Cubs owner Tom Ricketts knows there’s only so much they can do when trying to compete with the spending abilities of teams such as the Mets, the Yankees and the Dodgers.
There’s only so much Ricketts can do with trying to attract stars with comparable contracts while still breaking even in the end.
There’s only so much he can do, he said, within the current landscape of the sport.
“The business model in baseball, it’s worked pretty well for a long time, but there’s a few things right now that are just a little out of kilter,” Ricketts said on 670 The Score’s “Inside the Clubhouse.”
“Obviously, the Dodgers have a lot more resources, naturally, from smart business moves they made years ago. I don’t begrudge them any of that. Some teams just have outside resources that are funding their player moves and acquisitions, and that’s really hard to compete with. I understand when fans say, ‘How come you don’t spend like that?’ Because they think somehow we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have and we just keep it. Which isn’t true at all. What happens is we try to break even every year, and that’s about it.”
The Cubs operated with the seventh-highest payroll in 2024, according to Spotrac, but their $229 million paled in comparison to the Mets’ $314 million and the Yankees’ $308 million.
This offseason, the Mets already added Juan Soto on a 15-year, $765 million deal in free agency, emerging from a sweepstakes that also included the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox.
The Dodgers inked deals with aces Blake Snell (five years, $182 million) and Roki Sasaki, along with other key pieces for a contending team such as outfielder Teoscar Hernandez ($66 million) and Tanner Scott ($72 million).
Los Angeles spent over a billion dollars last offseason, too, when landing Shohei Ohtani ($700 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million) and extending Tyler Glasnow after acquiring him from the Rays.
And after falling short in their quest for a Soto reunion, the Yankees pivoted and signed Max Fried in a $218 million splash, traded for Cody Bellinger and replaced Anthony Rizzo with former MVP Paul Goldschmidt’s one-year deal.
While the Cubs did land Kyle Tucker in a blockbuster deal with the Astros in December, they’ll likely encounter a sweepstakes next offseason for the outfielder to decide where he wants a long-term deal.
They also have pitcher Shota Imanaga and first baseman Michael Busch returning, too.
But without the major splashes like the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees have made, it’ll become difficult for the Cubs to keep pace.
That, in the eyes of Ricketts, should be the more realistic approach.
“The way you’re going to win the World Series is to make the playoffs as often as possible,” Ricketts said during his “Inside the Clubhouse” appearance. “If you keep making it to the playoffs, you’ve got a shot. Our goal is to be consistent and always have a team that we think can win our division … absolutely, we’ve got to get back to being a team that competes for titles. That’s everything.”
