Cubs' owner can't wait for home opener

MESA, Ariz. - Tom Ricketts waited three baseball seasons for a chance to own the Cubs.

So what's a few more days to wait for Opening Day?

Ricketts will be in Atlanta next Monday for the season opener. But he's eagerly and even anxiously awaiting the Wrigley Field opener April 12.

"I just want to fast-forward," Ricketts said Thursday at HoHoKam Park. "I'm so excited. The only anxiety I have, really, about it is I want the weather to be nice so that we don't invite hundreds of friends and families and VIPs and sit in a tent in the rain. I'm just excited to get to that day."

Ricketts met with reporters as the team prepared to break camp and head to Phoenix for two exhibition games with the Arizona Diamondbacks before flying to Atlanta.

The boss touched on a number of topics in a short but freewheeling round-table.

With the team having missed the playoffs last year after advancing to the postseason in both 2007 and 2008, Ricketts was asked if this is a pivotal year for general manager Jim Hendry and the baseball staff.

"As I've said many times, it's been the most pleasant surprise that we've had, how good the people are on the baseball side, how well the organization appears to be running in developing players and getting toward putting a great team on the field," he said.

"With respect to this season being any more important than any other season in their careers, I don't think so. It's a matter of everyone knows they have to perform at a high level every year.

"We really do want very high-level performance out of everyone in the organization, and we want to make them accountable. There's nothing about this year that's any different than years past in terms of how important it is, but it will be really enlightening for us. We'll learn a lot about everybody this year. But so far so good."

Along those lines, field manager Lou Piniella is in the final year of his contract. However, Ricketts said any discussion on that subject is one for Hendry and Piniella.

"That's between Lou and Jim," he said. "It's Jim's responsibility to put the winning team on the field, both players and managers. I think that if you insert yourself into that discussion, you're not adding value, for one thing. And secondly, you want accountability. It's Jim's responsibility, and he knows it. He and Lou will tell me if there's anything else they want to add to the discussion."

Ricketts gave a rundown on other subjects:

• The Cubs have not yet picked a new spring-training site in Mesa.

• On the controversial "Cubs tax," or proposed ticket surcharge to help fund the spring facility, he said: "It's not determined what financing package will be the final package. You would have to ask the (Arizona) legislature where they're headed on that stuff."

• The Cubs are still working with the city of Chicago to gain approval for the proposed Toyota advertising sign in back of the left-field bleachers. Ricketts said he wasn't sure that approval would come by Opening Day.

• On whether Hendry will have funds to acquire players in trades during the season, Ricketts said: "We'll keep an eye on that. Obviously, things change between Opening Day and midseason. So if there are needs, I think we'll be able to address them."

• On how long he hopes his "honeymoon" with Cubs fans lasts, Ricketts said: "It'd be nice to get off to a good start and keep all this positive energy going. I think we have the right team.

"You guys (media) are around here every day. You know the clubhouse feels good. You know that Lou and Jim feel really good about the team this year. As long as we stay healthy, I don't see why we're not going to bring back the playoffs."

• On waiting for the sale of the Cubs to get done: "The length of the sale was a completely unpleasant surprise," he said. "That was difficult. I told my wife it's as close as I'll ever get to childbirth. She said, 'How do you know? You were at Starbucks.' That was a drag. But I just kept reminding myself that we're kind of amortizing that aggravation over 50 years, and just get through it."

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