Tom Ricketts Is Basically Calling Theo Epstein A Liar

You know all that goodwill Cubs ownership has built up since buying the team? Well, it’s completely gone. Tom Ricketts went on his little PR tour on Thursday, joining 670 The Score and ESPN 1000 to answer questions about the payroll and for some reason David Kaplan asked Ricketts about Kyler Murray too. Anyway, my biggest takeaway from both interviews is that Ricketts basically called Theo Epstein a liar.

Everyone knew Manny Machado and Bryce Harper were going to be free agents this offseason, so of course Cubs fans wondered if after spending big on pitching last year with deals to Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Brandon Morrow, would they be able to go after Machado or Harper?

Here’s what Epstein and Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said regarding the future flexibility in free agency in the days following Darvish’s signing back in February 2018.

Via Bleacher Nation.

At the front office/Joe Maddon press conference yesterday, Epstein had this to say about how the Cubs’ pursuits in the future might be affected by the Darvish signing: “It’s hard to sit here a year removed and say what our approach is going to be next offseason. Look, if everyone plays well and we’re healthy and productive, we have just about everybody back next year. We might be in a situation where we don’t have to do much. That said, this game is so unpredictable. We might have real needs in areas that we don’t anticipate. So we’ll have to see where we are at that point, take stock throughout the course of the season, at the trade deadline, try to look ahead. We still have some flexibility as players move through the arbitration system. So we’re not necessarily done, but we obviously made a significant investment in Yu Darvish to round out our pitching staff, and it’s a staff that we think is going to be together for years to come.”

And Jed Hoyer on the 2018/19 free agent class after signing Darvish.

“I think Theo said it well yesterday. You know, we’d love it offensively if all these guys took a step forward, we have guys at almost every position that are young and talented. We’ll see. We don’t know what we’ll be looking to do next winter at this point. I think we’ll watch the 2018 season and I think that’ll go a long way towards determining our attitude going into the next free agent class.”

Everyone didn’t play well and although the outfielders showed some promise at different times of the season it was fairly evident Epstein was getting ready to make big changes after 2018, and that aligns with his statement about addressing real needs and having flexibility to do so even after signing Darvish.

We all remember what he said in October after the Cubs were bounced out of the playoffs.

Theo Epstein: "Something happened in our offense in the second half where we stopped walking, we stopped hitting home runs, we stopped hitting the ball in the air and we stopped being productive."

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) October 3, 2018

Epstein on offense: "I mean this with no disrespect to any of our players because I respect them all greatly, in every way. But, part of getting better is facing the problem & our offense broke somewhere along the lines."

— Kelly Crull (@Kelly_Crull) October 3, 2018

Again, Hoyer said, “I think we’ll watch the 2018 season and I think that’ll go a long way towards determining our attitude going into the next free agent class.” The offense sucked to end the year and you can’t blame it all on Chili Davis. A big move was supposed to be coming. The front office said they still had flexibility to make that type of move.

Yet, when Ricketts was asked about the team’s flexibility this offseason and why the team hasn’t addressed their needs he said this, first on 670 The Score.

#Cubs owner Tom Ricketts acknowledges free-agent signing of Yu Darvish (and to a lesser extent Tyler Chatwood) is limiting what the team can do this offseason. Cubs were aware this would be a lower-profile offseason for them, Ricketts says.

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) January 17, 2019

Then again on ESPN 1000.

.@thekapman asks Ricketts: Did Theo and Jed know what they spent on Darvish/Chatwood/etc. last year would affect this winter's spending?

Ricketts: Yes.

— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) January 17, 2019

So, Ricketts is basically saying that Epstein lied last offseason about still having the flexibility to go after another big free agent this offseason.

I’m going to believe that the front office isn’t dumb and actually wants to make the team better. You know how you make your team better? By signing Machado or Harper. I’m not buying into Tom’s bullshit answer, blaming Darvish’s contract for them not actively trying to get better this offseason.

Evan Altman breaks down Epstein’s comments after the Darvish signing even further.

This is a very good read in light of the discussion of Cubs budget that has ramped up in light of Tom Ricketts’ comments. https://t.co/641RyxbIog

— Evan Altman (@DEvanAltman) January 17, 2019

By the way, of course Ricketts isn’t going to say that he thinks the Cubs are bad, they’re not, but this was absolutely preposterous.

Ricketts to @thekapman: "We didn't have the flexibility this year to go sign a big free agent and I'm not sure we would have anyways. We like the team we have."

— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) January 17, 2019

What a joke.

Also, this isn’t to say the Cubs are all of a sudden going to be awful. They sucked for two months in 2018 and still won 95 games. They had big injuries and were one game away from the NLDS. Yet, other teams in the National League are getting better and guess what, teams in their division are getting better too. The Cubs have a chance to separate themselves from the pack by adding one of the two star free agents and instead they’re passing up on two great players, who would instantly make the Cubs a dangerous threat.

As it stands now, the Cubs are definitely playoff contenders, but they haven’t done much to improve the roster, or make them clear favorites in the division.

Last week, Ken Rosenthal reported the following about the Cubs and a pursuit of Harper.

 “The Cubs would love a shot at Harper, though ownership approval continues to appear unlikely, sources say.”

Thanks Tom.