Author Interview - Wrigley Season Ticket 2007
Stuart Shea leads an all-star cast of writers putting together a preview of the 2007 Chicago Cubs under Lou Piniella. Great information
is gathered on the Cubs' top prospects, insider information on the media covering the Cubs, the Wood and Prior saga, and much more.
The book is a witty and honest assessment of the Cubs present and past. View the interview with
the author of Wrigley Season Ticket 2007, Stuart Shea below.
How were you able to gather the cast of writers for this book?
Stuart Shea - In my 15 years of work as a baseball writer, I�ve met many qualified writers who just haven�t gotten as many breaks as the
Peter Gammonses of the world. When I was hired to edit Wrigley Season Ticket 2007, this was a chance to give them some exposure and a chance to
be associated with a high-quality publication.
How long did it take to complete?
Stuart Shea - From conception to printing, the project took more than six months.
What was your biggest surprise when digging for information on the Cubs or their players?
Stuart Shea - That�s a good question. I guess one big surprise was Marci Shear�s article on the Cubs� top 20 prospects. For once, the team actually
had 20 prospects! In fact, Rocky Cherry didn�t even make our list.
The book has some great information on Cubs prospects, specifically, Felix Pie. What do you hope the Cubs do with Felix Pie this year?
Stuart Shea - I hope they let him play, especially against righties, and allow him to try and get his feet wet. We need to see if his approach
at the plate has matured. That being said, I worry a lot about Matt Murton losing playing time; we need to see what he can do. Obviously,
I�m more interested in seeing Felix Pie and Matt Murton play than I am in seeing Jacque Jones and Cliff Floyd.
It was amusing to read the section on "Where are they now?" in reference to the 2003 Cubs. Was it surprising to find where most of these players ended up? Who was the most surprising?
Stuart Shea - I�m not surprised that most of these guys are already gone. The 2003 team was a last-gasp kind of club anyway. I guess the most surprising to me was Grudzielanek. He�s just as good now as he was then�a consistent guy who doesn�t amaze in any area, but is simply a quality major league player. Kenny Lofton is another guy I wish the Cubs had held on to.
2007 marked the first time since they started pitching where most fans weren't depending on Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. The chapter, "Like Sand Through The Hourglass" chronologically shows the careers of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, highlighting their many trips to the DL. What do you think the future holds for Wood and Prior? Do you see either sticking around in Cubbie Blue after 2007?
Stuart Shea - That article was great when Phil Meyers turned it in last December, and it�s even more relevant now. As a Cub fan, I don�t even think about these guys anymore. Prior is history; his contract is up and he won�t be back. Wood? Who knows. If the Cubs get 50 helpful innings from him this year, I�ll be pleasantly surprised. Time to move on. It�s time for Rich Hill and Angel Guzman and Juan Mateo.
The book does a great job chronologically laying out Hendry's hits and misses as the Cubs GM. Other than acquiring Soriano, what has Jim Hendry's best move been? What was his worse? Do you think the free-agents in Soriano, Lilly, Marquis, and Floyd were the right choices?
Stuart Shea - Hendry�s made some very good trades, picking up Ramirez, Lofton, Barrett, etc., but his free-agent signings haven�t been so good. The starting pitching signings this winter were decent, but the deals were for too many years. I like what Hendry did for the bullpen in the last year or so; Ryan Dempster may be the worst pitcher in that pen.
I didn�t like the Soriano deal at the time, and I still don�t. If he hits 50 homers this year, I still won�t like it. Who wants to be trapped in an eight-year deal? Floyd is okay, but the big problem with the Cubs this year is that they just gathered up a bunch of players without really thinking about how to use them, or what their true needs were.
The idea of Soriano as a leadoff man, for starters, is ridiculous; you waste his power up there and you hamstring the lineup with a poor OBP guy at the top. Ryan Theriot might be able to do the leadoff job, but he�s not exactly a kid, and who sits when he plays?
The outfield is crammed with guys who deserve to start and, more importantly, all of whom believe they should start. There�s not a true bench player among them, nobody who accepts his role as a reserve and can be ready to pinch-hit.
None of the middle infielders, on the other hand, are good enough hitters to be starters, and only Izturis inspires my confidence defensively. I really have no confidence that Lou Piniella knows how he�s going to get through this logjam of players. You can�t have 12 regulars.
Ronny Cedeno, for example, is wasted as a utilityman; he clearly needs a year playing every day at Triple-A in order to learn the strike zone. It helps him NOT AT ALL to be in the majors sitting on the bench. The Mark DeRosa signing was pure folly, as the chances he�ll do what he did in 2006 are almost zero.
In the chapter about how the Cubs are covered by the media, it was very interesting to learn the details about how the various forms of media are handled by the front office. In what was described as a "small, cramped, at times nearly suffocating interview room", how much longer can Lou Piniella keep his cool with the media? Do you feel the media is intimidated by Piniella?
Stuart Shea - Piniella would rather do interviews in his office, but that won�t happen; the office is too small. The interview room is really substandard, an affront to the people who have to cover the team.
Piniella can be a charmer, but also a loose cannon at times; if things really don�t go well, he could either become a laughingstock or a pariah, because the fans have very (and justifiably) high expectations that this club should win. The club has certainly tried in some ways to intimidate and shut off media criticism. That kind of junk wouldn�t work in a really competitive media environment like Boston, New York, or L.A., but because we�ve only got four daily papers here, it is easier to get away with this kind of stuff.
The book spends time shedding light on the Wrigley Field Premium Tickets scandal from 2002. Has there been any changes made by the Chicago Cubs or the State of Illinois on the ticketing laws?
Stuart Shea - None. And I don�t expect any, he wrote cynically.
Almost twenty games into the season, what is your prediction for the Cubs in 2007?
Stuart Shea - I told people before the season that I stuck by our �prediction� in the magazine, that the Cubs would go 80-82. I still think that. And you know what? After the 2006 disaster, an 80-82 record ain�t so bad. The trouble is that 1) the NL Central is perceived as a bad�i.e. winnable�division, and 2) Jim Hendry spent the equivalent of the GNP of a small country this winter to bring Chicago a winner. But teams generally don�t get turned around 20-25 games quickly. It takes a year or two.
CBB thanks Stuart Shea and and appreciates his time. Visit Stuart's blog at
stuartshea.blogspot.com or purchase the book from Maple Street Press.
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