Jim Hendry's Biggest off-season mistake?

[bobbyd20]

There are so many choices

 

1) Trading for Pierre

 

2) Resigning Perez and Rusch to multi-year contracts above the league minimum

 

3) Signing Jones to a three-year deal

 

4) Failure to offer Nomar a incentive laden contract to play the outfield(after Nomar made sacrifices late in last season to give the impression he was interested in returning and willing to play somewhere other than SS)

 

5) Failure to sign another starter as insurance in case of injury (surprise) to Wood/Prior

 

6) Failure to go out and get Joe Girardi as the new manager when he was available

 

7) Failure to upgrade the coaching staff around Dusty Baker

 

8) Failure to resign Jose Macias as team mascot

 

9) Other

 

 

 

I think I'm going to put a vote in for #6. At least if Girardi was in charge, there would be some hope that fundamental mistakes would not be tolerated and optimism where he could lead this team.

[Banedon]

1,2,3,5 and 6 are all equally horrible IMO.

[goonys evil twin]

I think ignoring Nomar was the biggest mistake. It was extremely foolish.

 

The 2nd mistake was putting so much emphasis on getting a stereotypical leadoff man. The 3rd was resigning bum role players to way too much money. The 4th was ignoring starting pitching. The 5th was Jones's contract.

 

 

The biggest mistakes of his tenure has been ignoring the value of walks and overvaluing physical tools.

[soccer10k]

I would have th go with #2. What made Hendry think that Neifi and Glendon would be average players this year? There was no reason for him to think that. Regardless about what you think about the obsession with speed at the top of the lineup, I don't think anybody thought Pierre would be performing this poorly this year. So based on the fact that most everybody knew Rusch and Perez were no good, that was his biggest mistake.

[gflore34]

The mistakes are so glaringly obvious to everyone but the people in charge. One has to wonder if Hendry really does know anything about winning Baseball.

[Salazar89]

Pursuing Furcal with complete blindness.

 

Resulted ---> In losing Nomar and overpaying for Pierre.

 

Both Nomar's and Corey's numbers would look great on this team.

 

This would only have been made worse if we would have actually landed Furcal.

[goonys evil twin]

The mistakes are so glaringly obvious to everyone but the people in charge. One has to wonder if Hendry really does know anything about winning Baseball.

 

He came from the amateur game, and might be best suited for that game.

[cheapseats]

How about jerking Walker around in the offseason, virtually guaranteeing that he won't be back next year.

 

I'd rather not have Hairston as my starting 2B, and EPatt probably won't be ready yet, so add 2B as yet another hole that will need to be filled.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

His biggest mistake was sticking around.

[cheapseats]

 

This would only have been made worse if we would have actually landed Furcal.

 

A little soon to make that judgment, don't you think? Furcal had offseason knee surgery and started off terribly, but his OBP is already about 30 points higher than Ronny's and 60 points higher than Pierre's.

[CubinNY]

There are so many choices

 

1) Trading for Pierre

 

2) Resigning Perez and Rusch to multi-year contracts above the league minimum

 

3) Signing Jones to a three-year deal

 

4) Failure to offer Nomar a incentive laden contract to play the outfield(after Nomar made sacrifices late in last season to give the impression he was interested in returning and willing to play somewhere other than SS)

 

5) Failure to sign another starter as insurance in case of injury (surprise) to Wood/Prior

 

6) Failure to go out and get Joe Girardi as the new manager when he was available

 

7) Failure to upgrade the coaching staff around Dusty Baker

 

8) Failure to resign Jose Macias as team mascot

 

9) Other

 

 

 

I think I'm going to put a vote in for #6. At least if Girardi was in charge, there would be some hope that fundamental mistakes would not be tolerated and optimism where he could lead this team.

 

Why is Giradi a good manager? He seems to employ the smae outdated tactis of the current Cubs manager. He talks about hustle and the will to win and all other sorts of crap. And the Marlins suck.

 

What is good about Girardi? He use to be a Cub and was somewhat likeable while he was in Chicago?

[Caryatid]

 

This would only have been made worse if we would have actually landed Furcal.

 

A little soon to make that judgment, don't you think? Furcal had offseason knee surgery and started off terribly, but his OBP is already about 30 points higher than Ronny's and 60 points higher than Pierre's.

 

5 more years and 45 million for 30 points of OBP...I think they made the right call.

[bleedcubbieblue]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

 

It is the tribco refusal to sign top tier free agents and overspend it the root of all their problems. Trying to be fiscally responsible, puts them in a never ending cycle we are in now. Not in the bottom half of salary, never in the top 3, so we end up with a team like we are witnessing right now, which of course is the worst position to be in. Everyone once in a while, we get a bone thrown to us, and get lucky, but after watching Hendry these last few years, he makes Ed Lynch look like a genius, which I did not think was possible, but this organization right now is completely lost. When you consider the condition the ballclub was in when hendry took over and compare that to the condition the ballclub was in when Ed Lynch took it over, Hendry has many more mistakes, outside of a couple of very solid trades. Throw in that we have 2 very injury prone pitchers, that should be 1-2 in our rotation.

 

Yes, I understand that Beltran did not have a good season last year, and both are overpaid, but he signed for multiyears, and he and his numbers would look better than anything we have manning the outfield right now. Yes, it is nice to see Cedeno getting a shot, and I do think he will be a solid shortstop, just not great like Tejada.

 

Instead, we have people like Pierre, Jones, Neifi, and Rusch, 2 taken off the scrap heap, that had decent seasons last year, and were rewarded with a lot of money. This has to fall on Hendry.

 

Truthfully, even with his extension, the right thing to do is resign.

 

Now for his next act, let Kerry walk after this season, which has to be done, and watch him become the healthy stud pitcher we have always envisioned him to be.

 

BCB

[YearofDaCubs]

 

This would only have been made worse if we would have actually landed Furcal.

 

A little soon to make that judgment, don't you think? Furcal had offseason knee surgery and started off terribly, but his OBP is already about 30 points higher than Ronny's and 60 points higher than Pierre's.

Granted, Furcal hasn't been playing to his potential but when you compare him to Pierre...NO CONTEST.

 

Furcal

36R 45H 2HR 16RBI 25BB 29K 10SB .245AVG .333OBP

 

Pierre

 

24R 44H 0HR 2RBI 8BB 18K 14SB .235AVG .270OBP

[ROBBY51]

Many mistakes in my opinion.

 

1. The coaching staff is terrible. Clines, Mathews, Rothchild are simply NOT getting the job done. This reflects on Dusty which means he also is not getting it done. Should have canned them all.

 

2. With better coaching we could have kept Cory and he would have improved with us rather than the O's. Didn't need Piere.

 

3. Letting Nomar leave. Stupid!

 

4. Counting on Lee to play almost the entire season. I wondered last winter what would happen if he went down, and he did. If we had a decent backup ( Nomer) Walker would be at second rather than Neifi and Hairston.

 

5 Jerking Walker around is right. Has as much heart as anyone on this team.

 

6. Not getting a right hand bat to alternate with Jones in right against leftys..

 

7. Why do we have Blanco as backup catcher? He is closer to a sure out at the plate than anyone I have ever seen.

 

8. The signing of Neifi, Hairston, Rusch was pathetic.

 

58 years I have lived with this team, and I am embaressed. :oops: I am out for this year and possibly forever!

[Guest]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

[cheapseats]

 

This would only have been made worse if we would have actually landed Furcal.

 

A little soon to make that judgment, don't you think? Furcal had offseason knee surgery and started off terribly, but his OBP is already about 30 points higher than Ronny's and 60 points higher than Pierre's.

 

5 more years and 45 million for 30 points of OBP...I think they made the right call.

 

Again, it's a little too early to judge. There's only a 30 point difference in OBP right now, but the gap is widening rather than closing. Furcal had offseason knee surgery and probably shouldn't have gotten onto the field as quickly as he did.

 

If Ronny can cut down on the throwing errors and drastically improve his plate discipline, he could be an asset on a contending club, but he does need to improve in those two areas.

[RynoRules]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

 

They have done that sort of thing for years. The last time they bit their lip and signed the best and most predictably proficient FA on the mkt was Dawson in freakin' 87'. Recently could have had indisputable upgrades like Guerrero, Tejada, Hampton (he was really good back then but lost it at Coors), Thome, to name a few.

 

EDIT: Instead ofthose guys, we get people like Kal Daniels, Danny Jackson, HRod, Dave Smith, Goose Gossage at age 42, Jacque, Luis Gonzalez (pre HR outburst; I won't speculate as to the cause), Blauser...the freakin list goes on and on.

[YearofDaCubs]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

 

They have done that sort of thing for years. The last time they bit their lip and signed the best and most predictably proficient FA on the mkt was Dawson in freakin' 87'. Recently could have had indisputable upgrades like Guerrero, Tejada, Hampton (he was really good back then but lost it at Coors), Thome, to name a few.

 

EDIT: Instead ofthose guys, we get people like Kal Daniels, Danny Jackson, HRod, Dave Smith, Goose Gossage at age 42, Jacque, Luis Gonzalez (pre HR outburst; I won't speculate as to the cause), Blauser...the freakin list goes on and on.

And then people wonder why the Cubs still haven't won one.

[Derwood]

The irony is that he lost Nomar by pursuing Furcal, but LA ended up with both.

[gflore34]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

 

They have done that sort of thing for years. The last time they bit their lip and signed the best and most predictably proficient FA on the mkt was Dawson in freakin' 87'. Recently could have had indisputable upgrades like Guerrero, Tejada, Hampton (he was really good back then but lost it at Coors), Thome, to name a few.

 

EDIT: Instead ofthose guys, we get people like Kal Daniels, Danny Jackson, HRod, Dave Smith, Goose Gossage at age 42, Jacque, Luis Gonzalez (pre HR outburst; I won't speculate as to the cause), Blauser...the freakin list goes on and on.

 

Danny Jackson - I think he managed to pitch only one 3 up, 3 down inning as a Cub.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

2. With better coaching we could have kept Cory and he would have improved with us rather than the O's. Didn't need Piere.

 

Yup.

 

And horribly overpaying for Pierre.

[Andy]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

 

They have done that sort of thing for years. The last time they bit their lip and signed the best and most predictably proficient FA on the mkt was Dawson in freakin' 87'. Recently could have had indisputable upgrades like Guerrero, Tejada, Hampton (he was really good back then but lost it at Coors), Thome, to name a few.

 

EDIT: Instead ofthose guys, we get people like Kal Daniels, Danny Jackson, HRod, Dave Smith, Goose Gossage at age 42, Jacque, Luis Gonzalez (pre HR outburst; I won't speculate as to the cause), Blauser...the freakin list goes on and on.

The only reason they got Dawson in 1987 was because he gave them a blank contract already signed and told them to pay him whatever, because he wanted to be here that badly.

[bleedcubbieblue]

Offseason???? You can make that offseasons!

 

Starting off after our run in 2003, instead of signing Tejada when he had the opportunity, they decided against it because he AGon was due 5 million that year. Still paying for that move. The following year, because Sammy was still on the books, we could not sign Beltran.

I personally go back to 2002 where we didn't dump Alou to make room for Vlad. Same thing (as you say) in 2003 with Tejada and in 2004 with Beltran.

 

Once they finally see that signing a top free agent will ultimately keep them a better team, and stay competitive for a longer period, along with costing them less money in the long term, things will stay the same. The postion they are in year in and year out, never the biggest spender, never the smallest spender, keeps them in the position they are always in, which is a relatively high payroll, hoping to pay .500 ball. Not the way things should be done.

 

They seem to never target the right player, just the way things are, and will be, until they blow it up, or sell off the team.

[Fro]

Yep, they figure if they field a team that has a realistic chance to win the division every year, they'll sell out Wrigley and they don't have any need/desire to do anything more than that.

 

At some point, there has to be a push to win it all before Prior and Z become free agents.