Chicago’s Answer to the Curse: Steal First, Then Use the Purse
Forgive me if I refrain from reveling in the lifting of the Cubs’ curse, since they reached the World Series for the first time since 1948. If the event had occurred three, four, or five years ago, I might share in the celebration, but this team they are not the lovable losers America had grown fond of.
When you trace how the Cubs acquired this team and its manager, you realize they’re more like the hated Yankees of past decades than the traditionally lovable underdogs. It all started in 2014, when controversy surrounded the hiring of one manager and the firing of another.
Joe Maddon had enjoyed successful years as manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, who had given him a long-term contract. In 2014 he bought a house in Tampa, a dead giveaway that he had no intention of leaving the Rays.
Maddon told reporters he was happy in Tampa, according to baseball writer Ken Rosenthal in a column for foxsports.es on October 31, 2014. That statement reinforced the idea that Maddon had no plans to move.
Then he suddenly opted out of his contract with Tampa, even though there were no managerial openings except at Minnesota after that club fired Ron Gardenhire. Speculation had already surfaced about a move to Chicago, which already had Rich Renteria as its manager.
The next sequence smacks of foul play on the part of the Cubs, who were suddenly becoming somewhat less lovable losers. Within days, Chicago fired Renteria and announced Maddon as its new captain, prompting accusations that the Cubs had been guilty of tampering.
Maddon had allegedly been approached about a position, even though Maddon was still under contract with the Rays. These allegations carried substantial weight, given the recent history of the Chicago front office.
The Cubs’ new general manager, Theo Epstein, had coveted Madden nearly ten years earlier, when he was looking for a new captain as chief executive of the Boston Red Sox. Instead, the club opted for Terry Francona, who in an ironic twist is the current captain of Madden’s World Series opponents in Cleveland.
After what could be considered stealing another team’s manager, the Cubs began buying their way out of the supposed curse. Its payroll went from 23rd-highest in all of baseball in 2014 to fifth-highest in 2016, the biggest jump of any team during that span.
Just two years ago, Chicago paid out a total of $97 million in player salaries, which has since risen to $186 million. The increase is mainly due to the fact that the Cubs have signed top free agents in the past two winters, including pitchers Jon Lester and John Lackey, as well as outfielders Jason Heyward, Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist.
Not since the much-maligned New York Yankees of the 1990s and early 2000s has a team monopolized free agency this much. One way to cure the curse is to open the bag, which the Cubs have certainly done.
As the Cubs doubled their payroll, their World Series opponents were absent from the bid for huge free agents. Cleveland’s 2014 payroll ranked 26th at $84 million, not much less than Chicago’s $97 million. It currently sits at $114 million, which is up slightly to 21st in baseball, but it’s still a long way behind the Cubs.
The broken curse story somehow seems less exciting, given the way this team and coach came together. The real feel-good story should be a club with one of the 10 smallest payrolls fighting for a World Series title, without paying for it.