Ricketts fends off Pujols talk

MESA, Ariz. — Cubs owner Tom Ricketts addressed both the media and his team Saturday morning as position players took the field for the first full-squad workouts of spring training.

Ricketts had to fend off several media questions about the Cubs possibly signing St. Louis superstar Albert Pujols after he becomes a free agent in the fall.

Of course, Pujols will command a “mega-contract,” somewhere between $200 million and $300 million for eight to 10 years.

The Cubs have been financially strapped the past several seasons, and Ricketts was asked if the Cubs had either the appetite or the wherewithal to give out such a contract.

Club officials are not permitted by Major League Baseball to talk specifically about players on other teams.

At first, Ricketts deferred to general manager Jim Hendry.

“All that stuff’s in Jim’s court,” Ricketts said “There’s going to be a little more financial flexibility at the end of the season than we’ve had in years past. We’ll have to assess the situation when we get there and see what’s available.”

However, with any mega-contract, ownership will play a big part in negotiations and setting financial limits.

“Clearly, any large contract needs to be approved by ownership,” Ricketts said. “It’s particularly important when you look at the length of some of the contracts that are being offered to some of the bigger stars in the game because those are big, big, big commitments. We’ll definitely just assess that when we get to it.

“Right now we’re just focused on having a great start to 2011 because I think we’ve got the right guys.”

Asked specifically about Pujols, Ricketts wisely wouldn’t bite, but he did share his thoughts on long-term mega deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“I don’t have any insights or thoughts on any of that situation,” he said of Pujols. “All I know is what I read in the paper.

“I think that any owner, anyone in baseball, would say that the length of the deal is often a bigger problem than the amount of dollars. You have to be very careful if you’re going to sign one of those longer deals, if you’re going to take a guy on for 7-8-9 years. You better make sure that’s the guy you want.”

Ricketts continued to stand behind general manager Jim Hendry and said money likely would be available if Hendry wanted to make a midseason acquisition or one at the July 31 trading deadline.

“There’s always some room,” he said. “You always have to have the ability to do something midseason. A lot of that depends on the economic factors for the first few months of the year. We know that what you do at the deadline is important, and we’ll try to maintain flexibility for Jim to do something then.”

Ricketts added that the Cubs “continue to talk to our elected officials” about renovations of Wrigley Field.

As far as his message to the team, Ricketts said it was mostly about building off last year’s late-season success under manager Mike Quade.

“I think the message this year and really the theme for the team this year is for the last six weeks of 2010 we were one of the best teams in baseball,” he said. “And we have that team back. We have that manager back, and we’ve added to it.

“I think we build on that momentum. We use the next 40 days to really get ready for the season and enter the season with a sense of purpose, a sense of pride and get off to a quick start and have a great year.”

ŸCheck out Bruce Miles’ baseball blog, Chicago’s Inside Pitch, at dailyherald. com. Follow Bruce on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.