Cubs' rebuilding OK, but not at these prices

Most Cubs fans said that they were willing to suffer while waiting for Theo Epstein to rebuild the organization from the bottom up.

But this is insufferable.

The Cubs are double digits under .500, slumbering in last place and uncharacteristically devoid of anybody to love now that Kerry Wood put himself out of the club's misery by retiring.

I have been going to Wrigley Field since 1950, and the lineups that lost to the White Sox over the weekend might have been the worst collection of Cubs I have ever seen.

No wonder Wrigley Field was 7,000 fans short of a sellout for Game 1 of the series. No wonder empty seats dotted the ballpark the next two days, too.

Still, the Cubs likely will sell somewhere between 2.5 million and 3 million tickets this season, which isn't criminal but just a little like stealing.

Ticket prices were outrageous for the White Sox series and will be for other so-called premium series like June's with the Red Sox.

Cubs fans bought seats during the winter expecting at least something watchable, but they're stuck with this eyesore.

That alone separates the Cubs' rebuilding process from, say, the White Sox' during the late 1980s.

The Sox were similarly atrocious, but their fans simply stayed home until the project was completed.

I understand that nobody sticks a gun to anybody's head and says pay to see Koyie Hill play for the Cubs … or else.

But too many Cubs fans are a toxic blend of addicted, loyal and dumb, so they keep anteing up in the hope that against all odds this year will be the year and even if it isn't, season tickets are renewable in case next year is the year.

Cubs owners don't have to exploit these people. They could have been fair about this season and lowered the cost of a ticket to either an arm or a leg instead of both.

There would be ladies' days and straight-A days and veterans' days where admission is half price, if not free.

If some marquee matchups are more expensive, why aren't all games involving this particular Cubs team less expensive? Just asking.

Two things won't happen in Wrigley Field during my lifetime: price cuts and a World Series.

The best option for rebuilding is what Tribune Company executives, of all dunces, did 30 years ago. They hired Dallas Green as general manager and watched him hire Gordon Goldsberry as farm director.

While Goldsberry built a minor-league infrastructure, Green built a major-league stopgap.

Trades, free agency and other avenues of acquisition brought in veteran winners such as Larry Bowa, Ron Cey, Gary Matthews, Rick Sutcliffe and Dennis Eckersley.

Mix in a youngster like Ryne Sandberg and in three years the Cubs were 1 victory from winning a pennant in 1984. Eventually the likes of Shawon Dunston, Greg Maddux and Mark Grace helped win another division title in 1989.

If Green and the Trib didn't divorce in 1987, heck, the Cubs might even have won a National League pennant eventually.

Winning up here while building down there is difficult, but the Cubs of the 1980s demonstrated that it could be done.

Now, though, the Cubs want to commit their financial resources almost entirely to the minors rather than the majors.

Maybe that's the price of rebuilding, which would be fine if fans weren't being gouged to pay for it.

mimrem@dailyherald.com