Ricketts: We're Ready To Talk Extension When Epstein Is
(CBS) The Cubs made a big splash in the past week when they landed the highly regarded Joe Maddon as their new manager, signing him to a five-year deal reportedly worth $25 million, plus incentives. Now owner Tom Ricketts is looking to lock up the men who have built the foundation in the form of young talent and who drew Maddon to Chicago.
Ricketts confirmed he's ready to talk about extending the contract of president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. An extension for general manager Jed Hoyer and others would presumably come with that.
Both Epstein and Hoyer currently have contracts that run through the 2016 season.
"The baseball organization in my mind has done a tremendous job," Ricketts told the Mully and Hanley Show on 670 The Score on Thursday morning. "They're willing to make the hard-but-right decisions and assessed our organization in a way that was honest and they'd basically done what we've had to do to make our baseball organization a team that's going to be reckoned with in the future. I obviously think the world of Theo and his team. He's got a couple years left on his contract. When he's ready to talk about an extension, we'll be ready to talk about an extension.
"The same goes on the business side. I sleep pretty well at night. I have two great executives (Epstein and president of business operations Crane Kenney) that are really executing extremely well."
Epstein recently said with the chase of Maddon, he hasn't had time to worry about contract talks for himself, though he and Ricketts have had informal, preliminary discussions.
In his interview, Ricketts also lauded the hiring of Maddon, saying it shows the organization has a commitment to winning despite 106 years without a World Series title.
"We feel like a lot of the process of kind of retooling and rebuilding the organization is starting to pay off and a lot of it is behind us," Ricketts said. "We're excited about looking forward. We're excited about having a great new manager.
"It's a big step for the organization to bring in a manager that we think is one of the best in the game. We have a lot of good young players, and we have a good system. We want to have one of the better managers, and I think it shows that we're committed to winning. We have a pretty exciting few years ahead of us."
Listen to Rickett's full interview with Mully and Hanley here. He also talked about how he doles out money to Epstein and what lies ahead with the Cubs' new television deal that awaits.