CONNECTION BETWEEN SORIANO SIGNING & NEW CUBS' OWNERSHIP

NY Times' Murray Chass sees a connection between the sale of the Cubs and the Soriano signing:

• "The timing of MacPhail'’s departure and Soriano'’s signing might be coincidental, but it's hard to believe that MacPhail would have authorized the amount of money or number of years. It seems that someone in the Cubs' hierarchy has given Hendry the green light to offer uncharacteristically large sums of money, knowing that the Tribune Company won'’t be paying the bills for much longer."

(I read MacPhail's ignominious performance with the Cubs has been rewarded-- he now works even more closely with Allen "Bud" Selig. Being paid, no doubt). sm

• "News reports in recent weeks have indicated that the Tribune Company may sell its newspapers and its baseball team, and a deal the Cubs have concluded with a free agent lends credence to that likelihood. If Tribune were going to hold onto the Chicago Cubs, the Cubs would not be signing Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year contract for $136 million."
• "Dusty Baker, Piniella'’s predecessor, may very well ask why the Cubs didn'’t spend that kind of money during his four years as their manager. But spending that kind of money has never been the Tribune Company'’s style, nor the style of Andy MacPhail, whose resignation as the Cubs' president and chief executive is effective today."

Items from NY Times article by Murray Chass, 11/20/06

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