This offseason will make or break Jim Hendry

[Butterscup1679666578]

I think Hendry is on his way out no matter what happens this offseason/season, unless we make the World Series.

[YearofDaCubs]

I think Hendry is on his way out no matter what happens this offseason/season, unless we make the World Series.

and rightfully so.

[davell]

While I agree completely that it's WS or bust for Hendry this year(hopefully Ricketts sees it this way too), how much credit does Hendry get for helping the Trib open up their purse strings over the time since he's been here? Granted, he's not spent wisely, but until he got here, we definitely operated differently......Just curious what people think.

[cubsfan26]

I think it's a bit wishful thinking that If the Cubs don't win the World Series Hendry gets fired. If the Cubs are back in the postseason and have a good year. I doubt Ricketts is gonna fire Hendry or even consider firing Hendry. Especially when he still has two years left on his deal after this season. I think the only way Hendry gets fired is if the Cubs have another season like last year or worse. I think Ricketts is giving Hendry this year to clean up his mess(he's not giving him anymore money to spend) and if he does he will be back. If he doesn't and the Cubs don't get better he will be gone. But no owner is going to fire a GM with two years left on his deal after taking his team to the playoffs(which will be 3 of 4 years). Only a owner like George Steinbrenner 30 years ago is that harsh.

 

How can a general manager f up that badly in one offseason? And how can he be allowed to fix the mess?

 

Well it's rare for a GM to mess up that badly after coming off back to back playoff appearances. The 07-08 seasons saved Hendry job for this season and he's being allowed to fix his mistakes. But at the same time he's not getting millions of dollars to cover up his mistakes. Since the payroll is only getting a slight increase and we are pretty close to the budget already. So he's gonna have to dump some salary the best he can, and make some small smart trades(getting Gorzelanny/Baker for nothing was a good start IMO) and pick up some free agent bargins. I guess in a way if he can fix the team this way he deserves to hold onto his job. Because people can joke all they want, but Hendry can't go out and sign some guy to a 3y 30m type deal this offseason. I'd be surprised if any player gets more then a 2 year deal and gets more then 6m per year. So if he does improve the team Hendry will deserve some credit and people can't say oh well he just spent money to make that happen. But I guess Hendry doesn't deserve much credit even if he turns things around, because last season bad offseason will just even things out. It will though make most Cubs fans ok with him as the GM again like they were a year ago.

[jersey cubs fan]

While I agree completely that it's WS or bust for Hendry this year(hopefully Ricketts sees it this way too), how much credit does Hendry get for helping the Trib open up their purse strings over the time since he's been here? Granted, he's not spent wisely, but until he got here, we definitely operated differently......Just curious what people think.

 

None.

 

That was MacPhail, McDonough and Kenney. And the Cubs old reputation as cheapskates wasn't all that accurate. Remember, they once signed a guy to the biggest contract in baseball before Hendry even showed up (Sandberg). And the biggest knock on the Cubs was that they paid for past their prime free agents instead of developing their own quality players. Pretty much every team out there had a reputation as being cheap, outside of the Yankees and whatever AL team was trying to compete with them that year.

[Soul]

I believe Hendry's "make or break" offseasons have passed.

 

He's playing out the string now, unless a miracle occurs (as others have noted). Maybe not the World Series, but performance well beyond expectations, and a significant playoff appearance.

 

I really feel Ricketts must move on from this, unless big time success stays his hand. He can't want to look like merely a Tribune successor, which is what I believe the danger is if he keeps Hendry around long term.

 

Surely he wants to broadcast to the Cub faithful that he's moving this team in a new direction.