CHICAGO -- "They boo people at Cubs Convention?"

That was a question posed to me by one of Alfonso Soriano's friends after I surmised that Soriano will probably get booed at Cubs Convention on Friday night. Yes, fans occasionally boo during the convention's star-studded opening ceremonies in the big ballroom at the Hilton. Though as far as I can remember, the fans' ire has mostly been directed at managers (Dusty Baker got it in 2006), pitching coaches (Larry Rothschild heard it several times) and management types like Jim Hendry and Crane Kenney (last year).

But if I had to guess which players, if any, would get booed this season, Soriano would be at the top of my list. In fact, he'd very likely be the only one.

There's no Hendry to heckle, and Kenney, the team president of business whatever, would be wise to enter the room alongside new baseball president Theo Epstein, who will get treated like a rock star more on that night than during his charity concert Saturday night in Boston.

I like to think of the Cubs Convention as the largest gathering of tucked-in Greg Maddux jerseys, but it's also a great place to take the pulse of the die-hard fans who keep the Cubs profitable and Wrigley Field packed, year after year.

While the arrival of Epstein pumped up the base, the Cubs are going to suffer once again on the field in 2012. This team isn't built to compete in a championship way. Everyone knows this, but the new front office is left to promote its foundation for sustained success, because hope, once again, is all Cubs fans have. At least this time, there is some heft behind it.

Cubs tickets are still expensive, despite three straight down years, with minimal reductions scattered across the schedule. If you want to see a Saturday game from the bleachers from mid-May to mid-August, it will cost you $85.12 a ticket. I guess the Cubs Convention crowd is a bad place to look for spendthrifts, though. Tickets cost $65; a steep price to hear Carl Rice speak.

Is Theo enough to spark some fans' fading light? All he's done so far is sign middling to slightly promising veterans to fill the gaping holes. That's not an indictment, just the facts. One contract he's expected to shed is Soriano, who is owed $54 million over the next three seasons.

Soriano, who just turned 36, is a dinosaur on this team. Or perhaps a better term would be a ghost. He represents the team's failure to break the hexes, jinxes and self-made roadblocks through wild spending. I've always liked Soriano, and I think he should be kept around this year, if only to give the team a legitimate power bat. He could still be a very useful designated hitter.

Soriano wasn't originally scheduled to be at the Cubs Convention, but he was in town with family, so it worked out. He'll even sign some autographs Saturday, after Epstein deftly handles questions about getting rid of him.

Epstein, who has to take off after taking part in what promises to be a fawning/nerd-centric panel, will get a chance to talk to Soriano for the first time Friday, if he hasn't already this week.

Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer, hadn't been able to connect with their high-priced slugger previously. I guess that means Soriano wasn't included on Epstein's listening tour before he got rid of Carlos Zambrano.

Soriano will be fine with whatever response he gets. I'm curious to see the reaction to Starlin Castro's presence at the convention, and in turn, how Castro handles the unwanted attention from his legal situation.

A couple days ago, I asked a Cubs employee if Castro was still coming and the employee wondered why I'd even wonder about it.

Hey, it's not like he's been in the news for anything negative.

Castro has been accused of, though not charged with, sexual assault, stemming from a late September incident. According to ESPNChicago.com sources, Chicago police could speak with Castro this weekend. Castro's attorneys have stridently denied the charges and the Cubs have said all the right things in response to the questions they can't answer.

Since I don't know what happened, and all we have is a vague police report to go off of, I can't say much about this story, but he's innocent until proven guilty.

As a reporter, I'm all for transparency and facing the question-firing squad. I love the interesting story.

But I don't get why the team is teeing up the young All-Star for a media inquiry on Friday night. If the Cubs try to hide him, and Castro doesn't talk to the media at the convention, he will look like he's hiding something. I guess the same goes for keeping him away from the event as well. I just wonder if this is a good idea.

There's no reason for Castro to come, unless the team really wants the 22-year-old All-Star to take all the tough questions now, rather than the first day of spring training. And is it good marketing to remind fans your best player is also being accused of a crime?

The good news for the Cubs is that fans have short and highly selective memories. And Castro is the only player to get excited about, because he represents the future.

With the exodus of Aramis Ramirez, Sean Marshall and Carlos Pena, there is every reason to believe this team will be just as bad, if not worse, than last year's 71-91 team. I believe Dale Sveum will be a better manager than Mike Quade and Chris Bosio a better pitching coach than Mark Riggins, but I'm just not seeing the Cubs having the horses to compete in the NL Central.

That's fine. This is a rebuilding year, no one expects too much. Epstein and Hoyer have a track record of success, and even the cynics like me are confident in the new leadership of the team.

I never stay long for Cubs Convention, but I'm eager to gauge the mood of the fans. Who will they boo and why will they pay money to watch this team?

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/ ... convention

Carrie Muskat
#Cubs announce new patio deck in RF bleachers at Wrigley. Will add 70-foot LED board

Goathater1328 wrote:IP, Wrigley needs to be modernized. If they can put seats in the monster at Fenway we can put a patio in RF.

sedgy145 wrote:HR line will still be the same, so not any tougher. I wonder how, if any, this will affect wind.

A dramatically-overhauled roster won't be the only fresh look at Wrigley Field next season.

The Cubs announced plans to reconfigure the right-field bleachers by elevating seating in the newly-constructed Budweiser Patio section. The new design was revealed on Saturday at the team's annual fan convention.

"We're thrilled to expand our partnership with Budweiser and offer our fans an exciting new experience in the right field Budweiser Bleacher section at Wrigley Field," said Wally Hayward, the Cubs' executive vice president, chief sales and marketing officer, Chicago Cubs. "The Budweiser Patio will provide our fans with a rooftop experience inside the ballpark and more baseball content during the game on our new 75-foot LED board."

The section will hold up to 150 fans and won't require an actual addition to the stadium. Standing room only and seated tickets will come with an all-inclusive food and beverage package.

"We are still formulating the plan as to how the section would be sold and the pricing," said Crane Kenney, the team's president of business operations. "I think it will be a great section for groups because you're going to be able to aggregate seats. What we are finding about our suites and other areas is that people want to circulate. You see it on the rooftops and that's what was kind of generated this. We are still working on whether it will be sold to groups or individuals.

Kenney said the Cubs' plan for the Budweiser Patio wasn't inspired by the seats the Boston Red Sox installed on top of Fenway Park's famed Green Monster in 2003.

"No not at all," Kenney said when asked if the plan was similar to seats on top of the Green Monster. "I get that question asked all the time. Why isn't that section full even though the rest of the bleachers are full? So we've done some research into that as to why and one of the issues is that there's some obstruction. So if you sit in the very center field section of that section, you're blocked from seeing the center-fielder. So we're trying to alleviate the obstruction there. In one of the ways to do that is to raise the seats up. So you're not looking over the well and the way the well cuts in there. So that depression there creates the obstructed view. So the elevate on was really generated by trying to avoid obstructed views."

The team expects the renovation to be done in advance of Opening Day 2012.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/ ... t-facelift