Cubs fans have right to be anxious

I get what Tom Ricketts is doing.

I really do.

He's testing Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and that's understandable.

While Hendry's had a successful run, with three playoff appearances in the last seven years - compared to the team's three playoff appearances in the previous 57 years - he hasn't proven he can do it without writing checks.

There's something less than satisfying about buying your way into October, though you'll not find any Yankees fans complaining about their title.

Nevertheless, Ricketts is testing Hendry.

He got himself into the Milton Bradley mess and Ricketts isn't going to give him an easy way out, forcing Hendry to prove he can stay on budget and shed some salary to offset whatever additions he makes this off-season.

The problem is that while Ricketts watches this little play unfold, the theater's on fire, and the audience is screaming for the fire department.

Yet, Ricketts stands with a cup of water in hand, takes a sip, and watches it happen.

I get the test, but this isn't the best way to begin his ownership. No one was expecting a big splash, but this is the antithesis.

Everyone knows the family overpaid to get the franchise and its broken-down ballpark, but if they didn't have enough cash to find a new center fielder, maybe they shouldn't have bought the club.

And if they do have the money but are waiting to see what Hendry can do, enough is enough already.

Hendry screwed up, he knows it, he has admitted it, and he's trying to fix it, but when the entire game knows his predicament it's a bit tough dealing with clubs and agents.

Hendry has no one to blame but himself, and he knows that, but a little help from a new owner wouldn't be so terrible.

As it stands, since they took over the team, the Ricketts have put Hendry in a box, retained nuclear-blastproof Crane Kenney, raised ticket prices, and threatened to move their spring facility to Florida as a means of forcing Arizona, Maricopa County and Mesa to publicly fund a new facility only 12 years after the last one was built.

And it just so happens to be amid the worst economic crisis of the last 75 years. It's at best distasteful right now to ask the people of Arizona to build the Cubs a cathedral. They couldn't have waited a year or two?

Meanwhile, fans have waited a half-century for an owner who cared about them first and everything else second, and it doesn't feel much like that so far.

Since we first heard in September 2008 that Ricketts would get the club, all conversations with those who knew him suggested Tom Ricketts would be a fantastic owner.

And we're not ready to suggest it will be anything to the contrary.

It's early, and patrons would like to remain optimistic, but the problem is Cubs fans have seen the act too many times to believe the ending will be different.

They need to see something different before they believe something's different.

The opposite

While Cubs fans are irate that the club has done little to improve on last season's disappointment, consider how bad their free-agent signings have been the last five years.

And also consider the advice to George Costanza from one Jerry Seinfeld: "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."

So let's assume for a moment that every free agent the Cubs coveted is already off, or soon will be off, the market.

Couldn't that turn out to be the best thing that's happened to them in years?

Case for defense

Remember the Bulls' marketing campaign, led by John Paxson and Scott Skiles, for Kirk Hinrich as the best defensive guard in the NBA?

Of course, it was never true. Hinrich was never a great defender. He was a good defender but was routinely swallowed up by the very best offensive opponents.

So it was interesting to watch John Salmons do a decent job on Kobe Bryant early in Tuesday's game. After Salmons got in foul trouble, the job went to Hinrich, who could only watch as Bryant dropped in shot after shot on him.

Granted, it's Kobe Bryant, the best in the game, but you wonder how long it's been since Paxson or Skiles really thought Hinrich was a great defender.

The apology

E-mailer Bob K.: "Your argument regarding a new offensive coordinator is so sound that I'm afraid we're going to hear it regurgitated by the McCaskets!"

Deck the chairs

E-mailer Schaumburg Pete: "Isn't all this complaining about Lovie's use of timeouts kind of like complaining about the menu on the Titanic?"

Best headline

Sportspickle.com: "Gary Bettman plants rumor that Sidney Crosby has a harem."

New balance

S.F. Chronicle's Scott Ostler: "The Yankees snag Curtis Granderson and the Giants apparently can't afford Juan Uribe. What else do you need to know about baseball?"

The tap-in

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel: "All over the country this week, high school-aged boys are quitting the football team and taking up golf."

And finally -

CBS' David Letterman: "The White House announced that the Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to a prison in Illinois. That should really make up for Chicago not getting the Olympics."

brozner@dailyherald.com