Hendrys Top 10 moves as GM

[SouthSideRyan]

This isn't one of the top ten moves he has made, but it's probably the most interesting. I thought we traded Sosa for pennies on the dollar, but Sosa after the trade had a .727 OPS and Mike Fontenot had a .757 OPS as a Cub.

 

And Sosa's OPS is inflated due to his 2007 when he wouldn't have been under contract to us, while Fontenot's is deflated based on his numbers with the Giants. Plus the nonzero chance Crawford can become a 5th OF.

[shnsajax]

I would include hiring Lou Piniella in this list. Worked great for 2 years.

[UMFan83]

Not a top 10 move but trading a scrub prospect for Jeff Baker wasn't that bad, even if he is only a platoon player at best.

[DiamondMind]

One thing I'll always defend Hendry on is the Soriano contract. The Trib knew they'd be selling the team and wanted to raise its value before doing so. They literally told Hendry "here's some money, go spend it", and who else was really even out there besides Soriano? Of course it was a stupid deal, and who knows if Hendry himself even thought it was a good idea, but the fact is that he was commanded to spend some money so he simply did it, and now HE is taking the blame for the upper managements idiocy.

[dew1679666265]

I would include hiring Lou Piniella in this list. Worked great for 2 years.

 

I agree completely. I said in another thread that if I could mold my own ideal (realistic) manager, he'd be really similar to Lou his first two seasons.

[CincyCubsFan]

If you do a Hendry's top 10 bad moves list, can you include non-moves, like refusing to trade Hill, Pie, Prior until their value was borderline useless?

 

Hill turned to [expletive] basically overnight. Prior? What are you talking about?

[Bote McBoteface]

in either 2004 or 2005 the Cubs were offered Tejada for Prior by the Orioles, I believe a straight up trade, and they declined.

 

Seems like nearly everybody agreed with declining the trade at the time, so it seems silly to mention as one of Hendry's worst moves.

 

edit: Now that I think about it, I think the Cubs wanted one of their pitchers, too. I think he later got traded to Seattle. Can't think of the name. I think the Orioles ended up declining the Cubs on that.

[Sammy Sofa]

Bedard?

[NCCubFan]

Bedard?

Yes.

[Post Count Padder]

Not a top 10 move but trading a scrub prospect for Jeff Baker wasn't that bad, even if he is only a platoon player at best.

Al Alburquerque has a 2.73 ERA and 47 Ks in 29.2 innings this year for the Tigers. Though he wasn't much of a prospect at the time and he did nothing with the Rockies.

[UMFan83]

Not a top 10 move but trading a scrub prospect for Jeff Baker wasn't that bad, even if he is only a platoon player at best.

Al Alburquerque has a 2.73 ERA and 47 Ks in 29.2 innings this year for the Tigers. Though he wasn't much of a prospect at the time and he did nothing with the Rockies.

 

FML nevermind then.

[SouthSideRyan]

Not a top 10 move but trading a scrub prospect for Jeff Baker wasn't that bad, even if he is only a platoon player at best.

Al Alburquerque has a 2.73 ERA and 47 Ks in 29.2 innings this year for the Tigers. Though he wasn't much of a prospect at the time and he did nothing with the Rockies.

 

FML nevermind then.

 

He was signed as a minor league free agent by Detroit, you might as well fault Hendry for not picking him up in the offseason.

[UMFan83]

Not a top 10 move but trading a scrub prospect for Jeff Baker wasn't that bad, even if he is only a platoon player at best.

Al Alburquerque has a 2.73 ERA and 47 Ks in 29.2 innings this year for the Tigers. Though he wasn't much of a prospect at the time and he did nothing with the Rockies.

 

FML nevermind then.

 

He was signed as a minor league free agent by Detroit, you might as well fault Hendry for not picking him up in the offseason.

 

True, just like he could have picked up Josh Hamilton 5 years ago, wtf is this man's problem? (besides donuts!!!)

[javy knows my name]

As for Pie, Im more upset that they traded him for what they did and then turned around and signed Joey Gathright to take the spot. There was no reason to even trade the guy, especially when while we may not have expected the Milton Bradley Era to end the way it did, everyone knew how injury pron he was, and Pie would have been a perfectly good 4th outfielder.

 

God, our CF situation was just abysmal for the 5-6 years between Lofton and Byrd. I just kind of got used to it.

[SouthSideRyan]

As for Pie, Im more upset that they traded him for what they did and then turned around and signed Joey Gathright to take the spot. There was no reason to even trade the guy, especially when while we may not have expected the Milton Bradley Era to end the way it did, everyone knew how injury pron he was, and Pie would have been a perfectly good 4th outfielder.

 

God, our CF situation was just abysmal for the 5-6 years between Lofton and Byrd. I just kind of got used to it.

 

Jimmy will cut you.

[XZero771679666304]

As for Pie, Im more upset that they traded him for what they did and then turned around and signed Joey Gathright to take the spot. There was no reason to even trade the guy, especially when while we may not have expected the Milton Bradley Era to end the way it did, everyone knew how injury pron he was, and Pie would have been a perfectly good 4th outfielder.

 

God, our CF situation was just abysmal for the 5-6 years between Lofton and Byrd. I just kind of got used to it.

 

I would say between '04 Patterson and Byrd.

[javy knows my name]

As for Pie, Im more upset that they traded him for what they did and then turned around and signed Joey Gathright to take the spot. There was no reason to even trade the guy, especially when while we may not have expected the Milton Bradley Era to end the way it did, everyone knew how injury pron he was, and Pie would have been a perfectly good 4th outfielder.

 

God, our CF situation was just abysmal for the 5-6 years between Lofton and Byrd. I just kind of got used to it.

 

Jimmy will cut you.

 

I knew I'd forget somebody. I liked Jacque quite a bit, especially those bombs he'd launch to left center

[XZero771679666304]

As for Pie, Im more upset that they traded him for what they did and then turned around and signed Joey Gathright to take the spot. There was no reason to even trade the guy, especially when while we may not have expected the Milton Bradley Era to end the way it did, everyone knew how injury pron he was, and Pie would have been a perfectly good 4th outfielder.

 

God, our CF situation was just abysmal for the 5-6 years between Lofton and Byrd. I just kind of got used to it.

 

Jimmy will cut you.

 

 

Well yeah, him too.

[SouthSideRyan]

We haven't had a long-term CF or anything, but the only bad year we've had in CF was '05 Patterson.

[apete6]

This isn't one of the top ten moves he has made, but it's probably the most interesting. I thought we traded Sosa for pennies on the dollar, but Sosa after the trade had a .727 OPS and Mike Fontenot had a .757 OPS as a Cub.

 

And Sosa's OPS is inflated due to his 2007 when he wouldn't have been under contract to us, while Fontenot's is deflated based on his numbers with the Giants. Plus the nonzero chance Crawford can become a 5th OF.

 

Trashing him to the media by the entire front office and dugout staff certainly didn't help his trade value, however. If they would have just kept that whole thing quiet, maybe they could have gotten slightly more than Fontenot and Hairston.

[SouthSideRyan]

This isn't one of the top ten moves he has made, but it's probably the most interesting. I thought we traded Sosa for pennies on the dollar, but Sosa after the trade had a .727 OPS and Mike Fontenot had a .757 OPS as a Cub.

 

And Sosa's OPS is inflated due to his 2007 when he wouldn't have been under contract to us, while Fontenot's is deflated based on his numbers with the Giants. Plus the nonzero chance Crawford can become a 5th OF.

 

Trashing him to the media by the entire front office and dugout staff certainly didn't help his trade value, however. If they would have just kept that whole thing quiet, maybe they could have gotten slightly more than Fontenot and Hairston.

 

Would they have got him to waive his option that vested upon being traded?

[Post Count Padder]

Could probably mention getting a living, breathing human being in exchange for both Neifi and Miles, but Hendry put himself in those positions to begin with.

[champaignchris]

5. Trade for Eric Karos and Grudz

 

It's not just that he got Karros and Grudzielanek. In the same deal, he got rid of Todd Hundley. Got rid of a cancer in exchange for two starters on a division champ team. Probably not his best trade, but it might be his most underrated.

 

Not mentioned so far, I think... Bradley for Silva.

[Brett]

5. Trade for Eric Karos and Grudz

 

It's not just that he got Karros and Grudzielanek. In the same deal, he got rid of Todd Hundley. Got rid of a cancer in exchange for two starters on a division champ team. Probably not his best trade, but it might be his most underrated.

 

Not mentioned so far, I think... Bradley for Silva.

 

Should Hendry really get credit for trading Bradley for Silva? That'd be like patting him on the back for signing Silva in the first place (had the Cubs signed him).

[jersey cubs fan]

5. Trade for Eric Karos and Grudz

 

It's not just that he got Karros and Grudzielanek. In the same deal, he got rid of Todd Hundley. Got rid of a cancer in exchange for two starters on a division champ team. Probably not his best trade, but it might be his most underrated.

 

Not mentioned so far, I think... Bradley for Silva.

 

Should Hendry really get credit for trading Bradley for Silva? That'd be like patting him on the back for signing Silva in the first place (had the Cubs signed him).

 

It really just reiterates how silly it is to make a list of good moves he's made. It's not about making a good move. It's about creating a great team. If all you do is constantly churn troubling players for less troubling players who you have to replace with less troubling players it may look like you made a number of good moves, but your roster will suck. And the Cubs roster has sucked, that is why the record has been so incredibly disappointing throughout the Hendry era and especially in recent years.

 

It's about wins. If you have the Cubs resources and aren't winning 90 games with regularity, you are doing a poor job.