Sports
Cubs Owner Tom Ricketts Booed at Fan Festival Amid Disappointing Offseason
Matt Marton/Associated PressIt hasn’t been an offseason full of fireworks for the Chicago Cubs. Despite president of baseball operations Theo Epstein noting the status quo in the clubhouse was no longer acceptable and making a managerial change from Joe Maddon to David Ross, the team has hardly made a ripple in free agency. On Friday, the…
Matt Marton/Associated Press
It hasn't been an offseason full of fireworks for the Chicago Cubs.
Despite president of baseball operations Theo Epstein noting the status quo in the clubhouse was no longer acceptable and making a managerial change from Joe Maddon to David Ross, the team has hardly made a ripple in free agency. On Friday, the team's fans were able to express their frustration with management in person at the annual Cubs Convention.
While team chairman Tom Ricketts was presenting on stage, fans booed the owner as he talked about the franchise's new Marquee Sports Network rather than discussing the team that finished third in the National League Central.
Madeline Kenney @madkenney
Yikes. Fans booing owner Tom Ricketts about Marquee network wasn’t a great start to #CubsCon https://t.co/AVg4ui4ntb
Ricketts later tried to spin the negativity, telling local radio 670 The Score to check the tape and confirm if he was being booed. The tape doesn't exactly help his case.
Paul Sullivan @PWSullivan
Ricketts to @670TheScore on being booed at Cubs Convnention: “Not sure I was being booed.” Roll the tape, please.
To date, the Cubs have added just five players since last season ended. None provide the type of impact Chicago needs to succeed in 2020:
- SP Jharel Cotton (trade, via OAK)
- RP Trevor Megill (Rule 5 draft)
- RP CD Pelham (waivers, via TEX)
- RP Ryan Tepera (FA, 1/$900K)
- RP Dan Winkler (FA, 1/$750K)
Instead, the most impressive lineup so far belongs to Marquee Sports Network.
Patrick Mooney @PJ_Mooney
Cubs unveil their lineup of analysts for the soon-to-launch Marquee Sports Network: Lou Piniella, Rick Sutcliffe, Carlos Peña, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Dempster, Doug Glanville, Dan Plesac, and Jason Hammel.
Whether or not most Cubs fans in the city will be able to watch Marquee Sports Network, however, is still to be determined. The network has yet to reach an agreement with the area's largest cable provider, Comcast, ahead of its February 22 launch date.
If that isn't resolved, the boos will only grow louder.
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