Ricketts said he has "never bought into, 'I should have a baseball guy to watch my baseball guy and his baseball guys.' Then what do you get, a baseball guy to watch the baseball guy who's watching your baseball guys?"
Yes, why should he adopt the structure that other organizations have adopted to, you know, win more baseball games? I think that the idea should be ridiculed just like he did. The Cubs clearly know better than other teams.
I have to admit I still think the whole idea of hiring a "baseball" guy as president or to oversee the GM is a little overblown. Yeah there are a few good organizations who do that (I guess the Braves, Rangers, Angels, and Marlins are the only four that come to mind?), but there are a lot of really good organizations that don't (Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Phillies, Cardinals, etc.).
Not to say it's an easy thing to hire a smart GM, but I still don't think it takes a baseball insider to identify one. Ownership needs to have a good idea what it's looking for in a GM, and a lot of the things Ricketts has said he thinks are important to having a winning organization are just about all the things I agree with - farm system development, scouting, understanding statistics, etc. If he sticks to those ideas when searching for a new GM, he should be able to identify some very promising candidates with or without the aid of a Pat Gillick or John Schuerholz. There will be plenty of promising candidates who will be knocking on the Cubs' door who are strong in all of those areas.
I guess it's still a little disappointing to read he has "100% confidence" in Jim Hendry. Still, it will be interesting to see if he still feels that way in September when we're staring in the face of a 90+ loss season.