The above picture is from the fine fellas at the Wrigley Blog who have a good story outlining the mockery of the ceremony.

Well we all knew Lou was going to leave. We had no idea it would be today. Due to family reasons, today Lou announced that he will retire after the ballgame. Today is his last game as Cubs manager.

While the fans and media have questioned most of Lou’s decisions the past few seasons as manager, the facts are he had a shit team both years.

Piniella raised the bar:

Piniella enters his final game with the Cubs with a 316-292 record in his three-plus seasons in Chicago. Only seven managers have won more games than Piniella in club history, while his .520 winning percentage is the best since Charlie Grimm’s .547 combined mark from 1932-38, 1944-49 and 1960 (minimum 500 games). Piniella is the first Cubs manager in 100 years to lead the club to consecutive post-season appearances in 2007 and 2008.

There you have it. Lou is the best manager most of us have ever seen. The numbers show it (now the bar wasn’t set to high). But it is was it is. Farewell Lou. It was a lot of fun.

WHAT An Evening with Ken Burns A Screening & Discussion about Baseball: The Tenth Inning

WHERE The Bank of America Theatre 18 West Monroe Street Chicago, IL

WHEN Thursday, August 19, 6:30 pm

You are cordially invited to attend “An Evening with Ken Burns” in anticipation of his new documentary, Baseball: The Tenth Inning. Thousands of at-bats, three home run records, and one “curse” have been broken since Ken Burns last explored America’s national pastime with his landmark PBS seriesBASEBALL. Now, Burns and co-director Lynn Novick continue the series with The Tenth Inning. Beginning with a crippling strike that alienated millions of fans and brought the game to the brink, this new film tells the tumultuous story of our national pastime up to the present. It celebrates baseball’s new Golden Age and sheds light on one of the game’s darkest chapters, the steroid era. During this exciting summer evening event at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, Ken Burns will show parts of his new film, talk about the “making of,” and answer your questions. Tickets will be available for sale starting July 22, and are $12 for WTTW members and $20 for nonmembers. Online and phone ticket orders are subject to additional processing fees. Fees can be avoided by visiting a Broadway in Chicago Box Office. For tickets, call (800)775-2000 or purchase online. Special Note for WTTW Members: To learn how to receive the special member discount, please call WTTW Member Services at (773)509-1111, extension 6.

Cheers,

Derrek Lee was dealt to the Atlanta Braves today for three minor leaguers. It’s the latest move by Jim Hendry who is trying to get something out of veterans he is sure to not re-sign after the season. The move had to be made, and I have no issue with the Cubs for making it. Still, for some reason I’m really gonna miss DLee. Lee is no longer the player he was when Hendry acquired him for Hee Seop Choi, following the 2003 season. During his stay on the northside Lee was a consummate professional. Lee, Ramirez, Soriano and Zambrano were the foursome that that the great teams in 2007 and 2008 were built around.

So as Lee goes to Atlanta in pursuit of another World Series ring, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a piece penned by good friend gaius marius at 1060west in Lee’s career year 2005. First gm discussed Lee at the plate:

this is a major-league hitter at work. his numbers are no mistake, nor is their remarkable consistency. his is at the peak of his powers at age 28, and an approach like he exhibited yesterday should guarantee a return to an OBP in the .380 range. lee shows great power as well (which will look even better in a post-steroid world,if that’s what we’re entering) and set a career high in total bases in 2004. one hopes corey patterson is watching him.

What would a gm article be without a dig at KPat? LOL

Next the defense:

moreover, lee is immaculate with his glove, really an artist. i watched him pick an awful one-hopper from aramis last night (on an easy bouncer) and thought immediately of the consequences of lee’s prowess around the bag for the cub infield. ramirez gaffed 33 times in 2003, 19 in 2002, 25 in 2001. last season, with lee at first, just ten errors. similarly, nomar’s fielding percentage jumped to a near-career-high upon joining lee’s infield. lee is saving a couple of mediocre defenders (not to mention all of us) from their long throws across the diamond.

gm closed with this:

this is the kind of player that any team should love to have. let’s hope the cubs understand what a tremendous asset (and value) he is.

You win with players like DLee in his prime. Lee played both sides of the ball very well. He may have never been a superstar, but you will take players like Derrek Lee any day of the week. It’s been alot of fun watching Lee. Good luck to him and the Braves as they pursue the postseason.

But after Lakeview slipped into foreclosure this year, it is the numbers outlined in court filings that are particularly telling. They offer a rare glimpse into the shaky finances of a rooftop club operating in a bad economy.

In May, for example, Lakeview had an operating profit of $34,365. If the club was still making its $31,865 in monthly mortgage payments to the bank, that would have left just $2,500 after all expenses and fixed costs.

The situation isn’t exclusive to the Lakeview Baseball Club either. Many of the clubs are feeling the pinch.

Other rooftops are scrambling to feed their own multimillion-dollar mortgages as the recession leaves their corporate customer base gun-shy from spending $30,000 on an outing that revolves around watching the Cubs play. Throw in the Cubs’ dismal record, which depresses ticket demand, and several rooftops are now selling entire blocks of games on half-price online coupon sites such as Groupon.

The price war may be a temporary solution to fill seats, but it has stressed rooftop owners, especially those who took out major loans in the boom years to finances upgrades.

“There’s a lot of money going out and only some coming in,” said Rich Zasiebida, managing partner of the Skybox on Sheffield, 3627 N. Sheffield Ave. “People have got hefty mortgages. We’re busting our (hump) over here.”

So does this present an opportunity for Tom Ricketts? Many think it does including Alderman Tom Tunney:

The suddenly treacherous financial footing for some rooftops has generated talk that the new owners of the Cubs, the Ricketts family, have designs on investing in the clubs or even buying them out. The family’s investment in the 3621 N. Sheffield Ave. rooftop in May only fed the speculation. The family also had discussions with the owners of the Lakeview Baseball Club who were seeking investors after last season, but no deal was struck, sources said.

Ald. Thomas Tunney, 44th, who has been at the center of development plans by the Cubs and the rooftops since he took office in 2003, sees room for more cooperation between the Cubs and the rooftops.

Tunney said the family has expressed a vision of expanding its footprint beyond Wrigley, especially as it looks for revenue streams to recoup an investment that topped $800 million. He said the rooftop owners, meanwhile, seem more motivated to cooperate.

“We know the family is in it for the long haul,” he said. “There are a few people in rooftops that have deep pockets. Most of them do not.”

The rooftops could serve as luxury suites for Wrigley Field, whose 96-year-old structure is unable to fit more skyboxes. The current skyboxes in Wrigley also are dated, preventing the team from generating more revenue from an amenity that is critical for most major-league teams.

A closer working relationship with the Cubs would give rooftop owners a full-fledged partner to fill seats and ease fears of a clash when their agreement expires after the 2023 season.

“It’s a natural,” said James Lourgos, who co-owns the rooftop club at 3639 N. Sheffield Ave. “The rooftops give the team something they don’t have in the stadium. And the rooftop owners have always wanted security on their investment. When you invest $5 million on a facility, you want business certainty.”

Max Waisvisz, a partner in three rooftops, added: “I think (Tom) Ricketts is a smart guy, and he wants to get more involved in these (rooftop) businesses. He’s going to be a very powerful figure in the neighborhood in the next few years.”

Could this be an opportunity for Cubs? It sure seems like it would make alot of sense. It’s a shame the Cubs have not owned these building for years. But now may be a good time for them to start getting into that side of the business. The price might be right.

The details from chicagobusiness.com:

Ratings on Comcast SportsNet for the season through June 30 were down almost 40% from last year — the biggest slide among all 30 Major League Baseball teams, according to a compilation of ratings data published in SportsBusiness Journal.

Although it is a big slide the teams rating compared to others still ranks ninth in all of baseball.

An average of 94,877 households tuned in to each of Comcast’s 33 Cubs games in the first three months of the season. Although that’s the ninth-highest rating in the league, it’s still 39% lower than the same period last season, according to the publication, which relied on data from Nielsen Media Research.

Still, this slide is dramatic and it begins to point more and more that the days of the Cubs being the lovable losers are over. Tom Ricketts, Wally Hayward and everyone associated with this team are now looking at a reality that they may have never considered.

It was thought that fans would follow the Cubs no matter what, spend whatever price they put on a ticket, buy the beer, sing the songs and enjoy ‘the Wrigley life’. The reality is clearer and clearer, the Chicago Cubs are not recession proof. The Chicago Cubs are not immune to the normal fluctuations that come with winning and losing.

The job ahead for Tom Ricketts is not going to be easy. The teams popularity is sinking, while he has massive debt to pay. The team needs to be rebuilt and the ballpark is need of major upgrades. Owning the Cubs just got alot harder. How Ricketts and Company respond will be interesting.

and Part 2 (which includes the fight with Eric Show)

The Cubs had an owner and a GM up in front of the press that don’t appear to have the same measure of success. Hendry talked about how good the organization is and how high the bar has been raised. Thankfully Ricketts said the ‘Piniella’ era was not a success without a championship. But the sanity of Ricketts seemed to end there. Ricketts said Hendry would make the decision on the next manager and would be GM ‘heading into next season’.

“Jim is our general manager full stop and will be our general manager going into next year,” said Ricketts, adding that president Crane Kenney also will be involved in the search. “We have a good organization”

Hopefully Ricketts was just talking nice. If he wasn’t, and he’s serious, the Cubs are absolutely fucked moving forward.

If Ricketts is serious and Kenney and Hendry are going to be employed going into next year, it appears to me that the Ricketts plan is to make cosmetic changes. Tell you fans everything is great this winter and again sell you a ton of tickets a few weeks after the annual pep rally. If that is what Tom Ricketts is doing, shame on him.

The presser really leaves more questions about the future of Hendry, Kenney and the Cubs.

If you wanna tell why you are or aren’t watching, feel free to put it in the comments below.

Thanks,

UPDATE 8:26 –

The tweets have spoken.

1. LiveTVNow

   RT @FakeRonnieWoo Woo! Yes! Woo! Live in fact! Woo! Go #Cubs Go! Woo! RT @wpbc: @FakeRonnieWoo R U still watching? http://6lx.tv.0sp.in :] about 1 hour ago via API

2. cubbies

   Retweeting: @wpbc yes, I am. Thanks for the laugh today. I needed it after reading the score from last night’s #cu… http://bit.ly/boXJE8 about 1 hour ago via twitterfeed

3. cubbies

   Retweeting: Woo! Yes! Woo! Live in fact! Woo! Go #Cubs Go! Woo! RT @wpbc: @FakeRonnieWoo are you still watching? h… http://bit.ly/dtXOeA about 1 hour ago via twitterfeed

4. FakeRonnieWoo

   Woo! Yes! Woo! Live in fact! Woo! Go #Cubs Go! Woo! RT @wpbc: @FakeRonnieWoo are you still watching? http://bit.ly/9Xti0I about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck

5. lizzykatz

   @wpbc yes, I am. Thanks for the laugh today. I needed it after reading the score from last night’s #cubs game. about 1 hour ago via web in reply to wpbc

6. dicksbeer

   @wpbc Nope- watch the day games unless it’s a blowout- tough watching the night games about 2 hours ago via web in reply to wpbc

7. naoisetobin

   @wpbc Yep, still watch them. They aren’t great, but they have pieces…Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin, Aramis, Cashner ( should be starting) about 7 hours ago via web in reply to wpbc

   • Reply
8. jamibimbi

   @wpbc nope not watching anymore until after the trade deadline. about 9 hours ago via Echofon in reply to wpbc

The Cubs’ new owner, Tom Ricketts, must decide whether he trusts Hendry to a) hire the next manager and b) manage future payrolls. The best argument for keeping Hendry – and yes, there is one – is the team’s foundation going forward:

• Three rookies – outfielder Tyler Colvin, shortstop Starlin Castro and right-hander Andrew Cashner – are emerging as championship-caliber players.

• Four-fifths of the team’s rotation – right-handers Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells and Carlos Silva and lefty Tom Gorzelanny – will be back next season.

• Right-hander Carlos Marmol, one of the game’s top closers, and lefty Sean Marshall, an effective setup man, are under control for two more years.

According to Rosenthal. Internally the defense for Hendry is apparently this was all Sam Zell’s doing:

But some Cubs officials contend privately that the previous ownership helped trigger this mess, pushing the front office into a win-now mode to make the team more marketable for potential buyers.

This seems to be the defense they are trying to use for Hendry. A few months ago I heard Kap say that Hendry was not responsible for the Soriano contract. He was on a plane when then President John McDonough overpaid for Fonzie. I have no idea what’s true, but we see the defense brewing and I have to imagine this is the same case that is being made internally to Tom Ricketts.

I understand the case, I really do, but in the end I think Hendry has to be judged by what happened to his team.

Finally, Rosenthal presents the cases ‘against’ and ‘for’ Jim Hendry as Cubs GM:

The strategy, at times, also was poorly executed; Hendry made some head-scratching decisions, awarding an eight-year, $136 million free-agent contract to Soriano, a player who had no position, and a three-year, $30 million deal to Milton Bradley, a player who was unstable.

Then again, Hendry also made his share of good moves, stealing Lee and third baseman Ramirez from low-revenue clubs looking to shed payroll in trades. Some of his contracts (Lilly, Dempster and Byrd to this point) worked out well. Others (Lee, Ramirez, even Zambrano) did not look so egregious at the time they were signed. Lest anyone forget, the Cubs won three division titles between 2003 and ’08.

It all makes for an interesting debate. I know most of us, myself included, think it’s a closed case Hendry should be gone. But with that change, as Rosenthal points out, the departure of Wilken and Fleita would also take place. By most accounts both have done an admirable job rebuilding a Cubs farm system that was horrible when Wilken was hired a few years ago.

I’m still on the change for changes sake bandwagon, but there is alot to consider as Ricketts and company move forward and try to get this club moving in the right direction.