Great job, Jim Hendry (gulp)

[TruffleShuffle]

I have been critical of our portly general manager in the past, but I feel that now is a good time to give him some much-deserved credit.

 

If you look at the Cubs' roster at the end of the Dusty Baker era, it was atrocious. Ronny Cedeno was playing every day as one of the worst regulars in baseball. The outfield was usually the punchless threesome of Murton, Pierre and Jock Jones. Regular playing time went to losers like John Mabry, Neifi Perez and Jerry Hairston. The rotation was a combination of young mediocre players and oft-injured vets. The pitching staff walked way too many guys, and the offense was allergic to the free pass.

 

So now we stand less than two years later, and the Cubs have the top record in the national league, and not a team that has been fluky good - but rather a team that is as good on paper as it has been on the field. Granted, the payroll has grown markedly, and thank you to the Tribune for finally opening up the wallet and not just settling for millions of dollars of profit each year. But there are some very big-dollar teams in the league (Yankees, Mets, Tigers, Dodgers) which have underachieved. In most cases, those teams are not positioned as well as the Cubs for a deep run in the playoffs. Among the successes of Jim Hendry:

 

-Removing the cancer of Dusty Baker, and bringing in a manager and hitting coach who clearly understand the value of getting on base.

-Bringing in some high OBP players (Fukudome, DeRosa).

-Greatly improving the depth on the team - backups like Reed Johnson, Daryle Ward, Matt Murton and Mike Fontenot are far superior to black holes like the ones in the lineup when regulars went down in 2005-06.

-Overhauling the pitching staff. The reliance on fragile arms has been minimized, and the staff as a whole throws a lot more strikes now. Ted Lilly has been a very steady pitcher, and the move of Dempster to the rotation has been a big success. The Cubs also have a great deal more depth - having guys like Marshall, Gallagher (now Gaudin), Cotts and Ascanio is a luxury and avoids disaster when things (Rich Hill, Zambrano's injury, Eyre's injury) go wrong.

-By and large, Hednry has avoided mistake signings like Jason Schmidt, Ray Durham and Julio Lugo. The DeRosa signing turned out to be excellent, Howry has produced at a good level for a middle reliever, and the big ticket guys (Soriano, Fukudome) have been productive - maybe not to the level of their contracts, but they haven't been Andruw Jones-bad.

-He's done a good job of cutting bait at the right time with certain players - Todd Walker and Michael Barrett jump to mind right now. At the same time, he's given long-term deals to the right players (Zambrano, Ramirez, Lee).

-He's rolled the dice on some guys who have turned out to be solid - Dempster, Edmonds, Reed Johnson. the busts (Wade Miller) have been relatively insignificant.

 

There are still some flaws with this team - he overpaid for Marquis and Blanco, the Soriano signing will likely be ugly by its later years. But all in all, he's done a great job of overhauling a terrible roster in a very short time.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Bad moves Jim Hendry has made in the last calendar year:

 

Trading for Trachsel

 

 

The end. Good stuff Jim.

[cubs121]

I agree. He has become one of the best GM's in baseball these past couple of years. But, i guess being a GM isn't as easy as some think it is. One day your the best GM and one day your getting criticized for certain moves.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Hendry has always made some big, big moves for this team, but it seemed like once McDonough and MacPhail left town, and Hendry got rid of Dusty, Jim finally realized that they had to finally start implementing an organizational strategy that revolved around players that could get on base. He's successfully done that in under two years, and he continues to do a great job building a top team. Great job Jimbo.

[cubs121]

I still miss the Jokes about Jim though.. some were very hilarious.

[Oscar Zamora]

I have been critical of our portly general manager in the past, but I feel that now is a good time to give him some much-deserved credit.

 

If you look at the Cubs' roster at the end of the Dusty Baker era, it was atrocious. Ronny Cedeno was playing every day as one of the worst regulars in baseball. The outfield was usually the punchless threesome of Murton, Pierre and Jock Jones. Regular playing time went to losers like John Mabry, Neifi Perez and Jerry Hairston. The rotation was a combination of young mediocre players and oft-injured vets. The pitching staff walked way too many guys, and the offense was allergic to the free pass.

 

So now we stand less than two years later, and the Cubs have the top record in the national league, and not a team that has been fluky good - but rather a team that is as good on paper as it has been on the field. Granted, the payroll has grown markedly, and thank you to the Tribune for finally opening up the wallet and not just settling for millions of dollars of profit each year. But there are some very big-dollar teams in the league (Yankees, Mets, Tigers, Dodgers) which have underachieved. In most cases, those teams are not positioned as well as the Cubs for a deep run in the playoffs. Among the successes of Jim Hendry:

 

-Removing the cancer of Dusty Baker, and bringing in a manager and hitting coach who clearly understand the value of getting on base.

-Bringing in some high OBP players (Fukudome, DeRosa).

-Greatly improving the depth on the team - backups like Reed Johnson, Daryle Ward, Matt Murton and Mike Fontenot are far superior to black holes like the ones in the lineup when regulars went down in 2005-06.

-Overhauling the pitching staff. The reliance on fragile arms has been minimized, and the staff as a whole throws a lot more strikes now. Ted Lilly has been a very steady pitcher, and the move of Dempster to the rotation has been a big success. The Cubs also have a great deal more depth - having guys like Marshall, Gallagher (now Gaudin), Cotts and Ascanio is a luxury and avoids disaster when things (Rich Hill, Zambrano's injury, Eyre's injury) go wrong.

-By and large, Hednry has avoided mistake signings like Jason Schmidt, Ray Durham and Julio Lugo. The DeRosa signing turned out to be excellent, Howry has produced at a good level for a middle reliever, and the big ticket guys (Soriano, Fukudome) have been productive - maybe not to the level of their contracts, but they haven't been Andruw Jones-bad.

-He's done a good job of cutting bait at the right time with certain players - Todd Walker and Michael Barrett jump to mind right now. At the same time, he's given long-term deals to the right players (Zambrano, Ramirez, Lee).

-He's rolled the dice on some guys who have turned out to be solid - Dempster, Edmonds, Reed Johnson. the busts (Wade Miller) have been relatively insignificant.

 

There are still some flaws with this team - he overpaid for Marquis and Blanco, the Soriano signing will likely be ugly by its later years. But all in all, he's done a great job of overhauling a terrible roster in a very short time.

 

That's okay, you're critical of everyone...and you're usually wrong I might add.

[Coach C]

I have been critical of our portly general manager in the past, but I feel that now is a good time to give him some much-deserved credit.

 

If you look at the Cubs' roster at the end of the Dusty Baker era, it was atrocious. Ronny Cedeno was playing every day as one of the worst regulars in baseball. The outfield was usually the punchless threesome of Murton, Pierre and Jock Jones. Regular playing time went to losers like John Mabry, Neifi Perez and Jerry Hairston. The rotation was a combination of young mediocre players and oft-injured vets. The pitching staff walked way too many guys, and the offense was allergic to the free pass.

 

So now we stand less than two years later, and the Cubs have the top record in the national league, and not a team that has been fluky good - but rather a team that is as good on paper as it has been on the field. Granted, the payroll has grown markedly, and thank you to the Tribune for finally opening up the wallet and not just settling for millions of dollars of profit each year. But there are some very big-dollar teams in the league (Yankees, Mets, Tigers, Dodgers) which have underachieved. In most cases, those teams are not positioned as well as the Cubs for a deep run in the playoffs. Among the successes of Jim Hendry:

 

-Removing the cancer of Dusty Baker, and bringing in a manager and hitting coach who clearly understand the value of getting on base.

-Bringing in some high OBP players (Fukudome, DeRosa).

-Greatly improving the depth on the team - backups like Reed Johnson, Daryle Ward, Matt Murton and Mike Fontenot are far superior to black holes like the ones in the lineup when regulars went down in 2005-06.

-Overhauling the pitching staff. The reliance on fragile arms has been minimized, and the staff as a whole throws a lot more strikes now. Ted Lilly has been a very steady pitcher, and the move of Dempster to the rotation has been a big success. The Cubs also have a great deal more depth - having guys like Marshall, Gallagher (now Gaudin), Cotts and Ascanio is a luxury and avoids disaster when things (Rich Hill, Zambrano's injury, Eyre's injury) go wrong.

-By and large, Hednry has avoided mistake signings like Jason Schmidt, Ray Durham and Julio Lugo. The DeRosa signing turned out to be excellent, Howry has produced at a good level for a middle reliever, and the big ticket guys (Soriano, Fukudome) have been productive - maybe not to the level of their contracts, but they haven't been Andruw Jones-bad.

-He's done a good job of cutting bait at the right time with certain players - Todd Walker and Michael Barrett jump to mind right now. At the same time, he's given long-term deals to the right players (Zambrano, Ramirez, Lee).

-He's rolled the dice on some guys who have turned out to be solid - Dempster, Edmonds, Reed Johnson. the busts (Wade Miller) have been relatively insignificant.

 

There are still some flaws with this team - he overpaid for Marquis and Blanco, the Soriano signing will likely be ugly by its later years. But all in all, he's done a great job of overhauling a terrible roster in a very short time.

 

That's okay, you're critical of everyone...and you're usually wrong I might add.

 

Okay, then explain why he's wrong then, instead of doing a hit-n-run, eh? There are one or two that I may disagree with Truffle, but other than that, he's spot on.

[Vanilla Ice]

he was actually one of the biggest Theriot defenders

[biittner77]

Bad moves Jim Hendry has made in the last calendar year:

 

Trading for Trachsel

 

 

The end. Good stuff Jim.

 

So trading for Jason Kendall instead of promoting Soto wasn't a mistake? Or are you chalking that up to laying the groundwork for the Harden trade?

[AlwaysaCub]

Bad moves Jim Hendry has made in the last calendar year:

 

Trading for Trachsel

 

 

The end. Good stuff Jim.

 

So trading for Jason Kendall instead of promoting Soto wasn't a mistake? Or are you chalking that up to laying the groundwork for the Harden trade?

 

Who knows, it might have been best for Soto's development. Soto got the time to consolidate his gains and built confidence while also starting in the playoffs for the Cubs, or so the argument might go.

[weatherdood]

Bad moves Jim Hendry has made in the last calendar year:

 

Trading for Trachsel

 

 

The end. Good stuff Jim.

 

See Monroe, Craig

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Bad moves Jim Hendry has made in the last calendar year:

 

Trading for Trachsel

 

 

The end. Good stuff Jim.

 

So trading for Jason Kendall instead of promoting Soto wasn't a mistake? Or are you chalking that up to laying the groundwork for the Harden trade?

 

Okay, make that the last 51 weeks.

[Vanilla Ice]

stealing my thunder truffle

[TruffleShuffle]

That's okay, you're critical of everyone...and you're usually wrong I might add.

 

bold words from a guy who's made none of his opinions known except for his unhealthy adulation of the papacy.

[David]

That's okay, you're critical of everyone...and you're usually wrong I might add.

 

bold words from a guy who's made none of his opinions known except for his unhealthy adulation of the papacy.

 

 

lol, he did say that Marshall and Hill's major league performances have been similar, though.

[David]

He was also big on the "demote Wood, promote Marmol to closer" bandwagon which was pretty much wrong on a multitude of levels.

[moochpuppy]

Jim finally realized that they had to finally start implementing an organizational strategy that revolved around players that could get on base. He's successfully done that in under two years, and he continues to do a great job building a top team. Great job Jimbo.

 

...in order to save his job once new ownership comes in.