Tom Ricketts doesn’t want to get into the idea of Theo Epstein changing the culture of the Cubs:

In fact, as Chairman Tom Ricketts said during the announcement of Hendry’s firing in August, ” ’Culture’ is a slippery word.”

Was it the culture of the Cubs that made new players struggle at the outset of their time in Chicago, such as Carlos Pena in 2011 and Moises Alou, Derrek Lee, Jacque Jones, Milton Bradley and others before him? Was it the culture of the Red Sox that led to their record-setting collapse in 2011?

Individual actions on the field have more to do with a team’s chances of success than any “cultural” issues – one reason Ricketts ignored the Red Sox collapse when making Epstein his primary target.

Exactly. Ricketts realizes that Theo’s process is good. It doesn’t always yield the best results, but in the long run, Theo is more likely to sign the better players at a good price and develop a good farm system. Of course, there will be some bad luck along the way (Carl Crawrford, John Lackey).