Hendry Needs To Go

[Keeper]

Most of the other moves (Wood, Derosa, Marquis) are driven by money and the uncertain ownership status.

 

My thoughts as well.

 

which means they have nothing to do with Hendry, thus weakening your original argument

 

It also means he's a puppet. So, what's better? A puppet or an incompetent GM?

[jersey cubs fan]

Most of the other moves (Wood, Derosa, Marquis) are driven by money and the uncertain ownership status.

 

My thoughts as well.

 

which means they have nothing to do with Hendry, thus weakening your original argument

 

Not really. Hendry is the one who built the inefficencies into the roster. He's the one who built a team that needed to overpay Soriano and Marquis just so they could have an outfield with some semblence of production and a rotation that could pitch. Hendry has been given the luxury of much greater resources than most other GMs. It's not like this team is cutting payroll. They are adjusting how much they will raise it. Hendry is hamstrung by his own previous decisions, not ownership.

[SCCubbieFAN]

It's highly amusing when someone whines about how Hendry wasn't willing to pay Kerry Wood $10M a year, and then turns around in the very same post and plays the injury card on Milton Bradley. Priceless.

 

There are several issues with his post, but you seriously think the Wood and Bradley situations are identical? You think you can just look at say "each costs $10m a year and has a high likelihood of injury. Thus, you must either like both deals or hate both deals." There's obviously more to it than that. Wood in a RP. If he goes down for a week or even the whole year, we have a couple of options to replace him: Marmol and Gregg (maybe others). He's also a huge fan favorite, he's been a great citizen of Chicago and seemed to want to play here. From what I know, teammates liked him.

 

Bradley is the starting RF. If he goes down for an extended period of time, which is likely, we get Reed or Gathright full time (maybe Pie, but that seems unlikely). Neither of whom is likely to come close to the OPS we're hoping to get from Bradley. He's got a pretty bad reputation as a teammate as well.

 

You can certainly like both deals or hate both deals, but a reasonable person can like one and hate the other.

 

So it appears you are saying if Wood goes down, he is easily replaced by other in house choices who can perform as well as he, and who btw, cost less than he, whereas if Bradley goes down, he is not as easily replaceable with ANY in house options who can provide similar performance?

[CubinNY]

Most of the other moves (Wood, Derosa, Marquis) are driven by money and the uncertain ownership status.

 

My thoughts as well.

 

which means they have nothing to do with Hendry, thus weakening your original argument

 

Not really. Hendry is the one who built the inefficencies into the roster. He's the one who built a team that needed to overpay Soriano and Marquis just so they could have an outfield with some semblence of production and a rotation that could pitch. Hendry has been given the luxury of much greater resources than most other GMs. It's not like this team is cutting payroll. They are adjusting how much they will raise it. Hendry is hamstrung by his own previous decisions, not ownership.

 

I'm not sure about other GMs but Hendry also seems to give out no-trade clauses pretty liberally. It could be that I don't know how often they are given out by other GMs, but the Samardijza one kills me.

 

It seems to me when he wants a player he gives them an overwhelming offer so as not to get into a bidding war, meaning his MO is to overpay for the things he wants. That's not a good policy unless you're the Yankees or Red Sox.

[Sever82]

What in the world are you talking about, who else did he give a no trade or overpay for other than Soriano and Samardizja. I mean i dont feel Lee, ramirez, Zambrano are overpayed. I dont think Dempster got a no trade, the befor mentioned three are still fairly young and will probably still be productive once they hit their final years. You make it sounds as if everyone on the cubs roster is overpayed and has a NTC

[CubinNY]

What in the world are you talking about, who else did he give a no trade or overpay for other than Soriano and Samardizja. I mean i dont feel Lee, ramirez, Zambrano are overpayed. I dont think Dempster got a no trade, the befor mentioned three are still fairly young and will probably still be productive once they hit their final years. You make it sounds as if everyone on the cubs roster is overpayed and has a NTC

It only takes a few to hamstring a roster. He's consistently overpaid (either in years or dollars) for middle relief pitching and redundant backups. If the Cubs are paying a guy 2.5 million when they could be paying him 1 million it's still a poor use of recourses.

[AZCub]

Yeah, we should fire the GM who has overseen one of the most successful stretches of Cubs teams in my lifetime. Good call. Winning consistently sucks.

 

Just because a GM doesn’t make a right move every time doesn’t mean he sucks. Hendry has made plenty of damn good moves too. Obviously some of his moves this year are money driven, so he’s doing the best with what he has. Oh, and the offseason still has 2 months left before ST.

 

Genius idea.

[jersey cubs fan]

What in the world are you talking about, who else did he give a no trade or overpay for other than Soriano and Samardizja. I mean i dont feel Lee, ramirez, Zambrano are overpayed. I dont think Dempster got a no trade, the befor mentioned three are still fairly young and will probably still be productive once they hit their final years. You make it sounds as if everyone on the cubs roster is overpayed and has a NTC

 

Soriano, Ramirez, Lee, Zambrano, Samardzija have full no-trade protection. Fukudome and Lilly have no-trade protection.

[Keeper]

Yeah, we should fire the GM who has overseen one of the most successful stretches of Cubs teams in my lifetime. Good call. Winning consistently sucks.

 

Just because a GM doesn’t make a right move every time doesn’t mean he sucks. Hendry has made plenty of damn good moves too. Obviously some of his moves this year are money driven, so he’s doing the best with what he has. Oh, and the offseason still has 2 months left before ST.

 

Genius idea.

 

You shouldn't be content with just making the postseason. The last 2 seasons were abysmal failures. Getting swept in the NLCS by 2 teams that didn't even make it to the World Series is embarassing.

[Moises a loo]

Yeah, we should fire the GM who has overseen one of the most successful stretches of Cubs teams in my lifetime. Good call. Winning consistently sucks.

 

Just because a GM doesn’t make a right move every time doesn’t mean he sucks. Hendry has made plenty of damn good moves too. Obviously some of his moves this year are money driven, so he’s doing the best with what he has. Oh, and the offseason still has 2 months left before ST.

 

Genius idea.

 

You shouldn't be content with just making the postseason. The last 2 seasons were abysmal failures. Getting swept in the NLCS by 2 teams that didn't even make it to the World Series is embarassing.

 

You should try being a Pirates fan, see how you like it. Cub fans are the neediest bunch of spoiled crybabies ever.

[waffle]

Oh brother.

[Keeper]

Whoops, meant NLDS.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

talk about embarrassing

[jersey cubs fan]

You should try being a Pirates fan, see how you like it. Cub fans are the neediest bunch of spoiled crybabies ever.

 

Are you effing kidding me? What a stupid comment. Spoiled? The occasional division championships is by no means spoiling fans.

[shnsajax]

Yeah, we should fire the GM who has overseen one of the most successful stretches of Cubs teams in my lifetime. Good call. Winning consistently sucks.

 

Just because a GM doesn’t make a right move every time doesn’t mean he sucks. Hendry has made plenty of damn good moves too. Obviously some of his moves this year are money driven, so he’s doing the best with what he has. Oh, and the offseason still has 2 months left before ST.

 

Genius idea.

 

You shouldn't be content with just making the postseason. The last 2 seasons were abysmal failures. Getting swept in the NLCS by 2 teams that didn't even make it to the World Series is embarassing.

 

So why are you not talking about firing Piniella as well?

[Keeper]

talk about embarrassing

 

Eh, it was a small mistake. I've moved on. So should you.

[YearofDaCubs]

Yeah, we should fire the GM who has overseen one of the most successful stretches of Cubs teams in my lifetime. Good call. Winning consistently sucks.

 

Just because a GM doesn’t make a right move every time doesn’t mean he sucks. Hendry has made plenty of damn good moves too. Obviously some of his moves this year are money driven, so he’s doing the best with what he has. Oh, and the offseason still has 2 months left before ST.

 

Genius idea.

When you have a payroll of 110-130mil and you're team is in the NL central division how hard is it not to make the playoffs? I wouldn't necessarily call the team as winning consistently either. 2004-2006 were disasters IMO.

[Moises a loo]

You should try being a Pirates fan, see how you like it. Cub fans are the neediest bunch of spoiled crybabies ever.

 

Are you effing kidding me? What a stupid comment. Spoiled? The occasional division championships is by no means spoiling fans.

 

Maybe "spoiled" wasn't quite the right word, though some people around here sure come across that way at times. I totally stand by the "neediest" comment, though.

[jersey cubs fan]

You should try being a Pirates fan, see how you like it. Cub fans are the neediest bunch of spoiled crybabies ever.

 

Are you effing kidding me? What a stupid comment. Spoiled? The occasional division championships is by no means spoiling fans.

 

Maybe "spoiled" wasn't quite the right word, though some people around here sure come across that way at times. I totally stand by the "neediest" comment, though.

 

Uh, yeah, spoiled was wrong. Neediest? Well maybe that's because they've never seen a championship. Seriously, Yankees fans are far more spoiled and needy. They bitch when they don't get 5 all star free agents an offseason. Mets fans are more needy and spoiled. Red Sox fans are far more spoiled, and the only reason they aren't as needy is because they've won recently. But listen to Red Sox fans when they miss out on a free agent to the Yankees.

 

Seriously, that was a horribly ridiculous accusation.

[Little Slide Rooter]

You should try being a Pirates fan, see how you like it. Cub fans are the neediest bunch of spoiled crybabies ever.

 

Are you effing kidding me? What a stupid comment. Spoiled? The occasional division championships is by no means spoiling fans.

 

Maybe "spoiled" wasn't quite the right word, though some people around here sure come across that way at times. I totally stand by the "neediest" comment, though.

 

Uh, yeah, spoiled was wrong. Neediest? Well maybe that's because they've never seen a championship. Seriously, Yankees fans are far more spoiled and needy. They bitch when they don't get 5 all star free agents an offseason. Mets fans are more needy and spoiled. Red Sox fans are far more spoiled, and the only reason they aren't as needy is because they've won recently. But listen to Red Sox fans when they miss out on a free agent to the Yankees.

 

Seriously, that was a horribly ridiculous accusation.

 

Its different for Cubs fans vs. Yankees or Red Sox fans. In their cae, when your so used to greatness every year, mediocrity wont do. For us though, we've never seen a World Series win, in most of our cases, a World Series in general but we've come so damn close, its gone from saddening to maddening. The Yankees and Red Sox will always be able to buy whatever they need, but for the Cubs, we dont know how much longer the window will be open.

[Blue W]

I love Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.

 

Stay Classy Keeper

[Soul]

It's very likely that none of us on this board ever even knew a Cub fan who watched the Cubs win a World Series.

 

We're spoiled? LOL, that's a joke man and you know it.

[Backtobanks]

I go back and forth with Hendry a lot as a GM. Overall he has been pretty successful if you measure the teams record with past GMs. However this is measuring him with a low bar. Also similar to Brian Cashmen, is his apparent success more of a matter of having a larger checkbook or is it because he is truly a good GM. I tend to think the larger checkbook has more to do with it.

 

You admit that he has had success (because of the larger checkbook), so how can you criticize him as a GM. A GM's job is to build a contender using the resources available. Hendry has done that.

[cubsfan26]

Wow people are seriously actually debating if Hendry should go or not? Just a few months ago Hendry signed an extension and most Cubs fans were happy with the move(besides JeffH). Now just a few months later he makes a few moves that people don't agree with and now a few people think he needs to go? How about you see how these moves work out first? Especially when Hendry has made moves over the last two years, that many thought were bad, and they end up working out great. You would think after all the crow he has made people eat over the last two years, he would get the benefit of the doubt more often. But oh yeah, but back to back division titles and making the playoffs three times in six years shouldn't matter, because we spend money.

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry but thats a bunch of crap, alot of teams spend money and weren't nearly as good as us. Just because a guy has money to spend, he shouldn't get any less credit. If spending money equals great success then tell that to fans of the Mets, Dodgers, Mariners, White Sox Tigers and others. Last year he put together one of the best teams in the NL, and right now the current team he has put together is also very good. So I don't see the problem here, the Cubs are still very good and should be right back in the playoffs next year, and with a little luck will go further. Honestly a thread like this doesn't belong on a board of his quality, this type of reactionary crap should be on a board like Cubs.com. I shouldn't be totally surprised though because this board has always been tougher on Hendry compared to others.

Edited January 6, 2009 by cubsfan26

[TheDude]

You shouldn't be content with just making the postseason. The last 2 seasons were abysmal failures. Getting swept in the NLCS by 2 teams that didn't even make it to the World Series is embarassing.

 

The GM's job is to build a club that can win and get to the post-season. Once the post-season starts, the GM is as much an observer as everyone else. The players have to perform up to their season standard, and the Cubs have not under his tenure.

 

Hendry is taking ownership of the Cubs failures in the post-season, even though they really aren't his to own. Just take a look at the moves he is making, which many consider a mistake, as evidence. Most people that object are objecting with Hendry's diagnosis of the problem, which has legitimacy (and those criticisms won't get steam-trolled like yours do). He believes the team's failure in the post-season are primarily a result of his construction of a right-handed heavy lineup.

 

Regardless, the point is that GMs don't win WS. You can build a case for good vs. bad GM by compiling a tenure winning percentage during the regular season (this is the argument Jersey Cubs Fan sticks to regularly). I don't think you'll get far compiling post-season winning percentage though. Example: Are you going to try and state that Schuerholz was a poor GM during the Braves amazing run in the '90s and '00s because the players only delivered 1/14 rings from '91 to '05 (going 63-63 in those games)?