Jim Hendry Appreciation thread.

[biittner77]

-Nomar was persona no grata in Boston

 

While this is true, he not only got Nomar for virtually nothing but he got the Red Sox to give the Cubs Matt Murton as well.

 

But its easier to ignore the facts that disfavor your argument (see the comment about the Lee aquisition above), like the fact that we have had better young pitching under the Hendry regime than perhaps at any other time in franchise history.

 

The pure hate towards Hendry is strange to me. He has done a poor job during at least half his tenure (if you measure season by season), but he has also done some good things. There also seems to be some discounting or ignorance of MacPhail and Baker's roles in all of this.

 

I don't understand why that is so hard for some of you to acknowledge the things Hendry has done well. It's like the guy owes some of money.

 

The Hendry regime has been disappointing. I remember being very excited when Hendry was promoted to GM. At the time I believed- as did a lot of other people- that the guy that built the #1 farm system in baseball would not squander those resources. I believed Hendry could establish the Cubs as a perennial contender.

 

Yes, Hendry added a lot of young, homegrown pitching but then he hired the worst possible manager to lead the team.

 

Hendry has made some good trades but he has also overpaid for a lot of crappy bench players.

 

Basically Hendry has been very mediocre.

[RynoRules]

-Nomar was persona no grata in Boston

 

While this is true, he not only got Nomar for virtually nothing but he got the Red Sox to give the Cubs Matt Murton as well.

 

But its easier to ignore the facts that disfavor your argument (see the comment about the Lee aquisition above), like the fact that we have had better young pitching under the Hendry regime than perhaps at any other time in franchise history.

 

The pure hate towards Hendry is strange to me. He has done a poor job during at least half his tenure (if you measure season by season), but he has also done some good things. There also seems to be some discounting or ignorance of MacPhail and Baker's roles in all of this.

 

I don't understand why that is so hard for some of you to acknowledge the things Hendry has done well. It's like the guy owes some of money.

 

The Hendry regime has been disappointing. I remember being very excited when Hendry was promoted to GM. At the time I believed- as did a lot of other people- that the guy that built the #1 farm system in baseball would not squander those resources. I believed Hendry could establish the Cubs as a perennial contender.

 

Yes, Hendry added a lot of young, homegrown pitching but then he hired the worst possible manager to lead the team.

 

Hendry has made some good trades but he has also overpaid for a lot of crappy bench players.

 

Basically Hendry has been very mediocre.

 

I don't take issue with anything you wrote, except that I think "medicore" implies "average". I think Hendry's overall performance has been below avg., but I still wonder how much that had to do with MacPhail and his adoration of certain methods, player-types, and manager-types.

[Cubfanintheknow]

I don't take issue with anything you wrote, except that I think "medicore" implies "average". I think Hendry's overall performance has been below avg., but I still wonder how much that had to do with MacPhail and his adoration of certain methods, player-types, and manager-types.

 

I believe Andy MacPhail had a hand in the hiring of Dusty Baker and had a rather large say in payroll considerations. But I think he left much of the roster work to Jim Hendry. MacPhail did a lot of work for Major League Baseball (seemed like he was Bud Selig's right-hand man for a while there), leaving him little time to deal with many of the roster moves Hendry pulled off.

 

While Hendry has done a pretty fair job trading, he's made more of his fair share of head-scratching roster moves. I think if we took a look at the rosters over Hendry years, we'd find a lot of players who played for the Cubs, then never wore another major league uniform (Jose Macias and Freddie Bynum come to mind). To me, if you have players that no one else wants when you're done with them, they pretty much had no reason to be on your roster in the first place.

[Magnetic Curses]

hendry's a bad gm.

 

last year was the year of hendry's grand anti-moneyball experiment. he put together a team full of guys who don't walk, don't see a lot of pitches, and put the ball in play at a high rate.

 

unfortunately, he doesn't understand that putting the ball in play means nothing in the grand scheme of things. hendry's hypothesis that the more balls put in play=more runs scored was a miserable failure, he should have been fired for putting together such a rotten team.

 

my fear is that hendry will blame derrek lee's injury last season for why his theory fell on it's face, along with the team--and hold fast to his idiot logic, biding his time until he can do something similar with our cubs.

 

seriously, there should be a book written about last year's cubs with exclusive interviews with the front office. losing in an unfair game which was greatly stacked in your favor.

 

it's time for depodesta. this go round, he should be given as much time as we've given hendry.

[CubinNY]

-Lee got traded to Baltimore first

No he didn't. If Lee was traded to Baltimore then Florida wouldn't have been able to trade him to the Cubs.

 

Lee was traded to Baltimore, the deal was done but Lee and and the club couldn't come to an agreement on a contract extension.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/031125lee.html

 

Florida had worked out a deal that would have sent Lee to Baltimore for a hitter and a pitcher, but it collapsed when the Orioles couldn't get Lee to agree on a long-term contract.

[CubinNY]

-Nomar was persona no grata in Boston

 

While this is true, he not only got Nomar for virtually nothing but he got the Red Sox to give the Cubs Matt Murton as well.

 

But its easier to ignore the facts that disfavor your argument (see the comment about the Lee aquisition above), like the fact that we have had better young pitching under the Hendry regime than perhaps at any other time in franchise history.

 

The pure hate towards Hendry is strange to me. He has done a poor job during at least half of his tenure (if you measure season by season), but he has also done some good things. There also seems to be some discounting or ignorance of MacPhail and Baker's roles in all of this.

 

I don't understand why it is so hard for some of you to acknowledge the things Hendry has done well. It's like the guy owes some of you money.

 

I don't understand why you want to put blame on Baker and MacPhail. Hendry hired Baker and may have been willing to give him an extension before the team tottaly bit the big one.

 

I don't hate Hendry. I have no feelings toward him personally. I do hate what has happend since 2003. The Cubs seemed to be on the brink of something special.

[RynoRules]

I don't take issue with anything you wrote, except that I think "medicore" implies "average". I think Hendry's overall performance has been below avg., but I still wonder how much that had to do with MacPhail and his adoration of certain methods, player-types, and manager-types.

 

I believe Andy MacPhail had a hand in the hiring of Dusty Baker and had a rather large say in payroll considerations. But I think he left much of the roster work to Jim Hendry. MacPhail did a lot of work for Major League Baseball (seemed like he was Bud Selig's right-hand man for a while there), leaving him little time to deal with many of the roster moves Hendry pulled off.

 

While Hendry has done a pretty fair job trading, he's made more of his fair share of head-scratching roster moves. I think if we took a look at the rosters over Hendry years, we'd find a lot of players who played for the Cubs, then never wore another major league uniform (Jose Macias and Freddie Bynum come to mind). To me, if you have players that no one else wants when you're done with them, they pretty much had no reason to be on your roster in the first place.

 

Agree completely. It just seems as though that approach isn't being taken this year, which makes me wonder who was really behind it.

[RynoRules]

-Nomar was persona no grata in Boston

 

While this is true, he not only got Nomar for virtually nothing but he got the Red Sox to give the Cubs Matt Murton as well.

 

But its easier to ignore the facts that disfavor your argument (see the comment about the Lee aquisition above), like the fact that we have had better young pitching under the Hendry regime than perhaps at any other time in franchise history.

 

The pure hate towards Hendry is strange to me. He has done a poor job during at least half of his tenure (if you measure season by season), but he has also done some good things. There also seems to be some discounting or ignorance of MacPhail and Baker's roles in all of this.

 

I don't understand why it is so hard for some of you to acknowledge the things Hendry has done well. It's like the guy owes some of you money.

 

I don't understand why you want to put blame on Baker and MacPhail. Hendry hired Baker and may have been willing to give him an extension before the team tottaly bit the big one.

 

I don't hate Hendry. I have no feelings toward him personally. I do hate what has happend since 2003. The Cubs seemed to be on the brink of something special.

 

Its not difficult to quantify why I blame Baker - we have all been over it a million times. And if you look closely and view MacPhail's tenure not just through the prisim of his time as Prez but also what he did as GM for both the Cubs and Twins, I think you might see what I am getting at here.

[moorecg]

hendry's a bad gm.

 

last year was the year of hendry's grand anti-moneyball experiment. he put together a team full of guys who don't walk, don't see a lot of pitches, and put the ball in play at a high rate.

 

unfortunately, he doesn't understand that putting the ball in play means nothing in the grand scheme of things. hendry's hypothesis that the more balls put in play=more runs scored was a miserable failure, he should have been fired for putting together such a rotten team.

 

my fear is that hendry will blame derrek lee's injury last season for why his theory fell on it's face, along with the team--and hold fast to his idiot logic, biding his time until he can do something similar with our cubs.

 

seriously, there should be a book written about last year's cubs with exclusive interviews with the front office. losing in an unfair game which was greatly stacked in your favor.

 

it's time for depodesta. this go round, he should be given as much time as we've given hendry.

 

How many World Series titles has moneyball won Billy Beane?

 

I don't discount his thoughts entirely...but the constant references to "moneyball" drive me nuts. Hendry's done some good things and Hendry's done some bad...for the last several years people have thought Jockety was great...this year he organizes a team with a starting rotation of 3 converted relievers, and Kip Wells...he gave the same contract to Juan Encarnicon as Hendry did to Jones...Beane traded us a catcher that's hit .291 with a .404 OBP for us, for a guy who doesn't really play at all for them...

Hendry resigned Z for a nice contract, Resigned A-ram for a nice contract, looks pretty smart with the Lilly deal...got about 5 more wins from Marquis than I ever expected...DeRosa has been a great signing...

 

There are many GMs that are worse...at least two in our own division.

[UK1679666180]

 

How many World Series titles has moneyball won Billy Beane?

 

I don't discount his thoughts entirely...but the constant references to "moneyball" drive me nuts. Hendry's done some good things and Hendry's done some bad...for the last several years people have thought Jockety was great...this year he organizes a team with a starting rotation of 3 converted relievers, and Kip Wells...he gave the same contract to Juan Encarnicon as Hendry did to Jones...Beane traded us a catcher that's hit .291 with a .404 OBP for us, for a guy who doesn't really play at all for them...

Hendry resigned Z for a nice contract, Resigned A-ram for a nice contract, looks pretty smart with the Lilly deal...got about 5 more wins from Marquis than I ever expected...DeRosa has been a great signing...

 

There are many GMs that are worse...at least two in our own division.

 

I'm not a big Beane guy, he's a good GM, not the best, but he consistently puts together some well-constructed rosters w/out much flexibility in FA. He has consistently put his team in a position to win, which I can't say for Hendry.

 

Like I said before, Hendry had a very good off-season as well as in-season trades and yet, the Cubs have struggled to be above .500 in the worst division in baseball.

 

Hendry has the tenure to be judged on his full body of work. Right now, it has been mediocre and if it's avg. at best, that isn't good enough.

[Exile on Waveland]

hendry's a bad gm.

 

last year was the year of hendry's grand anti-moneyball experiment. he put together a team full of guys who don't walk, don't see a lot of pitches, and put the ball in play at a high rate.

 

unfortunately, he doesn't understand that putting the ball in play means nothing in the grand scheme of things. hendry's hypothesis that the more balls put in play=more runs scored was a miserable failure, he should have been fired for putting together such a rotten team.

 

my fear is that hendry will blame derrek lee's injury last season for why his theory fell on it's face, along with the team--and hold fast to his idiot logic, biding his time until he can do something similar with our cubs.

 

seriously, there should be a book written about last year's cubs with exclusive interviews with the front office. losing in an unfair game which was greatly stacked in your favor.

 

it's time for depodesta. this go round, he should be given as much time as we've given hendry.

 

How many World Series titles has moneyball won Billy Beane?

 

I don't discount his thoughts entirely...but the constant references to "moneyball" drive me nuts. Hendry's done some good things and Hendry's done some bad...for the last several years people have thought Jockety was great...this year he organizes a team with a starting rotation of 3 converted relievers, and Kip Wells...he gave the same contract to Juan Encarnicon as Hendry did to Jones...Beane traded us a catcher that's hit .291 with a .404 OBP for us, for a guy who doesn't really play at all for them...

Hendry resigned Z for a nice contract, Resigned A-ram for a nice contract, looks pretty smart with the Lilly deal...got about 5 more wins from Marquis than I ever expected...DeRosa has been a great signing...

 

There are many GMs that are worse...at least two in our own division.

 

You're judging a GM off World Series titles? You might want to look at Oakland's yearly records, playoff appearances and payroll. Then you'll understand why people think Beane is a good -- no, great -- GM.

 

Then, after judging a GM on World Series titles, you go on to bash Jocketty. He just won a World Series, which was your only criterion for maligning Beane.

 

Finally, you can list some good moves for any GM -- especially one that's been on the job for about five years. Hendry's made some good moves, sure. It was inevitable. But, in the end, his teams have not performed. That's all that matters.

[TheDude]

Hendry has certainly made some dumb trades and ineffectual signings, but nobody can ignore the fact that the core of this team (Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, DeRosa, Zambrano, Lilly, Hill) is all Hendry.

 

The record over his tenure isn't there, largely due to last season alone, but the core of this team is locked up long-term and it looks damn good. I'm expecting the team to be a playoff team several times over the next few seasons.

[NCCubFan]

-Lee got traded to Baltimore first

No he didn't. If Lee was traded to Baltimore then Florida wouldn't have been able to trade him to the Cubs.

 

Lee was traded to Baltimore, the deal was done but Lee and and the club couldn't come to an agreement on a contract extension.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/031125lee.html

 

Florida had worked out a deal that would have sent Lee to Baltimore for a hitter and a pitcher, but it collapsed when the Orioles couldn't get Lee to agree on a long-term contract.

I think we're just debating semantics here, but no, he was not traded to Baltimore. There was an agreement for a trade between the teams, but because Baltimore couldn't work out an extension with Lee the trade didn't actually occur. So he would have been traded pending an event that didn't take place (extension), but that isn't the same thing as actually being traded.

[moorecg]

hendry's a bad gm.

 

last year was the year of hendry's grand anti-moneyball experiment. he put together a team full of guys who don't walk, don't see a lot of pitches, and put the ball in play at a high rate.

 

unfortunately, he doesn't understand that putting the ball in play means nothing in the grand scheme of things. hendry's hypothesis that the more balls put in play=more runs scored was a miserable failure, he should have been fired for putting together such a rotten team.

 

my fear is that hendry will blame derrek lee's injury last season for why his theory fell on it's face, along with the team--and hold fast to his idiot logic, biding his time until he can do something similar with our cubs.

 

seriously, there should be a book written about last year's cubs with exclusive interviews with the front office. losing in an unfair game which was greatly stacked in your favor.

 

it's time for depodesta. this go round, he should be given as much time as we've given hendry.

 

How many World Series titles has moneyball won Billy Beane?

 

I don't discount his thoughts entirely...but the constant references to "moneyball" drive me nuts. Hendry's done some good things and Hendry's done some bad...for the last several years people have thought Jockety was great...this year he organizes a team with a starting rotation of 3 converted relievers, and Kip Wells...he gave the same contract to Juan Encarnicon as Hendry did to Jones...Beane traded us a catcher that's hit .291 with a .404 OBP for us, for a guy who doesn't really play at all for them...

Hendry resigned Z for a nice contract, Resigned A-ram for a nice contract, looks pretty smart with the Lilly deal...got about 5 more wins from Marquis than I ever expected...DeRosa has been a great signing...

 

There are many GMs that are worse...at least two in our own division.

 

You're judging a GM off World Series titles? You might want to look at Oakland's yearly records, playoff appearances and payroll. Then you'll understand why people think Beane is a good -- no, great -- GM.

 

Then, after judging a GM on World Series titles, you go on to bash Jocketty. He just won a World Series, which was your only criterion for maligning Beane.

 

Finally, you can list some good moves for any GM -- especially one that's been on the job for about five years. Hendry's made some good moves, sure. It was inevitable. But, in the end, his teams have not performed. That's all that matters.

 

I wasn't maligning Beane OR Jockety...just pointing out that while people love Bean, and Jockety, they all have weak points...Hendry has his, no doubt...I never said he didn't...but all he Hendry hate is a bit overdone...yes, he's got some responsibility for the problems...but he didn't break D-Lee's arm (or Prior or Wood's for that matter)...I think he's an OK GM...not great, not awful, but definetly not deserving of ALL the heat he catches here....2 years ago everyone was sporting wood for Brade Wilkerson and Hendry was stupid for not going after him....he's 229/.305 this year....maybe Hendry wasn't so stupid...

[moorecg]

Hendry has certainly made some dumb trades and ineffectual signings, but nobody can ignore the fact that the core of this team (Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, DeRosa, Zambrano, Lilly, Hill) is all Hendry.

 

The record over his tenure isn't there, largely due to last season alone, but the core of this team is locked up long-term and it looks damn good. I'm expecting the team to be a playoff team several times over the next few seasons.

 

What he said.

[UK1679666180]

Everything as far as the future sucess of this team will depend on the progression of the young players.

 

They've locked up this expensive group for a long time and will have little flexibility around it. This is where the progression of players like Pie, Soto, Marmol, Marshall, Hill, Wuertz, Gallagher, maybe Murton can fill positions of need at a reduced rate.

 

This team isn't where it needs to be long-term, they'll need those players I mentioned to become that.

 

"OK" GMs hardly ever lead teams to WS titles.

[CubColtPacer]

I don't take issue with anything you wrote, except that I think "medicore" implies "average". I think Hendry's overall performance has been below avg., but I still wonder how much that had to do with MacPhail and his adoration of certain methods, player-types, and manager-types.

 

While Hendry has done a pretty fair job trading, he's made more of his fair share of head-scratching roster moves. I think if we took a look at the rosters over Hendry years, we'd find a lot of players who played for the Cubs, then never wore another major league uniform (Jose Macias and Freddie Bynum come to mind). To me, if you have players that no one else wants when you're done with them, they pretty much had no reason to be on your roster in the first place.

 

I agree with this point, although Bynum was wanted. The Orioles traded for him, and he had 47 AB's with the Orioles this year before he got hurt, putting up a .277/.320/.532 line.

 

Also, all of those types of players have now disappeared from the Cubs roster, which makes you wonder if Hendry has changed or not.

[Roast]

383-385

 

Honest questions:

 

Is the top GM rated by his team's record? How do you personally calculate GM worth?

 

I don't think there's any one way to do it. But 5 years of near the top payroll producing a record as mediocre as 383-385 is more than enough evidence to indict, try and convict Jim Hendry for being a bad GM.

 

Yeah I think this is the best as i can put it.

 

The teams record may not be the best way in the world to calculate a GM's worth but when you have a top 5 payroll in baseball and are struggling to make .500 there's a problem.

[NCCubFan]

Also, all of those types of players have now disappeared from the Cubs roster, which makes you wonder if Hendry has changed or not.

I'm not sure Hendry has changed. I think it may be more a case of Dusty likes that type of player but Piniella has this habit of liking players who can actually play.

[CubColtPacer]

Also, all of those types of players have now disappeared from the Cubs roster, which makes you wonder if Hendry has changed or not.

I'm not sure Hendry has changed. I think it may be more a case of Dusty likes that type of player but Piniella has this habit of liking players who can actually play.

 

So, basically Hendry is a G.M. who is a little too attuned into what his manager wants. Considering that Hendry is pretty good at contracts and trades for the most part, maybe we just need to hire somebody with only 1 job-to hire the manager :D.

[Exile on Waveland]

Everything as far as the future sucess of this team will depend on the progression of the young players.

 

They've locked up this expensive group for a long time and will have little flexibility around it. This is where the progression of players like Pie, Soto, Marmol, Marshall, Hill, Wuertz, Gallagher, maybe Murton can fill positions of need at a reduced rate.

 

This team isn't where it needs to be long-term, they'll need those players I mentioned to become that.

 

"OK" GMs hardly ever lead teams to WS titles.

 

While I don't think anything in this post is an epiphany, I concur and think it's well put. There is a solid group of veterans signed for the foreseeable future. Included are bad contracts (Soriano, Marquis), contracts I support that are potentially bad (Zambrano and maybe Lilly) and what I hope continue to be pretty good deals (Ramirez, Lee, and DeRosa). Still, those are productive players that should help the team win. I'm optimistic that the young players listed above will also be productive -- some at higher levels than others. As much as I think Hendry is a poor GM, I do believe that with another big bat and a little luck the team could be pretty good for the next couple seasons.

[Soul]

383-385

 

Honest questions:

 

Is the top GM rated by his team's record? How do you personally calculate GM worth?

 

I don't think there's any one way to do it. But 5 years of near the top payroll producing a record as mediocre as 383-385 is more than enough evidence to indict, try and convict Jim Hendry for being a bad GM.

 

Yeah I think this is the best as i can put it.

 

The teams record may not be the best way in the world to calculate a GM's worth but when you have a top 5 payroll in baseball and are struggling to make .500 there's a problem.

 

I like to think of it in terms of just the reality of Jim's situation. Sure, an argument can be made that he's been unlucky, or injuries got him, or whatever. But like goony & you say -- if the money's flowing out and the wins aren't rolling in.........the job's in trouble.

[RynoRules]

Also, all of those types of players have now disappeared from the Cubs roster, which makes you wonder if Hendry has changed or not.

I'm not sure Hendry has changed. I think it may be more a case of Dusty likes that type of player but Piniella has this habit of liking players who can actually play.

 

So, basically Hendry is a G.M. who is a little too attuned into what his manager wants. Considering that Hendry is pretty good at contracts and trades for the most part, maybe we just need to hire somebody with only 1 job-to hire the manager :D.

 

I hate to repeat myself, but I think we should all consider the fact that Dusty and MacPhail departed more or less together, and Hendry did not lose his job.

[frostwyrm]

I hate that the 2009 budget has $90M tied up in 7 players. Unless the farm produces like never before we'll need the new owners to spend like crazy just to put a .500 team together.

[RynoRules]

I hate that the 2009 budget has $90M tied up in 7 players. Unless the farm produces like never before we'll need the new owners to spend like crazy just to put a .500 team together.

 

Maybe not - depends on how well those 7 guys (I assume they are Soriano, Lee, ARam, Zambrano, Lily, Marquis, and DeRosa?) play and if our young pitching continues to produce. I also don't see any reason why this team's payroll can't be $150 million considering the amount of revenue the franchise will clear in yr where there are in the playoff race.

 

Pie (CF) and Theriot (SS) should be starters next season. Hill and Gallagher should still be in the rotation. Ward should be brought back.

 

If Pie is in CF and Soriano is in LF, you need to decide who will play RF (Jones? Murt?), or add someone via trade or FA. Plus the catching situation will need to be addressed. Kendall seems pretty good to me so far and I'd be willing to give him 2 yrs and 8-9 mill if he keeps up his current pace.