Column: Tom Ricketts’ optimistic ‘state of the Cubs’ addresses sound pretty much the same after all these years

Tom Ricketts doesn’t look much different from when he made his first spring training appearance as Chicago Cubs chairman back in 2010 at Fitch Park.

He’s a bit older and grayer and presumably wiser than he was during the Lou Piniella era. But he used many of the same talking points Monday when he addressed the media after speaking to the team before the first full-squad workout, and he had the same unbridled optimism about the season ahead.

I’ve attended most of Ricketts’ “state of the Cubs” addresses, some more contentious than others. A handler tried to cut off questions several times during his first one only to be ignored by reporters.

Sometimes his words suggest nothing has changed. The Cubs are always on the right path, the revenues go back into the club and the manager is doing a great job, whether it’s Piniella, Mike Quade, Dale Sveum, Rick Renteria, Joe Maddon or David Ross.

In 2011 Ricketts warned of the dangers of handing out long-term contracts, saying: “Any owner would say the length of the deal is often a bigger problem than the amount of dollars, so you’re going to have to be very careful. If you’re going to take on a guy for seven, eight, nine years, you better make sure he’s the guy you want.”

This year the Cubs will be paying outfielder Jason Heyward the last $22 million on his eight-year, $184 million deal after releasing him in November. Heyward was the guy the Cubs wanted, but it didn’t work out.

This offseason the Cubs handed Dansby Swanson a seven-year, $177 million deal. Ricketts said Swanson was the right guy and likely will stay at shortstop throughout the deal.

“He was the best fit for us all along and the player Jed (Hoyer) wanted the most for us this offseason,” he said.

Such long-term deals are commonplace now, and teams such as the New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies are spending money like the spigot will be turned on forever. The Cubs aren’t in that stratosphere, and Ricketts remains wary of such deals.

“Everybody goes into those contracts eyes wide open,” Ricketts said. “And they know the first half of a super-long contract the player will likely be more productive, but the second half is likely to be less productive than the amount you paid him.

“Other teams do that analysis and make their bets. I don’t know if it’s bad for the game. I just know it’s something you have to be really careful about.”

Ricketts said he focuses on what the Cubs do and doesn’t worry about everyone else’s spending habits.

“The key is that we like what we have, and I think we have a good strategy for putting a consistent winner on the field,” he said.

That reminded me of a past media scrum from his “state of the Cubs” news conference after the first full-squad workout in 2012, the first year of former President Theo Epstein’s rebuild. Ricketts told us the rebuild would “pay off in the short run with a great team on the field this year and in the long run with a team that’s going to be competitive every single year.”

“I feel great about it,” he added.

He was 0-for-2. The Cubs lost 101 games that year, and though the rebuild paid off with a championship in 2016, they have not been competitive the last two years in Rebuild 2.0.

But that led to Hoyer’s “intelligent spending” plan and optimism about an actual contender in 2023.

Ricketts said the Cubs even could go over the luxury-tax threshold “if we see an opportunity or it’s the right time to go over for a year or two … but we’ll manage that year to year.”

“I won’t promise top five (payroll) or anything like that,” he said. “But we will definitely put the resources we have on the field.”

The Houston Astros and Cubs began their rebuilds around the same time in the early 2010s, but the defending champion Astros have sustained their success while the Cubs have not.

“I can’t tell you why that is,” Ricketts said. “But it’s obviously something we’d like to be more consistent with here.”

Better personnel decisions would be a good guess. Maybe better drafting and developing, especially pitchers. And having prospects ready to step in, like the Astros had with shortstop Jeremy Pena for departed free agent Carlos Correa, as opposed to the Cubs having Frank Schwindel replace Anthony Rizzo at first base.

Maybe you have theories. If so, Ricketts said he answers “most of” his emails. What’s his address? “Everyone knows it,” he said.

After answering our questions for 15 minutes, Ricketts went over to a fan area and signed autographs, which made for a good photo-op for Marquee Sports Network.

Ricketts was less wary of the media in his first address as Cubs chairman. When someone mentioned the Cubs finally had an “actual person” as owner, he cracked: “I pride myself on being an actual person.”

Now he seldom feels the need to answer questions. This was his first spring training media session since 2020. The last time he addressed a group of reporters was when we staked him out on the concourse in September at Wrigley.

Things were going well Monday when a Cubs spokesman ended the questioning with a bogus claim that fans would start booing because we were blocking their view of Cubs players stretching.

Another “state of the Cubs” address was over. I looked around the media scrum and realized no other reporter was also at Fitch Park in 2010 when Ricketts made his debut, making me the last one standing.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.