cubs and poney up for a superstar that the fans are yearning for AS THE DAMN CHICAGO CUBS then sell the team but we’ll all unfortunately know the ricketts wont and I’m scared they’re gonna be just as cheap as the other Chicago franchise and mess it up with their cheapness

As a Cubs fan. I don't think the Cubs need much. They were okay in 2023, and in 2024 they were hoping to be better by signing Imanaga, trading for Busch and signing Neris. Neris didn't work out and Swanson + Bellinger regressed. And their outfield is locked with PCA, Happ, Bellinger and Suzuki, so where does Soto go? I think they only really need more bullpen pieces, another serviceable arm in the rotation. (Nick Martinez maybe?) And maybe they trade Suzuki and sign Santander. But they don't need to do much tbh. So I'm not mad that they're out on Burnes and Soto already

I wish the fan would stop going

I want to Win. I want to go to a playoff game.

Bring back Pepsi to Wrigley

Need a starter and a closer and Juan Soto.

Knowing the cubs are so filthy rich and try to operate like the Rays is one of the most infuriating things as a fan.

I use to be a diehard Cubs fan until 2021. What did it for me was: BLM backing, Schwarber, Beaz and Rizzo being traded. I was done with the “rebuild” mentality. If the fans keep packing the stadium for a mediocre team why would the Ricketts spend money? Just like the Bears, they sell out every game but lose every season. You want to make a statement stop going to the games. Force their hand! Plus I can’t stand Ian Happ

Still scratching my head on $8m for the manager…

Soto is still a young superstar, not even considering him is irresponsible of the cubs

Imagine if Mark Cuban wasn’t blackballed when he attempted to purchase the Cubs. As the Mavs owner, he’s shown that he’s willing to open the vault and spend the money to field a quality team. A completely different team with a championship mindset.

Im glad people are starting to see whats really happening over there, the ricketts soent the money to win it all and now have a never ending cow they can milk for as long as they want. It's why i left tue fandom its just so fake now its not the Cubs anymore

The plan is to make Jed the fall guy thats what i Hate everyone bashes Jed yet he is doin what ricketts tells him to do

Jed can only spend what tommy says he can jed is a fall guy guys wake up jesus