New Gm, New Manager

[Guest]

I don't understand why you'd want to retain a GM but tie his hands because you don't trust him. If that's the case, just get rid of him and get someone you trust.

 

My thought was that any big money/long term contracts would have to be okayed by Ricketts. I would think Ricketts would want the same situation with a new GM too.

 

I wouldn't define that as a "short, tight leash."

[imb]

i would like to wrap a short, tight leash around hendy's neck and hang it from a ceiling fan (metaphorically)

[shnsajax]

I've supported Hendry for a long time but it is simply time for an all-around change, GM, Manager, Player, everyone.

[Backtobanks]

BTB: You can admit you like Jim Hendry.

 

I don't have a problem with keeping or firing Hendry. He has made plenty of mistakes during his tenure, but he has also raised the expectation level. He's done better than average on trades, but worse than average on money issues and free agents. One trait that could be considered a positive or negative is that he is a hands-off GM, letting the manager run the team. Personally, I think the Cubs have a better chance to rebound in the next 1-2 years with Hendry rather than with a new GM simply because he knows the personnel in the whole system and has built a relationship with the other GMs.

[NewUserName]

BTB: You can admit you like Jim Hendry.

 

I don't have a problem with keeping or firing Hendry. He has made plenty of mistakes during his tenure, but he has also raised the expectation level. He's done better than average on trades, but worse than average on money issues and free agents. One trait that could be considered a positive or negative is that he is a hands-off GM, letting the manager run the team. Personally, I think the Cubs have a better chance to rebound in the next 1-2 years with Hendry rather than with a new GM simply because he knows the personnel in the whole system and has built a relationship with the other GMs.

 

Has Hendry raised the expectations or the fact that the Cubs have gone from middle of the road in payroll when Hendry took over in 2002 to the 3rd highest payroll this season? or another way to look at it is, in 2002 the Cubs and Cardinals had very similar payrolls. The Cardinals are still in the middle of the league in payroll and the Cubs are at the top, but who is getting more bang for their buck? I guess I am saying that anyone who has been given the resources Hendry has been given and has his limited amount of success and people still think he is doing a good job, well I guess the expectation levels are still not high enough.

[soapy]

I can see why people would be hesitant to blame/fire Lou (or any manager) in this situation, I guess. But for the life of me I can't believe there are so many people willing to let Hendry to continue as GM. He raised the expectation level!? That's what he's accomplished in eight years with a huge payroll advantage!? Wow, color me impressed. Besides, I question whether he's even accomplished that.

 

The abysmal track record of the organization's success prior to Hendry's tenure as GM doesn't excuse the fact that he just hasn't gotten the job done given ample time to do so. Let's move on. I've said before that I'm not in "anybody but Hendry" mode, but there are plenty of possibilities out there. Fear of picking the wrong replacement isn't an excuse for inaction.

[Soul]

So this is what, the 3rd or 4th thread on this topic?

[soapy]

We should talk about Colvin instead.

[Old Style]

We should talk about Colvin instead.

I think he's the next Babe Ruth.

[UK1679666180]

I'm with Ping/UK in that I'd love Logan White as GM. But I'm beginning to worry that Hendry will be retained.

 

This....

[Backtobanks]

I can see why people would be hesitant to blame/fire Lou (or any manager) in this situation, I guess. But for the life of me I can't believe there are so many people willing to let Hendry to continue as GM. He raised the expectation level!? That's what he's accomplished in eight years with a huge payroll advantage!? Wow, color me impressed. Besides, I question whether he's even accomplished that.

 

The abysmal track record of the organization's success prior to Hendry's tenure as GM doesn't excuse the fact that he just hasn't gotten the job done given ample time to do so. Let's move on. I've said before that I'm not in "anybody but Hendry" mode, but there are plenty of possibilities out there. Fear of picking the wrong replacement isn't an excuse for inaction.

 

The bottom line is that if DLee, ARam, and Zambrano were producing anywhere near what was expected of them, the Cubs would be right at or near the top of the NL Central. Nobody expected all 3 of them to fall apart at the same time. For those of you would will claim that you predicted 1 or more of them would suck for half a season, Hendry made sure he had decent substitutes in Nady/Tracy, Tracy/Fontenot/Baker, and Gorzelanny/Silva. If I remember correctly, signing Nady and Tracy was considered a very positive move by most of us. As for the payroll issue, I think Hendry had a lot to do with convincing the Tribune company to raise the payroll.

[jersey cubs fan]

The bottom line is that if DLee, ARam, and Zambrano were producing anywhere near what was expected of them, the Cubs would be right at or near the top of the NL Central.

 

The bottom line is this is Hendry's 8th year running the program and it hasn't come close to winning as often as they should. Every year there is some nonsensical excuse about this guy or that guy not living up to expectations or out of nowhere injuries crippling an otherwise brilliant roster. Every team deals with players who fail and/or get hurt. The good ones get past that. Hendry has had plenty of resources to build a team that could withstand setbacks, but he's failed miserably at his job.

[soapy]

I can see why people would be hesitant to blame/fire Lou (or any manager) in this situation, I guess. But for the life of me I can't believe there are so many people willing to let Hendry to continue as GM. He raised the expectation level!? That's what he's accomplished in eight years with a huge payroll advantage!? Wow, color me impressed. Besides, I question whether he's even accomplished that.

 

The abysmal track record of the organization's success prior to Hendry's tenure as GM doesn't excuse the fact that he just hasn't gotten the job done given ample time to do so. Let's move on. I've said before that I'm not in "anybody but Hendry" mode, but there are plenty of possibilities out there. Fear of picking the wrong replacement isn't an excuse for inaction.

 

The bottom line is that if DLee, ARam, and Zambrano were producing anywhere near what was expected of them, the Cubs would be right at or near the top of the NL Central. Nobody expected all 3 of them to fall apart at the same time. For those of you would will claim that you predicted 1 or more of them would suck for half a season, Hendry made sure he had decent substitutes in Nady/Tracy, Tracy/Fontenot/Baker, and Gorzelanny/Silva. If I remember correctly, signing Nady and Tracy was considered a very positive move by most of us. As for the payroll issue, I think Hendry had a lot to do with convincing the Tribune company to raise the payroll.

 

As goony said, there are always excuses. Last year it was that Harden, Soriano and Soto were let downs. This year it's Lee and Ramirez (and maybe to a lesser extent Zambrano). However, last year they got far more than would have been expected from Wells. This year, they've gotten far more than anyone expected from Silva and Colvin (and maybe to a lesser extent Byrd).

 

It's not like the Hendry era has been bludgeoned with terrible luck and never had good fortune with some players. These things have a way of evening out over time and Hendry has enough of a track record at this point to see that its not really a matter of bad luck or small sample size or anything like that. It can be summarized as somewhere between mediocre and failure. That's not good enough, especially if the expectations have been raised as you suggest.

[Guest]

The bottom line is that if DLee, ARam, and Zambrano were producing anywhere near what was expected of them, the Cubs would be right at or near the top of the NL Central.

That's not the bottom line at all. That's the recurring story.

 

Hendry sucks bad, he needs to go. I'm sick of the nonsense.

 

Unfortunately for Cub fans it looks like Daktari Ricketts will keep him around. It's going to be a long, long couple of years for Cubs fans with Sandberg waiting in the wings.

[treebird]

hey guys, all this team needed to succeed was every player on the roster to play as well or better than we could have optimistically hoped for them to play.

 

only jim hendry could have brought us to this beautiful pinnacle of roster building.

[muntjack]

But the level of production really isn't the problem. Did we expect Aramis to be the worst hitter in baseball for two months? No. But did we expect Colvin to produce anywhere near what he has? No. Soriano and Soto have both bounced back. Carlos Silva could have been an all-star. Marlon Byrd is. There are a lot of Cubs playing well above preseason expectations.

 

In close games, there is a level of variance that comes into play that is unmanageable. When you exacerbate a bad run of variance with really poor decision making in close games, you can easily end up in the Cubs position.

[CubColtPacer]

How you view this season depends on how you view Soto and Soriano. If you thought last year was a huge aberration for both of them, then this year the players are way underperforming. Sure, there are a few overachievers that have been mentioned (Colvin and Silva are the two biggest and Gorzelanny should also be mentioned. Byrd isn't really a strong candidate as his numbers are pretty close to the last 3 before that.) But they don't match up whatsoever with the underachievers (Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, Theriot, and possibly Baker and Nady).

 

If Soriano and Soto are seen as overperformance, then it becomes a whole lot closer although still in underperformance territory.

 

I'm interested to see what happens after the season. Bruce doesn't think Hendry will be fired but I think a lot of fans are assuming he will. This team is definitely not as bad as its record and should improve markedly just bringing back the same team but definitely has some big needs as well. And the fans problems of being sick with the current core might play into a larger dismantling than might be needed.

[Guest]

How you view this season depends on how you view Soto and Soriano. If you thought last year was a huge aberration for both of them, then this year the players are way underperforming. Sure, there are a few overachievers that have been mentioned (Colvin and Silva are the two biggest and Gorzelanny should also be mentioned. Byrd isn't really a strong candidate as his numbers are pretty close to the last 3 before that.) But they don't match up whatsoever with the underachievers (Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, Theriot, and possibly Baker and Nady).

 

If Soriano and Soto are seen as overperformance, then it becomes a whole lot closer although still in underperformance territory.

 

I'm interested to see what happens after the season. Bruce doesn't think Hendry will be fired but I think a lot of fans are assuming he will. This team is definitely not as bad as its record and should improve markedly just bringing back the same team but definitely has some big needs as well. And the fans problems of being sick with the current core might play into a larger dismantling than might be needed.

I think the team is definitely as bad as its record. The only thing that has surprised me is the starting pitching has been as good as it's been.

 

It's not going to be significantly better and may be much worse next year unless big changes are made.

[jersey cubs fan]

How you view this season depends on how you view Soto and Soriano. If you thought last year was a huge aberration for both of them, then this year the players are way underperforming. Sure, there are a few overachievers that have been mentioned (Colvin and Silva are the two biggest and Gorzelanny should also be mentioned. Byrd isn't really a strong candidate as his numbers are pretty close to the last 3 before that.) But they don't match up whatsoever with the underachievers (Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, Theriot, and possibly Baker and Nady).

 

If Soriano and Soto are seen as overperformance, then it becomes a whole lot closer although still in underperformance territory.

 

I'm interested to see what happens after the season. Bruce doesn't think Hendry will be fired but I think a lot of fans are assuming he will. This team is definitely not as bad as its record and should improve markedly just bringing back the same team but definitely has some big needs as well. And the fans problems of being sick with the current core might play into a larger dismantling than might be needed.

 

Ryan Theriot isn't underperforming, he's just not good. He's 30 now, and 30 year old middle infielders with scarce productivity on their resumes should be expected to suck. Lee is playing almost exactly like he did for 6 months, between 2008 and 2009, before he bounced back for what looks like his last gasp of productivity.

 

I think it is absurd to suggest this team would improve just by bringing everybody back. It's already an old team full of players whose best days are likely way behind them. It's also absurd to suggest Soto is somehow underperforming anything. Soriano is right on best hopes for production.

 

This team is not better than it's record. That's the same BS nonsense we hear every year when the team doesn't win enough, because everybody needs to look for excuses to cover up Jim Hendry's failures. Just stop already. It's a poorly constructed baseball team. 2009 wasn't some 95 win team that just didn't put it together. 2010 was actually predicted to be quite bad by many people. This isn't a team that is stunningly underachieving. It's not a good baseball team. Every team deals with fluctuations in individual performance. The good ones win despite those struggles. The Cubs aren't good, and their record reflects it.

[Guest]

The only thing that has surprised me is the starting pitching has been as good as it's been.

I don't recall you predicting a .190 batting average from Ramirez.

[jersey cubs fan]

The only thing that has surprised me is the starting pitching has been as good as it's been.

I don't recall you predicting a .190 batting average from Ramirez.

 

Maybe he's not foolish enough to bother predicting batting averages.

[Guest]

The only thing that has surprised me is the starting pitching has been as good as it's been.

I don't recall you predicting a .190 batting average from Ramirez.

He missed most of last season and practically all of spring training. It doesn't take Bill James to know that Aramis would have a bad season. I certainly didn't expect this bad, but I can remember a few discussions were I questioned people's predictions about this team.

[fiver]

goony is being cryptic about it, but i think he wants Hendry fired. :-)

[CubColtPacer]

How you view this season depends on how you view Soto and Soriano. If you thought last year was a huge aberration for both of them, then this year the players are way underperforming. Sure, there are a few overachievers that have been mentioned (Colvin and Silva are the two biggest and Gorzelanny should also be mentioned. Byrd isn't really a strong candidate as his numbers are pretty close to the last 3 before that.) But they don't match up whatsoever with the underachievers (Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, Theriot, and possibly Baker and Nady).

 

If Soriano and Soto are seen as overperformance, then it becomes a whole lot closer although still in underperformance territory.

 

I'm interested to see what happens after the season. Bruce doesn't think Hendry will be fired but I think a lot of fans are assuming he will. This team is definitely not as bad as its record and should improve markedly just bringing back the same team but definitely has some big needs as well. And the fans problems of being sick with the current core might play into a larger dismantling than might be needed.

 

Ryan Theriot isn't underperforming, he's just not good. He's 30 now, and 30 year old middle infielders with scarce productivity on their resumes should be expected to suck. Lee is playing almost exactly like he did for 6 months, between 2008 and 2009, before he bounced back for what looks like his last gasp of productivity.

 

I think it is absurd to suggest this team would improve just by bringing everybody back. It's already an old team full of players whose best days are likely way behind them. It's also absurd to suggest Soto is somehow underperforming anything. Soriano is right on best hopes for production.

 

This team is not better than it's record. That's the same BS nonsense we hear every year when the team doesn't win enough, because everybody needs to look for excuses to cover up Jim Hendry's failures. Just stop already. It's a poorly constructed baseball team. 2009 wasn't some 95 win team that just didn't put it together. 2010 was actually predicted to be quite bad by many people. This isn't a team that is stunningly underachieving. It's not a good baseball team. Every team deals with fluctuations in individual performance. The good ones win despite those struggles. The Cubs aren't good, and their record reflects it.

 

There's room to say that the Cubs are both not a very good baseball team and that a team who is 11 games under .500 at the break is underperforming. If the same team is brought back next year they are really, really likely to win more than 71 games which is what they are on pace to win this year.

 

Hopefully the Cubs don't bring back the same team because there are significant improvements that can be made ( for example while Theriot would be expected to improve next year, he still will be a bad player and there could be many ways to upgrade at 2B). But if you project out player by player, it's hard to come up with a scenario where they finish near 70 wins again.

 

Let's look at one preseason projection sorted by number of at-bats this year. From the highest number of at-bats every 50 below that I put a space to show who has gotten the majority of the at-bats.

 

Theriot: 94 points of OPS less than projected

Byrd: 37 points more

Lee: 179 points less

 

Soriano: 55 points more

Ramirez: 239 points less

 

Fukudome: 11 points less

Soto: 87 points more

Castro: 37 points more

 

Colvin: 163 points more

Fontenot: 3 points less

Nady: 168 points less

 

Baker: 90 points less

Hill: 130 points less

 

The fall off has been staggering. While the Cubs have had a couple surprises, the downsides have been a lot larger and with players who tend to get more at-bats than the ones to the upside.

[MSG T]

Didn't think this deserved it's own thread...

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100711&content_id=12209788

 

Ricketts said "had the highest level of confidence" in general manager Jim Hendry.

 

"The fact is right now, Jim is our general manager, I support him, I think he does a great job, and after that we'll just take it one day at a time," Ricketts said.

 

 

It's from Muskat, but still, I'm not sure how to take the quoted parts. It seems he really likes Hendry, but it also seems he's willing to make a change if it's needed.