Jim Hendry should be Fired - NOW!

[Soul]

Our OF costs us about what, $26m per season on average? Are we getting anywhere near value for that money?

 

This word, 'value.' What does it mean, again? I think I heard it once, long long ago.

[Soul]

 

A bullpen full of guys each with his own personal gasoline can.

 

 

The bullpen really eats at me. Eyre and Howry are done. They are old and they were signed to silly contracts. The offense and this bullpen share the burden of a 2-12 record in 1-run games. The bullpen won't get better overnight. It has to be crafted with a mix of young pitchers, a good closer, and an experienced pitcher or two who isn't over the hill.

 

Arizona doesn't have a pitcher in the bullpen over 28-yrs old. Those pitchers have developed or are almost there. Arizona is 15-5 in 1-run games - the best in baseball. The top 5 guys in their bullpen either developed through the system or have spent at least 3 years in the system.

 

As for the Cubs, the only pitcher in the pen even worth bragging about is Michael Wuertz.

 

..and he's starting to take on water too.

[jersey cubs fan]

Greg Couch talked to Kevin Towers and found his philosophy on building a successfull bullpen differs greatly from Hendry's - his bullpen results differ greatly from Hendry's as well. Think there is a connection?

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/couch/408464,CST-SPT-greg31.article

 

''Velocity is overrated,'' he said. ''There are very few 93-, 94-plus [mph] guys who throw the fastball consistently over plate. I'll take command over velocity any day.''

 

OK, let's add this up. Forget the lefty-to-face-a-lefty-hitter thing. Don't worry about velocity. Get guys who can throw strikes. And because relievers aren't reliable from one year to the next, he said, sign them to short-term deals.

 

Holy shnikies I think I love this man. Strike throwing relievers on short-term deals, who knew?

[Amazing_Grace]

It boggles my mind that we as fans see all of these issues with this roster but Lou and Jimbo do not. It's almost common sense to get rid of Eyre and bench Izturis but they can't even see it when it's right in front of their faces. There are so many issues with this team that a complete blow up of the roster might actually be a great idea, but too bad a lot of these guys have NTC's and are overpaid. Thank you Jimbo.

 

I think it has to do with Jim's glass half full mentality. The guy seems to put together teams that can win, if a lot of things go right. But he's awful at planning for unexpected, or even expected, setbacks. Lots of teams play through injuries and down years from players. Jim seems to think, "Well, at his best Jacque Jones is a pretty darn good RF" without calculating the odds that he will actually be at this best at any given moment/year. Or, "Izturis was all star caliber for half a season, so we expect him to be all star caliber for us." Jim only thinks about what players can do at their peak, without realizing that peak years don't last forever and are not guaranteed to anybody.

 

These characteristics are what made Jim a very good talent scout and minor league director. They make him a horrible GM. Being able to tell what a player's ceiling is and what raw talent a guy has is a very good skill if your job is simply to evaluate talent and decide who to pick and develop. Other than undervaluing plate discipline as a skill, Hendry did a fairly good job when he was in charge of the minor leagues.

 

A GM must make much more complex judgements, not about what a guy can do, but what he is LIKELY to do, and whether it's worth the cost and risk involved in signing him. He also has to be able to look at the big picture, beyond individual players and positions to build a team that is competitive in terms of offense, defense, and pitching.

 

If you look at the individual decisions Hendry has made, you find that some turn out good and some bad, like most GMs. He finds some gems (Ramirez, Lee, Barrett) and finds some turds (Jones, Pierre, Izturis, McGriff). However, the teams he has built have been, by and large, flawed, incomplete, and bad.

[The Voice of Reason]

Fire Hendry and hire Bruce Miles. Bruce has three things going for him that Hendry doesn't - Knowledge of what's important, an open mind and a sense of humor. All three are very important when dealing with the train wreck known as the Chicago Cubs.

 

Bruce Miles

He has been saddled with a roster full of bloated, guaranteed, long-term contracts that are nearly impossible to move because of poor performance. And we hereby nominate general manager Jim Hendry for the Nobel Prize in science.

 

Hendry has pulled off an amazing feat of human cloning as he has come up with one corner outfielder on top of another

[soccer10k]

At least there is the farm system Hendry has built and oversees to fall back on. :roll:

 

Only one prospect (Pie) ranked in the top 50.

 

 

http://www.projectprospect.com/top-50-update-52207/

 

Holy cow, a project prospect link. I know the guy who started up that website. He wrote at the UCD school paper when I was.

[The Voice of Reason]

Nice bullpen you built Jim. It held the Rockies to only six runs in the ninth inning.

 

You bumbling idiot.