Is Joe Morgan Right? Re:Hendry

[CUBZ99]

For once I actually watched Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and found myself agreeing with Joe Morgan. He was dead on pointing out that over the winter that the Cubs were over sensitive about left handed hitting and in the process actually might have made their team worse. This isn't the first time that Hendry has over reacted (remember the we need a leadoff hitter spaz that landed the Cubs Pierre). The moves he took issue with most were the fact that Hendry kept spouting off about the need for left handed hitting and wanted to play Fontenot and Bradley, etc. at the expense of the more versatile DeRosa and losing Wood to FA.

 

As Morgan pointed out, Hendry was trying to put together a team to compete in the Playoffs, which is all well and good if the team actually makes the playoffs. Hendry this past offseason put the cart before the horse.

 

Now there is plenty of season left for the Cubs to turn it around, but how nice would it be to have DeRosa on the team right now? Marquis was no prize, but he would be an improvement over some of the current Cubs staff. Fukudome and Johnson to date would have been a decent combo out in CF and RF........

[Bote McBoteface]

Don't think Marquis would be an upgrade over anybody in our rotation.

[ScrubMD]

Don't think Marquis would be an upgrade over anybody in our rotation.

 

The topic is over-reacting with the whole left handed hitter thing.

[SweetZombieJesus]

No, Joe Morgan is never right about anything.

[SweetZombieJesus]

Fukudome and Johnson to date would have been a decent combo out in CF and RF........

 

uh no.

[dew1679666265]

Fukudome and Johnson to date would have been a decent combo out in CF and RF........

 

uh no.

 

Fukudome and Reed are perfectly fine - if not very good - as a platoon in CF. Reed doesn't need to be starting every day, though.

 

And I agree with Joe Morgan. I think there was an over-reaction to the playoff collapse and the team got worse in the process. I don't think we're as bad as our record/performance to date would indicate, but this team is not as good as last year's 97 win team.

[fivepercent]

If overreacting is swapping Bradley and Fontenot for Edmonds and Derosa, I'd overreact every time.

 

Our biggest problems right now are injuries and luck, not the off season moves. Lee, Soto, and Bradley all started out the season hitting well below their career avg at the same time and each have missed time due to injuries. Compound that with Aramis, Zambrano and Harden's issues, to be honest I cant believe we're not further back right now. This team is going to be really good if they can all get healthy.

[17 Seconds]

Fukudome and Johnson to date would have been a decent combo out in CF and RF........

 

Giving Johnson a full time spot would have been terrible. He can't hit RHP

[UMFan83]

I think it's a very complex issue involving a desire to get more left handed and economic limitations to start with. Ideally, Hendry didn't want to replace 1/3 of the roster, but it had to happen to reach his goal of getting more left handed.

 

Not saying I agree with it, but the offseason was more than Hendry deciding that the team needed an overhaul.

 

All I know is that the Cubs went from one of the best hitting teams against right handers last year to middle of the pack this year. 3 games against the Dodgers wasn't a good enough sample to prove that we needed to overhaul the team in order to get more lefties in there. Yet at the same time, its hard to believe that the 2008 team would have been able to repeat their numbers in 2009. Part of the reason the Cubs are struggling this year is because Lee, Soto and now Soriano have been struggling with the bat, while Theriot is doing ok, but not hitting as consistency as he did last year. Also, Ramirez has been hurt a majority of the year. These are things that probably would have happened no matter what moves were made.

 

I think Hendry's biggest mistake was destroying the bullpen, but I'm pretty sure that Lou had an influence in that. Players like Wuertz and Eyre were never going to get a fair shake with the Cubs because the manager simply didn't favor them.

 

I'm rambling but those are my thoughts on the topic.

[Banedon]

Our biggest problems right now are injuries and luck, not the off season moves. Lee, Soto, and Bradley all started out the season hitting well below their career avg at the same time and each have missed time due to injuries. Compound that with Aramis, Zambrano and Harden's issues, to be honest I cant believe we're not further back right now. This team is going to be really good if they can all get healthy.

 

But see, having Derosa actually helps with injuries, cuz you have someone that can actually play 3B on a regular basis when Ramirez went down. Losing Derosa hurt depth, a lot. This team might be good when they get healthy, but there's no guarantee that they'll ever be entirely healthy. Soriano is playing with a gimpy knee. Ramirez "might" be back in mid-July if he doesn't need surgery. In the meantime, guys like Scales and Blanco are getting playing time.

 

Soto and Bradley's struggles are surprising, but Lee shouldn't be. And really, I don't think we can count his injury times as a negative. Lets be honest, Hoffpauir has outplayed Lee so far this year, in only 30 or so fewer AB's.

 

The truth is that Hendry was shortsighted in the offseason, and got left handed at the expense of depth, and some better players. Is it the Cubs only issue? No...of course not. But lets not pretend that it's not a big issue.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Fukudome and Johnson to date would have been a decent combo out in CF and RF........

 

Giving Johnson a full time spot would have been terrible. He can't hit RHP

 

Making Reed Johnson a full time starter because he was a solid backup and bench bat would be the equivalent of doing the same with Todd Hollandsworth in 2006, and we all know how that worked out.

 

Don't think Marquis would be an upgrade over anybody in our rotation.

 

Getting rid of Marquis was a needed move to free up money to get a solid lefty for right field, which it did. Maybe Hendry chose the wrong lefty, but time will tell.

 

IMHO, the Marshall/Wells duo will give us the same or better results than Marquis.

[Backtobanks]

If overreacting is swapping Bradley and Fontenot for Edmonds and Derosa, I'd overreact every time.

 

Our biggest problems right now are injuries and luck, not the off season moves. Lee, Soto, and Bradley all started out the season hitting well below their career avg at the same time and each have missed time due to injuries. Compound that with Aramis, Zambrano and Harden's issues, to be honest I cant believe we're not further back right now. This team is going to be really good if they can all get healthy.

 

Amen to that. I see articles about other teams and their injuries, but I can't believe any team has been affected the way the Cubs have been. Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury. You know things have to get better when Theriot, Fukudome, and Hoffpauir have carried the team in the first quarter.

[jersey cubs fan]

You can't cry about injuries when you purposefully fill your roster with a ton of over 30 guys who a long history of injuries, and have pitchers like Rich Harden on your squad.

[rynefan]

If overreacting is swapping Bradley and Fontenot for Edmonds and Derosa, I'd overreact every time.

 

Our biggest problems right now are injuries and luck, not the off season moves. Lee, Soto, and Bradley all started out the season hitting well below their career avg at the same time and each have missed time due to injuries. Compound that with Aramis, Zambrano and Harden's issues, to be honest I cant believe we're not further back right now. This team is going to be really good if they can all get healthy.

 

Amen to that. I see articles about other teams and their injuries, but I can't believe any team has been affected the way the Cubs have been. Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury. You know things have to get better when Theriot, Fukudome, and Hoffpauir have carried the team in the first quarter.

 

That's the scary part, to me, that Theriot, Fukudome and Hoffpauir have carried the team to this point. I'm not saying I mind, believe me, but just think if they hadn't. There would be no telling how far back this team would be.

 

I doubt Lee will come around much more, and I have faith in Soto. BUT, what worries me is Bradley. He said the other day that he's never ever had a start like this... so what does that mean? It means he CAN come out of it and be the player the Cubs need, but even according to him, there's no basis of comparison to feel confident that he will.

[SouthSideRyan]

Morgan is right but he's wrong. He's right that it's stupid to focus on making your team more left-handed, but not because it's focusing on the playoffs before you get there. It's stupid because you had the best damn offense in the NL last year, and you're weighting 3 [expletive] GAMES over the other 162.

 

ETA: My favorite part of the get more left handed nonsense is that the only 2 guys to have better than terrible serieses were right handers. And they got rid of one of them.

[fivepercent]

Our biggest problems right now are injuries and luck, not the off season moves. Lee, Soto, and Bradley all started out the season hitting well below their career avg at the same time and each have missed time due to injuries. Compound that with Aramis, Zambrano and Harden's issues, to be honest I cant believe we're not further back right now. This team is going to be really good if they can all get healthy.

 

But see, having Derosa actually helps with injuries, cuz you have someone that can actually play 3B on a regular basis when Ramirez went down. Losing Derosa hurt depth, a lot. This team might be good when they get healthy, but there's no guarantee that they'll ever be entirely healthy. Soriano is playing with a gimpy knee. Ramirez "might" be back in mid-July if he doesn't need surgery. In the meantime, guys like Scales and Blanco are getting playing time.

 

Soto and Bradley's struggles are surprising, but Lee shouldn't be. And really, I don't think we can count his injury times as a negative. Lets be honest, Hoffpauir has outplayed Lee so far this year, in only 30 or so fewer AB's.

 

The truth is that Hendry was shortsighted in the offseason, and got left handed at the expense of depth, and some better players. Is it the Cubs only issue? No...of course not. But lets not pretend that it's not a big issue.

 

I agree that depth was probably compromised to get better starters, but I dont see Derosa as a guy that wouldve carried this team through the injuries it's seen so far. The bottom line, and the point of my original post, is that whether we have Derosa or Fontenot or Scales or Miles playing 3B, if Soto, Lee, Soriano and Bradley arent hitting at the same time, this team is not going to be good.

[dew1679666265]

Morgan is right but he's wrong. He's right that it's stupid to focus on making your team more left-handed, but not because it's focusing on the playoffs before you get there. It's stupid because you had the best damn offense in the NL last year, and you're weighting 3 [expletive] GAMES over the other 162.

 

ETA: My favorite part of the get more left handed nonsense is that the only 2 guys to have better than terrible serieses were right handers. And they got rid of one of them.

 

I think his primary point was that you shouldn't over-react about a short stretch like the postseason (echoing sentiments expressed here many times, surprisingly enough :shock: ) by making drastic lineup changes. As a part of that argument, he made the point that Hendry appeared to be building toward the playoffs far too early to be doing so.

 

That's how I took it at least.

 

He also strongly lamented the Cubs' trading of DeRosa, which I also completely agreed with.

[sneakypower]

hendry's biggest sin is that there were fantastic bargains to be had in the offseason in positions of need and he blew something like $10m on Miles, Heilman and Gregg alone

[SouthSideRyan]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

 

Hes been playing with a sore knee for a little while now after banging it against the wall making a catch, I think it was last weekend.

[CubColtPacer]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

 

Hes been playing with a sore knee for a little while now after banging it against the wall making a catch, I think it was last weekend.

 

It was actually over a month ago that he originally hurt it. April 23rd. But it has apparently been getting worse the last couple weeks.

[CliftonHanger]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

 

Hes been playing with a sore knee for a little while now after banging it against the wall making a catch, I think it was last weekend.

I thought it was back in may.

[jersey cubs fan]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

 

Hes been playing with a sore knee for a little while now after banging it against the wall making a catch, I think it was last weekend.

I thought it was back in may.

 

Last weekend was May.

[Guest]

Right now Soriano is slumping because he's trying to play through an injury.

 

Did I miss something?

 

Hes been playing with a sore knee for a little while now after banging it against the wall making a catch, I think it was last weekend.

I thought it was back in may.

 

Last weekend was May.

 

And it seemed so long ago.

[sporrer17]

 

That's the scary part, to me, that Theriot, Fukudome and Hoffpauir have carried the team to this point. I'm not saying I mind, believe me, but just think if they hadn't. There would be no telling how far back this team would be.

 

I doubt Lee will come around much more, and I have faith in Soto. BUT, what worries me is Bradley. He said the other day that he's never ever had a start like this... so what does that mean? It means he CAN come out of it and be the player the Cubs need, but even according to him, there's no basis of comparison to feel confident that he will.

 

I understand he's not the same hitter he once was...but he's not totally done.

 

.313/.403/.552 with 4 HR and 9 RBI in May. Obviously the power numbers aren't where we would like them for a "cleanup" hitter, but he's still capable of being very productive. If he can get in that ballpark again this month, he'll do a lot more to convince me he's still a viable middle of the order option.