Hendry's Last Year

[BudHouse]

Hendry has been a failure as a GM. And I believe the new owners of the Cubs will launch him on Day #1. He's simply overmatched. Here's why:

* Despite finishing consistently low in the standings and therefore having high draft picks, the minor leagues have failed to produce a quality everyday player in more than 10+ years. I thought that Ryan Harvey would amount to something but I see he's still stuck in A ball after 4 years. How could the farm system go from Top 5 to bottom 5 so fast?

* He seems to draft players from college programs that his friends are coaches for-Notre Dame, etc..which so far haven't developed. Bobby Brownlie, Grant Johnson, etc..

* Players coming thru the Cubs minor leagues take forever to make it thru. Other teams have young players come up when they're 20,21, 22. The Cubs have these Sean Marshall types that are 26 year old rookies.

* When signing free agents he overpays, offers too long a contract and seems to be suckered by agents to bid against himself. Then we're stuck with these guys and when they suck,we can't get rid of them. Jacque Jones, Jason Marquis, etc..

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

* Hendry loves marginal middle infielders who can't do anything well-Izturis, Fontenot and the great Neifi Perez.

* Hendry thinks you can win with these small, undersized players like Greenburg, Fuld etc.. who hustle, make an occasional good catch but do nothing else.

 

More later..

[illiniguy]

Hendry has been a failure as a GM. And I believe the new owners of the Cubs will launch him on Day #1. He's simply overmatched. Here's why:

* Despite finishing consistently low in the standings and therefore having high draft picks, the minor leagues have failed to produce a quality everyday player in more than 10+ years. I thought that Ryan Harvey would amount to something but I see he's still stuck in A ball after 4 years. How could the farm system go from Top 5 to bottom 5 so fast?

* He seems to draft players from college programs that his friends are coaches for-Notre Dame, etc..which so far haven't developed. Bobby Brownlie, Grant Johnson, etc..

* Players coming thru the Cubs minor leagues take forever to make it thru. Other teams have young players come up when they're 20,21, 22. The Cubs have these Sean Marshall types that are 26 year old rookies.

* When signing free agents he overpays, offers too long a contract and seems to be suckered by agents to bid against himself. Then we're stuck with these guys and when they suck,we can't get rid of them. Jacque Jones, Jason Marquis, etc..

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

* Hendry loves marginal middle infielders who can't do anything well-Izturis, Fontenot and the great Neifi Perez.

* Hendry thinks you can win with these small, undersized players like Greenburg, Fuld etc.. who hustle, make an occasional good catch but do nothing else.

 

More later..

I don't really know what to say about a lot of this but how exactly was Marshall supposed to be up earlier? The year before he was up he got hurt. The year before that our staff was Wood, Prior, Z, Maddux, and Clement. I am thinking a lot of 22 year olds or younger would have had a hard time cracking that rotation.

[Rob]

Sean Marshall pitched 125 MLB innings at the age of 23... not 26.

[BigSlick]

Sean Marshall pitched 125 MLB innings at the age of 23... not 26.

 

He probably means Quad A extraordinaire Rich Hill.

[Ender]

I dunno, if Prior and Wood don't have so many injury issues the Cubs probably win a lot more playoff games in recent history. Seems like losing 2 of your best young talents and abusing a 3rd to where he regresses 3 years in a row(Zambrano) is going to hurt any team.

 

Not that I think Hendry is good, I just think Baker takes as much of the blame as Hendry ever should.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

 

More later..

There were plenty of GM's lined up to give Wood more money then we offered.

[shnsajax]

This looks more like a rant to me.

[jiml60]

I dunno, if Prior and Wood don't have so many injury issues the Cubs probably win a lot more playoff games in recent history. Seems like losing 2 of your best young talents and abusing a 3rd to where he regresses 3 years in a row(Zambrano) is going to hurt any team.

 

Not that I think Hendry is good, I just think Baker takes as much of the blame as Hendry ever should.

 

Hendry hired him, so he doesn't get off the hook for DFB's reign of terror.

[moorecg]

One thing I'll give him credit for....by beating out San Diego to get Fukudome, it caused San Diego to press for and get Edmonds....maybe it was just luck, and I'm sure he didn't plan it this way, but his acquisition of Fukudome resulted in our chef division rival getting worse...

[Backtobanks]

Hendry has been a failure as a GM. And I believe the new owners of the Cubs will launch him on Day #1. He's simply overmatched. Here's why:

* Despite finishing consistently low in the standings and therefore having high draft picks, the minor leagues have failed to produce a quality everyday player in more than 10+ years. I thought that Ryan Harvey would amount to something but I see he's still stuck in A ball after 4 years. How could the farm system go from Top 5 to bottom 5 so fast?

* He seems to draft players from college programs that his friends are coaches for-Notre Dame, etc..which so far haven't developed. Bobby Brownlie, Grant Johnson, etc..

* Players coming thru the Cubs minor leagues take forever to make it thru. Other teams have young players come up when they're 20,21, 22. The Cubs have these Sean Marshall types that are 26 year old rookies.

* When signing free agents he overpays, offers too long a contract and seems to be suckered by agents to bid against himself. Then we're stuck with these guys and when they suck,we can't get rid of them. Jacque Jones, Jason Marquis, etc..

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

* Hendry loves marginal middle infielders who can't do anything well-Izturis, Fontenot and the great Neifi Perez.

* Hendry thinks you can win with these small, undersized players like Greenburg, Fuld etc.. who hustle, make an occasional good catch but do nothing else.

 

More later..

 

No matter what you think, if the Cubs are as successful this year as expected, I would think Hendry has a good shot at being rehired. Of course, there are different definitions of being "successful". If the new owner is a real "take charge" owner and comes in with a set idea of hiring certain front office people, then Hendry might be in trouble. I would think most of the ownership groups would probably want to keep him until things settled down. If by some miracle, the Cubs win the World Series, he would get a lifetime contract.

[BudHouse]

I want the Cubs to win as much as everyone. But I don't think the man who is responsible for this debacle is the man to bring us out of it. If I had his miserable record of player development, etc..I'd also refuse to go on sports radio and let the fans ask questions. He might have to explain his inability to acquire players, any way he can, that can work a count, throw to the right base or know the strike zone.

 

This story about Kerry Wood being in such demand and offered all of this money by other teams is strictly pr fluff. Not seen one reputable report of another team admitting they offered him anything. [-X Why do you think he re-signed? Hendry is his personal ATM machine. No pressure to actually produce.

 

I hope Fukodome turns out great. I'm anxious to see him play. We know he'll have the fundamentals down, unlike most of his teammates.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Why is this thread giving me CubbieRich flashbacks?

[SouthSideRyan]

If the Cubs go to the playoffs again, Hendry won't be fired in the offseason. If they don't, I think it's pretty likely he is.

[KingCubsFan]

Hendry has been a failure as a GM. And I believe the new owners of the Cubs will launch him on Day #1. He's simply overmatched. Here's why:

* Despite finishing consistently low in the standings and therefore having high draft picks, the minor leagues have failed to produce a quality everyday player in more than 10+ years. I thought that Ryan Harvey would amount to something but I see he's still stuck in A ball after 4 years. How could the farm system go from Top 5 to bottom 5 so fast?

* He seems to draft players from college programs that his friends are coaches for-Notre Dame, etc..which so far haven't developed. Bobby Brownlie, Grant Johnson, etc..

That's easy. The farm system started failing when Hendry left as farm director to become GM. All of the draft picks you just listed were made by John Stocksill.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I dunno, if Prior and Wood don't have so many injury issues the Cubs probably win a lot more playoff games in recent history. Seems like losing 2 of your best young talents and abusing a 3rd to where he regresses 3 years in a row(Zambrano) is going to hurt any team.

 

Not that I think Hendry is good, I just think Baker takes as much of the blame as Hendry ever should.

 

I'm pretty sure that you can file all 3 of them under "abused". And Hendry's lack of contingencies for probable injuries is one of his greatest shortcomings(see the 2006 rotation). Fortunately, he seems to have learned a little from it.

[nilodnayr]

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

 

More later..

There were plenty of GM's lined up to give Wood more money then we offered.

 

Not true.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

 

More later..

There were plenty of GM's lined up to give Wood more money then we offered.

 

Not true.

Yes it is true. Woody had better offers on the table this offseason.

[mhuber92211]

wow, talk about a glass is half full way to look at the Hendry Regime. Why ignore the positive? You make it out like the Cubs have been the worst team in baseball during Hendry's time. This is obviously not true and everything that you list would have likely happened with any other GM.

[jersey cubs fan]

* He just can't Kerry Wood out of his life. You would think he would be smart enough to see the mechanics haven't changed, the chances of injury are still there and paying this guy millions for another year was more than foolish.

 

I'm all for speaking the truth to Hendry's incompetence as GM, but I can't comprehend why this is an issue. There's no logic behind the notion that Hendry needed to cut loose Wood, or Prior for that matter, in order to somehow move forward. Kerry Wood is an asset to the ballclub. No sane GM just cuts assets loose.

[Tyrant]

I'm not a huge Hendry fan, but a lot of the "failures" you listed can't be attributed entirely to him.

[shnsajax]

Why do we assume the team would be better off with another GM? The list of popular GM's is not very long.

[RegulusBlue]

Let's just celebrate the last year of this douchebag's deal, and hope we never have to see him ever again.

 

Hire DePodesta!

[nolanwood]

I'm not a fan of Hendry either, but this is a pathetic and inaccurate rant.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

We should never let facts get in the way of a good argument.

[jersey cubs fan]

Why do we assume the team would be better off with another GM? The list of popular GM's is not very long.

 

The same argument can be made for the decision on whether or not to replace the guaranteed mediocre proven veteran with the unknown prospect. Obviously we could always end up worse, but the goal isn't to tread water. The goal is to win the world series, and the best chance you have of doing that is fielding a great team year-in and year-out. Hendry has proven he can't do that.