Cubs Convention Give Wrigley Faithful Genuine Optimism For The Future
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jan 16, 2012 7:20PM
The Cubs held their 27th annual Cubs Convention this weekend, filling the Hilton Chicago with blue and red for three days that very well could have been renamed Theo-pallooza. Fans got to meet the players, hear from team management, shop for Cubs memorabilia and together hope that 2012 was going to be the Cubs' year.
The fest kicked off on Friday afternoon and among the first orders of business was the announcement that the Cubs had re-signed Kerry Wood, unveiled to fans as the popular pitcher was announced to the crowd during player introductions. For much of last week, it looked like Wood and the Cubs might part ways so Cubs fans were ecstatic to hear that the sides reached an agreement just in time for the convention. Wood received a $3 million deal with a club option at $3 million for 2013.
With new management in place, Cubs fans could be forgiven for their optimism this time, and they liked what they heard from new president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer, and manager Dale Sveum. Epstein explained the overhaul that's taking place in the organization to tweak the roster and building a new infrastructure for evaluating talent, explaining, "We’re revamping our pro scouting department. We’re implanting a new philosophy in our amateur scouting department and we have to evaluate what we have in player development and enhance that. We have new (analytical) systems we’re putting in place."
Meanwhile, Sveum promised that he and his staff would have no tolerance for lollygagging. Fans booed Alfonso Soriano during his introduction on Friday, and during a Q-&-A session with the team's new skipper a fan asked about Soriano's lack of effort at times. Sveum said he'd have no problem pulling a player from the game for playing in a way that would “embarrass the Chicago Cubs and the 24 other players.”
Cubs management also unveiled changes to Wrigley Field itself. In a fairly major revamp to the right field bleachers sure to rankle the Wrigley purists, the team announced that they'll be adding a 75-foot video screen above the ivy. They'll also add new premium "Top of the Ivy" seating and a Budweiser Patio above. While the team pitched the video screen addition as a means to provide fans with more stats during the game, it will also provide a new ad revenue stream for the club. The new seats seem to be influenced by Fenway Park's premium seats atop the Green Monster.
Pricing hasn't been announced, but we can expect it'll be well above those for regular bleacher seats.