Hendry's Worst 10 Moves (Non including draft)

[UMFan83]

So are we just ignoring the fact that we traded 3 solid pitching prospects, although only 1 panned out for 1 year of Juan Pierre, who much like Jacque Jones gave us Juan Pierre? Maybe Hendry just has a thing for black guys with french names.

 

Nolasco, Piggy and Willis for Pierre, right? I forgot about that one.

 

No. Mitre, Nolasco, and Pinto.

 

Willis was sent with Cueto, Tavarez, and Jorgensen for Alfonseca and Clement. I'd defend that trade as one that was pretty good for both teams. But it was a Lynch transaction, so isn't part of the conversation.

 

I was about to say where the hell did you get Cueto from, but then looked back on the trade and there was indeed some guy named Jose Cueto in that trade.

 

And Id completely forgot that Piggy ever existed. Whatever happened to that guy?

 

Went to the same mysterious place that Jose Ascaino, Francis Beltran and many others go. The Land of Has Been and Never Were Middle Relievers.

[Little Slide Rooter]

So are we just ignoring the fact that we traded 3 solid pitching prospects, although only 1 panned out for 1 year of Juan Pierre, who much like Jacque Jones gave us Juan Pierre? Maybe Hendry just has a thing for black guys with french names.

 

Nolasco, Piggy and Willis for Pierre, right? I forgot about that one.

 

No. Mitre, Nolasco, and Pinto.

 

Willis was sent with Cueto, Tavarez, and Jorgensen for Alfonseca and Clement. I'd defend that trade as one that was pretty good for both teams. But it was a Lynch transaction, so isn't part of the conversation.

 

I was about to say where the hell did you get Cueto from, but then looked back on the trade and there was indeed some guy named Jose Cueto in that trade.

 

And Id completely forgot that Piggy ever existed. Whatever happened to that guy?

 

Went to the same mysterious place that Jose Ascaino, Francis Beltran and many others go. The Land of Has Been and Never Were Middle Relievers.

 

Billy Petrick.

[jersey cubs fan]

Hiring Dusty is an easy number 1 in my book. It was a predictable disaster that pretty much ended exactly how one would think and resulted in a lot bad things that happened along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a personal nuisance of mine is drafting Prior over Teixeira. I think Hendry was in charge of the draft back then, when he was director of player development or whatever that title was. Pitchers are so much more volatile than hitters. Can't miss stud college bats are must drafts. And if you are going to adopt essentially a "rub some dirt on it" mentality to the health of your young arms, it's a no-brainer.

 

 

Regardless, handing those arms over to Dusty was a travesty.

[illiniguy]

Hiring Dusty is an easy number 1 in my book. It was a predictable disaster that pretty much ended exactly how one would think and resulted in a lot bad things that happened along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a personal nuisance of mine is drafting Prior over Teixeira. I think Hendry was in charge of the draft back then, when he was director of player development or whatever that title was. Pitchers are so much more volatile than hitters. Can't miss stud college bats are must drafts. And if you are going to adopt essentially a "rub some dirt on it" mentality to the health of your young arms, it's a no-brainer.

 

 

Regardless, handing those arms over to Dusty was a travesty.

Mark Prior, along with Kerry Wood, got us to within 5 outs of a World Series. We might not ever have a run like that again in our lifetimes. The hell with Mark Teixeira.

[TruffleShuffle]

10. Not having the foresight to draft Josh Hamilton in Rule 5 draft.

 

i was posting on this board regularly back then, and i'm pretty sure that absolutely nobody was upset about not keeping josh hamilton.

[SouthSideRyan]

Prior was only a bad choice because he turned him over to Bruce Kimm and Dusty Baker. That's double counting.

[UMFan83]

Hiring Dusty is an easy number 1 in my book. It was a predictable disaster that pretty much ended exactly how one would think and resulted in a lot bad things that happened along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a personal nuisance of mine is drafting Prior over Teixeira. I think Hendry was in charge of the draft back then, when he was director of player development or whatever that title was. Pitchers are so much more volatile than hitters. Can't miss stud college bats are must drafts. And if you are going to adopt essentially a "rub some dirt on it" mentality to the health of your young arms, it's a no-brainer.

 

 

Regardless, handing those arms over to Dusty was a travesty.

Mark Prior, along with Kerry Wood, got us to within 5 outs of a World Series. We might not ever have a run like that again in our lifetimes. The hell with Mark Teixeira.

 

I see your point about Tex over Prior, but I mean Prior I believe had put up some historical numbers in college, and correct me if I'm wrong, was billed as a once in a generation pitcher. But I completely agree with what jersey said about not drafting him if the org. has no idea what protecting young arms means. But then again, Teixeira might have gotten a crash course in being an aggressive hitter if we had drafted him.

[jersey cubs fan]

I see your point about Tex over Prior, but I mean Prior I believe had put up some historical numbers in college, and correct me if I'm wrong, was billed as a once in a generation pitcher. But I completely agree with what jersey said about not drafting him if the org. has no idea what protecting young arms means. But then again, Teixeira might have gotten a crash course in being an aggressive hitter if we had drafted him.

 

And once in a generation pitchers fail often enough that taking the sure thing college bat was still the better choice.

[illiniguy]

Hiring Dusty is an easy number 1 in my book. It was a predictable disaster that pretty much ended exactly how one would think and resulted in a lot bad things that happened along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a personal nuisance of mine is drafting Prior over Teixeira. I think Hendry was in charge of the draft back then, when he was director of player development or whatever that title was. Pitchers are so much more volatile than hitters. Can't miss stud college bats are must drafts. And if you are going to adopt essentially a "rub some dirt on it" mentality to the health of your young arms, it's a no-brainer.

 

 

Regardless, handing those arms over to Dusty was a travesty.

Mark Prior, along with Kerry Wood, got us to within 5 outs of a World Series. We might not ever have a run like that again in our lifetimes. The hell with Mark Teixeira.

 

I see your point about Tex over Prior, but I mean Prior I believe had put up some historical numbers in college, and correct me if I'm wrong, was billed as a once in a generation pitcher. But I completely agree with what jersey said about not drafting him if the org. has no idea what protecting young arms means. But then again, Teixeira might have gotten a crash course in being an aggressive hitter if we had drafted him.

Mark Prior was legit. He dominated the National League. Then Dusty broke him. We absolutely made the right pick. We just had an idiot running the team. That said had we won the World Series in '03 it would have been worth it.

[illiniguy]

I see your point about Tex over Prior, but I mean Prior I believe had put up some historical numbers in college, and correct me if I'm wrong, was billed as a once in a generation pitcher. But I completely agree with what jersey said about not drafting him if the org. has no idea what protecting young arms means. But then again, Teixeira might have gotten a crash course in being an aggressive hitter if we had drafted him.

 

And once in a generation pitchers fail often enough that taking the sure thing college bat was still the better choice.

Mark Prior didn't fail. He was broken.

[bukie]

Hendry's worst moves that aren't hindsight only:

 

1. Hiring Dusty Baker - Taking on the manager that had somehow botched a team that had a player a full league better than anyone else in baseball and only made the playoffs once, and already had a terrible reputation for handling pitchers. It was a bad move ahead of time, and it turned into a nightmare move when a Cub farm system full of young strikeout pitchers were subjected to him.

 

2. Trading for Juan Pierre - It was a terrible move from the get-go, trading for a lineup spot. Even worse, they traded for a player whose only tool was useful as a pinch runner. Even worse than that, they gave up three players who each have been more valuable than Pierre since that time in Mitre, Pinto and Nolasco.

 

3. Signing veteran relief pitchers to 3-year contracts - John Grabow, Scott Eyre, Bob Howry, Mike Remlinger. Remlinger probably worked out the best, but there's no reason to ever sign free agent middle relief to more than a year. They're middle relief for a reason, and the most volatile of a volatile position.

 

4. Fixating on absurd non-issues during each offseason - It's as if he tried to implement his own version of Moneyball, but instead of using statistics, he used Dusty Baker's hunches and psychics to find an underappreciated skill. Various offseasons were focused on clubhouse morale, catching the ball, becoming more left-handed (although this one isn't totally unreasonable), and finding leadoff hitters. Hendry was at his best when he was simply trying to make the team better, and not focused on one of these absurd fixations.

 

5. Trading for Cesar Izturis - Not that they needed to keep Greg Maddux at that point, but the insane desire for Izturis was mind-boggling, even at the time. Trading Maddux for nothing would've been a better idea.

 

Other than that, everything has been defensible to some extent, even things like signing Milton Bradley and Soriano.

[TruffleShuffle]

3. Signing veteran relief pitchers to 3-year contracts - John Grabow, Scott Eyre, Bob Howry, Mike Remlinger. Remlinger probably worked out the best, but there's no reason to ever sign free agent middle relief to more than a year. They're middle relief for a reason, and the most volatile of a volatile position.

 

that's fine if that is your position, but you're never going to get any good relief pitchers to come pitch for you... well maybe the guys who are coming off injury or terrible years and are looking to prove something, but not the guys who have been consistently good for a few years. like say sean marshall keeps pitching this way and reaches UFA... if the cubs offer him a one year deal he'll laugh at them and sign with someone for 3-4 years.

 

i agree with most of your post though. i think his main problem with signing middle relievers is that he's not signing guys with good peripherals or track records, he's signing guys like eyre who had one good year, or a guy like grabow who has a decent ERA but a lousy WHIP. i was fine with the howry signing, and he was very solid for two years before turning into a pumpkin.

 

remlinger was kind of stupid if for no reason than he was 36 years old, and you don't sign 36 year old middle relievers to a deal that takes them through their age 39 season. especially when your manager is too stupid to recognize that he has reverse splits and shouldn't be used as a [expletive] loogy.

[UMFan83]

I see your point about Tex over Prior, but I mean Prior I believe had put up some historical numbers in college, and correct me if I'm wrong, was billed as a once in a generation pitcher. But I completely agree with what jersey said about not drafting him if the org. has no idea what protecting young arms means. But then again, Teixeira might have gotten a crash course in being an aggressive hitter if we had drafted him.

 

And once in a generation pitchers fail often enough that taking the sure thing college bat was still the better choice.

 

I get that for every Justin Verlander, there's 3 Brien Taylors. Actually it might be more than that. And I know there is superlatives like "once a generation talent". I dunno my memory of the draft was that the Twins were stupid for not picking Prior number 1 (or would be stupid if they weren't cash strapped and had a hometown talent like Mauer next on their board). If the Cubs didn't pick Prior they would have been laughed out of the draft room.

[UMFan83]

That said, here's every top 10 pick used on a pitcher between 2002 and 2005:

 

Bryan Bullington, 1st, 2002*

Chris Gruler, 3rd, 2002

Adam Loewen, 4th, 2002

Clint Everts, 5th, 2002

Zach Greinke, 6th, 2002

Jeff Francis, 9th, 2002*

 

Kyle Sleeth, 3rd, 2003*

Tim Stauffer, 4th, 2003*

Paul Maholm, 8th, 2003*

John Danks, 9th, 2003

 

Justin Verlander, 2nd, 2004*

Phillip Humber, 3rd, 2004*

Jeff Niemann, 4th, 2004*

Mark Rogers, 5th, 2004

Jeremy Sowers, 6th, 2004*

Homer Bailey, 7th, 2004

Wade Townsend, 8th, 2004*

Thomas Diamond, 10th, 2004*

 

Ricky Romero, 6th, 2005*

Wade Townsend, 8th, 2005*

Mike Pelfrey, 10th, 2005*

 

* = college pitcher

 

21 top 10 picks used on pitchers, and we're looking at something like 10 MLB starters, and 3 that have ever made an All Star team (Verlander, Greinke, Romero).

[Andy]

Prior was 18-6 (and that record should have been significantly better) with a 2.40 something ERA in 2003 (the height of the steroid era). That's the best single season of pitching that many Cubs fans have ever seen and probably will ever see in their lifetimes. I don't see how drafting that guy was a mistake unless they knew he was fragile, and there was little if any reason to believe that at the time IIRC. Edited July 18, 2011 by Andy

[questionmarkgrace]

10. Not having the foresight to draft Josh Hamilton in Rule 5 draft.

 

i was posting on this board regularly back then, and i'm pretty sure that absolutely nobody was upset about not keeping josh hamilton.

 

I was but I cant remember if I posted it or not. I was more enamored with the fact that carl crawford called him the best player he ever saw in a sports illustrated article I read around the time. But realistically what a long shot dude had played what 10 games above single A got strung out for three years then comes back and he is a beast after skipping all of those levels. I did think when I first read we drafted him in the rule 5 that Lou must have thought that he was stud. Until like 3 hours later I read that we were drafting him for the reds all along.

[KingCubsFan]

That said, here's every top 10 pick used on a pitcher between 2002 and 2005:

 

Bryan Bullington, 1st, 2002*

Chris Gruler, 3rd, 2002

Adam Loewen, 4th, 2002

Clint Everts, 5th, 2002

Zach Greinke, 6th, 2002

Jeff Francis, 9th, 2002*

 

Kyle Sleeth, 3rd, 2003*

Tim Stauffer, 4th, 2003*

Paul Maholm, 8th, 2003*

John Danks, 9th, 2003

 

Justin Verlander, 2nd, 2004*

Phillip Humber, 3rd, 2004*

Jeff Niemann, 4th, 2004*

Mark Rogers, 5th, 2004

Jeremy Sowers, 6th, 2004*

Homer Bailey, 7th, 2004

Wade Townsend, 8th, 2004*

Thomas Diamond, 10th, 2004*

 

Ricky Romero, 6th, 2005*

Wade Townsend, 8th, 2005*

Mike Pelfrey, 10th, 2005*

 

* = college pitcher

 

21 top 10 picks used on pitchers, and we're looking at something like 10 MLB starters, and 3 that have ever made an All Star team (Verlander, Greinke, Romero).

Prior wasn't just another top 10 pick though. You need to compare him to guys like Verlander, Beckett, Strasburg, etc. Guys that only come along once in a while and are head and shoulders above everyone else. In hindsight, it's easy to say we should have taken the guy who has had a great career, but it would have been roundly criticized at the time, and rightfully so. IIRC, Teixera didn't exactly have a stellar year prior to the draft, which caused him to slip.

[TruffleShuffle]

IIRC, Teixera didn't exactly have a stellar year prior to the draft, which caused him to slip.

 

it was bonus demands. his line for his junior year was .427/.547/.772/1.319.

[dew1679666265]

7. Trading Gorzellany for nothing and cutting Silva

 

Hendry didn't trade Gorz for nothing. He traded him for three interesting prospects, two of which are still young for their levels. One is a former 1st round pick. This was actually a pretty good deal for a career mediocre pitcher.

 

8. Not allowing Ryne Sandberg to prove he was a bad manager

 

This confuses me. One of Hendry's worst moves was not hiring a bad manager? A whole lot of teams must have made bad moves as well then, because Ryno wasn't a hot commodity this past offseason.

 

Could be in depending on your view: Zambrano extension, Jacque Jones, Nomar, Kosuke, throwing Sosa under the bus, thus killing his trade value

 

Z has been a very good starter for the most part throughout his Cub career. He struggled some in 2008, but followed that up with very strong 2009 and 2010 seasons. He's struggled this year, but before this year he's given us 2 out of 3 very good seasons. That wasn't a bad contract.

 

The only way the Nomar trade was bad was if you consider it so in hindsight. Even then, the best player from that trade might have been Matt Murton, who was pretty average to below average in his career and Hendry acquired him. The guys the Cubs gave up were Francis Beltran, Alex Gonzalez, Justin Jones and Brendan Harris. If this is one of Hendry's worst trades, or even close to it, he's pretty much never made a bad move.

 

I'm not sure how a guy who's given us a .359 OBP or better in four years and has been a good defender his first two seasons could possibly be a bad signing. He's overpaid, sure, and it wasn't a great signing, but there's no way this was one of Hendry's worst moves.

 

Future: Giving up Hak Ju Lee

 

If Garza implodes, sure. If Garza becomes the ace the Cubs don't have in the system and need, not a chance.

 

Other: Basically drafting like crap for the past 8 years

 

Hendry isn't in charge of the drafts, Tim Wilken is. And each of Wilken's drafts could easily be considered anywhere from mediocre to very good. He probably had one mediocre draft (the Shark draft) and everything else has been much better. Wilken is a big reason the Cubs have a lot of solid young players nearly ready to hit the majors and an even stronger low minors.

[bukie]

3. Signing veteran relief pitchers to 3-year contracts - John Grabow, Scott Eyre, Bob Howry, Mike Remlinger. Remlinger probably worked out the best, but there's no reason to ever sign free agent middle relief to more than a year. They're middle relief for a reason, and the most volatile of a volatile position.

 

that's fine if that is your position, but you're never going to get any good relief pitchers to come pitch for you... well maybe the guys who are coming off injury or terrible years and are looking to prove something, but not the guys who have been consistently good for a few years.

 

My position is more that middle relief should be the last thing to focus on for a team. If a team has above average players at every spot and a boundless payroll, sure, then you can overpay for middle relievers like Boston or New York. There's no reason to think the Cubs can't get there at some point, but they have to build the rest of the team first, IMO. And if that means spending more on position players and starting pitchers, and using young fringe prospect fill-ins for middle relief, I'm good with that.

[Cubswin11]

Is Prior pitching somewhere in the Yankees minor league system still? I have heard nothing about him since Spring and they signed him.

[SouthSideRyan]

Is Prior pitching somewhere in the Yankees minor league system still? I have heard nothing about him since Spring and they signed him.

 

Just came back from being out for 3 months with strained groin.

[KingCubsFan]

IIRC, Teixera didn't exactly have a stellar year prior to the draft, which caused him to slip.

 

it was bonus demands. his line for his junior year was .427/.547/.772/1.319.

I think that was the year before. He broke his ankle his junior year and missed most of the season.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/030301aaa.html

[USSoccer]

Hendry's worst sequence of transactions was the following from December 2008 to February 2009:

 

1. Signs Aaron Miles and Joey Gaithright as free agents.

 

2. Engages in a series of trades with the Orioles and Mariners which essentially net the Cubs Aaron Heilman (and a minor leaguer who is no longer in baseball) in exchange for Ronnie Cedeno and Felix Pie.

 

2. Trades Michael Wuertz to Oakland for two minor league players, one of which is out of baseball and the other of which is no longer in the Cubs' organization.

 

So you get rid of relatively young and cheap players for older, more expensive, worse versions of those same players.

 

I'm not saying the Cubs would have been world-beaters in 2009 if Hendry had just stood pat, but I just don't see why you pay over $4.6 million to Miles, Gaithright, and Heilman instead of paying about $2.3 million for Cedeno, Pie, and Wuertz.

 

This is some good stuff right here.

 

I'll echo the others who have chimed in, though, and say that hiring Baker was far and away the worst decision on multiple levels.

[TruffleShuffle]

IIRC, Teixera didn't exactly have a stellar year prior to the draft, which caused him to slip.

 

it was bonus demands. his line for his junior year was .427/.547/.772/1.319.

I think that was the year before. He broke his ankle his junior year and missed most of the season.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/030301aaa.html

 

i think you're right... wonder why baseball cube lists that monster year as his 2001 stats?

 

anyway, he only fell to 5th overall and i know the cubs were always going to draft prior and the twins were also going for mauer. i know that the phillies definitely passed on teixeira because of his bonus demands (having recently been burned by j.d. drew)... tampa picked brazelton #3 and they were probably just being cheap.