Hendry needs to go ASAP

[erik316wttn]

With the ownership situation in limbo, I think Hendry is safe, as neither side wants to really make any major waves right now. However, Jimbo has to be one of the bottom 5 GM's in this game, and the only reason the Cubs are any sort of decent is because of the large market payroll that he's allowed.

 

The Cubs have a rapidly-shrinking window of opportunity to win that ever-elusive championship before the chance goes away again for god knows how long. It's not like we can restock from within, as the farm system is crap. We have to keep signing free agents and restocking with trades in order to stay good.

 

At one point in 2003 or 2004, this team looked like it was set up to have a very long run at the top. But, after all our top prospects fizzled out and Hendry has made one mind-bogglingly stupid move after another, I fear that after this year or next, we're going to be doormats again.

 

Bottom line: Jim Hendry has ruined this team, a few lucky trades aside. He's done more damage than good.

[hawkeyecub]

Oh God

[YearofDaCubs]

I expect a better team with a 130mil payroll. Hendry was never good. He's a bottom of the barrel GM. Him getting the extension was a parting gift from management.

[erik316wttn]

Oh God

 

 

Thank you for your insight

[Little Slide Rooter]

Being a Cubs GM may well be the easiest job on earth

 

A. You have a ton of money at your disposal, at least you did until now

B. Practicaly every top free agent wants to be a Cub every year

 

Most of what Hendry has done have been no brainers. Sure, the Aramis and harden trades, as well as the Nomar, although it didnt work out in the end were magical when they happened. Kudos on being there when other teams were salary dumping.

 

However, everything else hes done has basically been throwing money at guys who wanted to stay or join the team.

[CubColtPacer]

Terrible GM's rarely get first place finishes and a 97 win team. That is even with the large payroll teams out there. The fact that Hendry was able to put together that team pretty quickly takes him outside of the worst 5 GM's.

 

Money does give you more room to recover from mistakes. But the most limiting factor in baseball is still the 25 man roster. If the GM is a bad judge of talent the money is still not going to make them win. Hendry has lots of weaknesses, but the thing that keeps him afloat is that all his weaknesses are in the less important areas of a ballclub. He makes lots of bad moves, but he rarely makes the devastating move.

 

As for the farm system, most people believe it is on its way up now. They had 4-5 bad drafts in a row all the way through the 06 draft, and so in the last couple years once the players in the high minors left there were no good prospects to replace them. The last two drafts have started to restock the system once again (even with one of the top 3 picks of the last 2 years already being traded) along with the further expansion of international signings. Those players are all still in the low minors which is why the rankings are still so low for the system (close to the majors still means a lot in prospect rankings).

 

I'm not sure how much to blame Hendry for the 4-5 years of bad drafting. He probably deserves some of the blame but it's hard to tell how much input he has.

[Mephistopheles]

I'm a Jim Hendry apologist myself. I like having him.

[JimSorgi]

However, Jimbo has to be one of the bottom 5 GM's in this game.

He's certainly not the best, but this isn't true at all. I'm okay with him as GM.

[erik316wttn]

Terrible GM's rarely get first place finishes and a 97 win team. That is even with the large payroll teams out there. The fact that Hendry was able to put together that team pretty quickly takes him outside of the worst 5 GM's.

 

Money does give you more room to recover from mistakes. But the most limiting factor in baseball is still the 25 man roster. If the GM is a bad judge of talent the money is still not going to make them win. Hendry has lots of weaknesses, but the thing that keeps him afloat is that all his weaknesses are in the less important areas of a ballclub. He makes lots of bad moves, but he rarely makes the devastating move.

 

As for the farm system, most people believe it is on its way up now. They had 4-5 bad drafts in a row all the way through the 06 draft, and so in the last couple years once the players in the high minors left there were no good prospects to replace them. The last two drafts have started to restock the system once again (even with one of the top 3 picks of the last 2 years already being traded) along with the further expansion of international signings. Those players are all still in the low minors which is why the rankings are still so low for the system (close to the majors still means a lot in prospect rankings).

 

I'm not sure how much to blame Hendry for the 4-5 years of bad drafting. He probably deserves some of the blame but it's hard to tell how much input he has.

 

Enough bad moves become devastating, however.

[Guest]

Not a big fan of cutting Vizcaino?

[erik316wttn]

Not a big fan of cutting Vizcaino?

 

The Vizcaino move was a factor, yes, especially with Cotts still here, but that's nowhere near the final straw.

 

Letting Dusty have as much free reign as he did; Nefii; Macias; Bynum; Rey Ordonez; several crappy drafts depleting our farm system; selling extremely low on DeRo even though he was coming off of a career year; getting rid of Ceda for Gregg of all people; not even attempting to sign Kerry Wood; not offering Wood arbitration so we could get the extra draft picks; "I like guys who can catch the ball; getting worse with every single move he made this past offseason; and too many other things that I can't even recall right now have all led to my dislike of the man.

 

Did I nearly pee myself with excitement when we acquired Aram, Nomar, and Harden? Yes. But that goodwill only goes so far.

[Guest]

Not a big fan of cutting Vizcaino?

 

The Vizcaino move was a factor, yes, especially with Cotts still here, but that's nowhere near the final straw.

 

Letting Dusty have as much free reign as he did; Nefii; Macias; Bynum; Rey Ordonez; several crappy drafts depleting our farm system; selling extremely low on DeRo even though he was coming off of a career year; getting rid of Ceda for Gregg of all people; not even attempting to sign Kerry Wood; not offering Wood arbitration so we could get the extra draft picks; "I like guys who can catch the ball;, and too many other things that I can't even recall right now have all led to my dislike of the man.

 

Did I nearly pee myself with excitement when we acquired Aram, Nomar, and Harden? Yes. But that goodwill only goes so far.

 

Yeah, I was only joshing you. I'm not fond of the Vizcaino move. While I have called for Hendry's head on many occasions, right now isn't one of those times. But, get back to me in a week or so. :grin:

[CubColtPacer]

Terrible GM's rarely get first place finishes and a 97 win team. That is even with the large payroll teams out there. The fact that Hendry was able to put together that team pretty quickly takes him outside of the worst 5 GM's.

 

Money does give you more room to recover from mistakes. But the most limiting factor in baseball is still the 25 man roster. If the GM is a bad judge of talent the money is still not going to make them win. Hendry has lots of weaknesses, but the thing that keeps him afloat is that all his weaknesses are in the less important areas of a ballclub. He makes lots of bad moves, but he rarely makes the devastating move.

 

As for the farm system, most people believe it is on its way up now. They had 4-5 bad drafts in a row all the way through the 06 draft, and so in the last couple years once the players in the high minors left there were no good prospects to replace them. The last two drafts have started to restock the system once again (even with one of the top 3 picks of the last 2 years already being traded) along with the further expansion of international signings. Those players are all still in the low minors which is why the rankings are still so low for the system (close to the majors still means a lot in prospect rankings).

 

I'm not sure how much to blame Hendry for the 4-5 years of bad drafting. He probably deserves some of the blame but it's hard to tell how much input he has.

 

Enough bad moves become devastating, however.

 

If you keep the core of your offense and the core of your rotation intact, and you've selected good players for those positions, you'll be ok. Hendry has done a good job of that the last couple years.

 

His problems have come mostly in the bullpen, the bench, and a couple of the lesser offensive positions. Those mistakes cause frustration but don't hurt the ballclub to a huge degree. He also has issues with overpaying for players. But overpaying for players isn't horrible if you overpay for the right players. And very few of the Cubs high priced players have blown up and been busts.

[erik316wttn]

Terrible GM's rarely get first place finishes and a 97 win team. That is even with the large payroll teams out there. The fact that Hendry was able to put together that team pretty quickly takes him outside of the worst 5 GM's.

 

Money does give you more room to recover from mistakes. But the most limiting factor in baseball is still the 25 man roster. If the GM is a bad judge of talent the money is still not going to make them win. Hendry has lots of weaknesses, but the thing that keeps him afloat is that all his weaknesses are in the less important areas of a ballclub. He makes lots of bad moves, but he rarely makes the devastating move.

 

As for the farm system, most people believe it is on its way up now. They had 4-5 bad drafts in a row all the way through the 06 draft, and so in the last couple years once the players in the high minors left there were no good prospects to replace them. The last two drafts have started to restock the system once again (even with one of the top 3 picks of the last 2 years already being traded) along with the further expansion of international signings. Those players are all still in the low minors which is why the rankings are still so low for the system (close to the majors still means a lot in prospect rankings).

 

I'm not sure how much to blame Hendry for the 4-5 years of bad drafting. He probably deserves some of the blame but it's hard to tell how much input he has.

 

Enough bad moves become devastating, however.

 

If you keep the core of your offense and the core of your rotation intact, and you've selected good players for those positions, you'll be ok. Hendry has done a good job of that the last couple years.

 

His problems have come mostly in the bullpen, the bench, and a couple of the lesser offensive positions. Those mistakes cause frustration but don't hurt the ballclub to a huge degree. He also has issues with overpaying for players. But overpaying for players isn't horrible if you overpay for the right players. And very few of the Cubs high priced players have blown up and been busts.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention Soriano's contract, which will become a tremendous albatross in several years.

[mcgoobs]

Would this thread be happening if the Cubs were 11-3 right now instead of 8-6?

[JimSorgi]

Terrible GM's rarely get first place finishes and a 97 win team. That is even with the large payroll teams out there. The fact that Hendry was able to put together that team pretty quickly takes him outside of the worst 5 GM's.

 

Money does give you more room to recover from mistakes. But the most limiting factor in baseball is still the 25 man roster. If the GM is a bad judge of talent the money is still not going to make them win. Hendry has lots of weaknesses, but the thing that keeps him afloat is that all his weaknesses are in the less important areas of a ballclub. He makes lots of bad moves, but he rarely makes the devastating move.

 

As for the farm system, most people believe it is on its way up now. They had 4-5 bad drafts in a row all the way through the 06 draft, and so in the last couple years once the players in the high minors left there were no good prospects to replace them. The last two drafts have started to restock the system once again (even with one of the top 3 picks of the last 2 years already being traded) along with the further expansion of international signings. Those players are all still in the low minors which is why the rankings are still so low for the system (close to the majors still means a lot in prospect rankings).

 

I'm not sure how much to blame Hendry for the 4-5 years of bad drafting. He probably deserves some of the blame but it's hard to tell how much input he has.

 

Enough bad moves become devastating, however.

 

If you keep the core of your offense and the core of your rotation intact, and you've selected good players for those positions, you'll be ok. Hendry has done a good job of that the last couple years.

 

His problems have come mostly in the bullpen, the bench, and a couple of the lesser offensive positions. Those mistakes cause frustration but don't hurt the ballclub to a huge degree. He also has issues with overpaying for players. But overpaying for players isn't horrible if you overpay for the right players. And very few of the Cubs high priced players have blown up and been busts.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention Soriano's contract, which will become a tremendous albatross in several years.

 

If you wanted some fuel, you could've mentioned Mike Wuertz.

[Mephistopheles]

If you go 8-6 over every stretch of 14 games you're going to win 93 games.

[cubsfan26]

Haha what a stupid thread. But what do you expect with so many reactionary Cubs fans out there.

[17 Seconds]

Haha what a stupid thread. But what do you expect with so many reactionary Cubs fans out there.

 

Are you still going to bash us for criticizing Hendry's offseason moves or are you going to continuie to give him a free pass all season again.

 

Nevermind, I know the answer to that.

[Mephistopheles]

He's a better GM than you. We'd criticize you more than we would him.

[17 Seconds]

Well that's relevant.

[cubsfan26]

Stop pissing your pants and freaking out and wait more then 14 games. Thats all I'm saying, but people can't do that. Two days ago everything was great, two loses to the Reds, and everyone is acting like crybabies. We still have no clue how these offseason moves will work out yet.

[17 Seconds]

Well they looked like crap in the offseason when they were made and.... surprise.... they look like crap now too.

 

This thread may be a little much though.

[Rob]

I question the wisdom of some of you who believed you could handle watching a team over a 162 game season... the season is 8.6% over. Get up, stretch your legs, make some popcorn, and come back in July. If there's still a problem, you can start to hyper-analyze it then.

[Mephistopheles]

God that Samardzija guy sucks. He's even worse than Cotts!

 

Get him outta here. Now.