I have faith in Hendry. Do you?

[badger1679666666]

If Jim Hendry has shown anything, it's the ability to make shrewd moves, that often are not what the fanbase expects.

 

In 2003, he dealt for Aramis. IIRC, the entire fanbase was screaming for Lowell. He had the foresight and scouting and people to realize how great Aramis would be.

 

In 2003, he got Lofton, when we desperately needed a leadoff hitter. IIRC, the fanbase thought he was old. Instead, he helped lead us to the NLCS.

 

In the offseason, though people had wanted Thome a year earlier, Hendry held off, thank god. He traded Superhero Choi for Lee. Even then, there was MUCH criticism for getting a gold glove .280 Career hitter. We know how that has turned out.

 

He also got Michael Barrett for MUCH cheaper, when EVERYONE wanted Pudge Rodriguez.

 

In 2004 he worked his magic to trade 3 scrubs for Nomar. Though it hasn't turned out the way we wanted, this was a great trade at the time.

 

Now, he did trade Farnsworth low (Though Novoa and Moore could be a steal for Farnsie), Sosa low (though I argue we got back solid guys), and Bear Bay for Bartosh, every GM has some deals that work, and other that don't.

 

Now in 2005 he's traded AAAA Dubois for Gerut. Any many people are confused, doubting, or declaring the trade to be bad. Don't you think Hendry has earned your faith with the moves he's made so far as GM?

 

EDIT TO ADD And before 2003, Hundley pulled off the swindling of a lifetime in getting rid of Hundley for solid contributing players. (Just remembered that)

Edited July 19, 2005 by badger

[rocket]

Just a slight nitpick, but I distinctly remember that the overall feeling on the board was that signing Pudge to his 4/40 deal would be a mistake. So no, not everyone was clamoring for Pudge.

 

I actually wanted the Cubs to re-sign Damian Miller. I liked him. :(

[wade]

I have faith in him and frankly, I like the guy from what I've seen/ read about him. I think the Cubs hit rock bottom a couple of weeks ago regarding their on-base problems. Nearly everyone on this board (not me, I learned from reading from others) predicted beforehand that the team didn't have enough people that would get on base enough to make the offense a steady threat day in and day out.

 

I think the management, and perhaps coaching staff have finally realized this and the changes are being made.

 

I don't know if this minor trade is leading to anything major this year. I suspect the Cubs are hoping a healthy Nomar would be enough to put them over the top (combined with the guys the now have in the one-two spot as opposed to what had been gone with before).

 

I agree with other posts I've seen on the topic that Hendry has found players he likes and has traded for them. This may be another example. It may also be an example of the Cubs having several scouts at their disposal and a willingness to take a shot at a guy who's tools suggest that they will put up better numbers in the future.

 

Anyway, I have faith in him and I hope his maneuvers (if any more are to follow) lead to a playoff birth.

Edited July 19, 2005 by wade

[wade]

I actually wanted the Cubs to re-sign Damian Miller. I liked him. :(

 

Is it just against the Cubs, or is Miller hitting a lot better this year?

[Fred Hornkohl]

I actually wanted the Cubs to re-sign Damian Miller. I liked him. :(

 

Is it just against the Cubs, or is Miller hitting a lot better this year?

 

07/12           team   AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  TB  RBI BB   K  SB     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
D. Miller       Milw  204  26  54  14   0   4  80  20  19  45   0  0.265  0.336  0.392  0.728

[wade]

I actually wanted the Cubs to re-sign Damian Miller. I liked him. :(

 

Is it just against the Cubs, or is Miller hitting a lot better this year?

 

07/12           team   AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  TB  RBI BB   K  SB     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
D. Miller       Milw  204  26  54  14   0   4  80  20  19  45   0  0.265  0.336  0.392  0.728

 

Yep. I just checked ESPN and Miller's year with the Cubs was worse than any other year he's ever had offensively. By a good margin.

[WindyCity]

Just a slight nitpick, but I distinctly remember that the overall feeling on the board was that signing Pudge to his 4/40 deal would be a mistake. So no, not everyone was clamoring for Pudge.

 

I actually wanted the Cubs to re-sign Damian Miller. I liked him. :(

 

In the offseason before the '03 season, all I wanted was Pudge Rodriguez. I still think the Cubs should have been as creative as the Marlins and jumped at a 1 year deal (with deferred cash if they really couldn't add his entire salary to the payroll). That season might have ended a lot differently if Pudge was in a Cubs uniform instead of leading the Fish's great second half finish. Oh well.... second guessing is not much fun - I will stop thinking about that winter.

 

Edit: I should add -- I was not in any way interested in the 4/40 deal he wanted and got a year later, but I felt he was worth getting for a 1 year deal where he would be very motivated to increase his worth in the market.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I think Hendry has made some solid trade deadline moves, and some good offseason moves as well. But this Dubois trade makes me kind of sad. He was one of my favorite players, even though he was struggling. We didn't get anyone that's going to have a real solid impact on the big league club this year (just my opinion).

 

I wish Jason the best of luck, and hope he turns out to be a great major leaguer. I might have to buy an Indians jersey now (never thought those words would come out of me... ever).

 

I think Gerut might just be filler for another trade Hendry is working on. He said he won't get anyone unless they can help next year as well as this year, and I don't think platooning Holly and Gerut is the answer to our LF problems at all. Murton has been alright, but he can be upgraded for the rest of this season IMO. I believe a bigger move is on the horizon. How big? Well, that depends on how close we are to being in playoff contention.

[goonys evil twin]

Don't you think Hendry has earned your faith with the moves he's made so far as GM?

 

I have faith in Hendry to the extent that I think he's capable of keeping this team in contention for the longterm. But the fact is he's fielded an 88 and 89 win team and did so with an ever growing payroll during a period in time when most of the rest of the league was cutting costs. This year's team will have to really turn it on to even get to those levels. And considering the goal is World Series, the inability to even field 90+ win teams with a top payroll is pretty disturbing. At some point we need some results. And contrary to some Cubs fans who are satisfied with merely a winning record, the results I'm talking about are much more. When Hendry inherited the job, he was blessed with the top system in the game. Of course, he built that system. Now the question is can he turn what was once the top system (and is now further down the line) into the top team, or is he merely a great minor league coordinator and not a great GM? I have my doubts, but that's not to say I don't think he can. Like everybody else in baseball, it's up to him to prove his ability.

[JC]

I'm no big fan of Hendry's as a GM based on what I've seen of his methods, negotiating philosophies, adherence to conventional baseball philosophies, etc. However, that is not to say that I don't recognize that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

 

Hendry hasn't made any move that I can think of that blew up in his face. That, of course, is a good thing. But, threads like this tend to focus on his accomplishments in a vacuum.

 

I have no doubt that he is doing his utmost to help the Cubs succeed. It would floor me if anyone is outworking him based on all of the reports about his personality and work habits. But, to say that he has earned my "faith" would be inaccurate at this point.

[badger1679666666]

 

Hendry hasn't made any move that I can think of that blew up in his face. That, of course, is a good thing. But, threads like this tend to focus on his accomplishments in a vacuum.

 

 

Note that I did touch on his failures, I just believe his successes (Ramirez, Lee, Hundley Trade, Nomar, Lofton/Simon) far outweight his failures (Bartosh)

[XZero771679666304]

Don't you think Hendry has earned your faith with the moves he's made so far as GM?

 

I have faith in Hendry to the extent that I think he's capable of keeping this team in contention for the longterm. But the fact is he's fielded an 88 and 89 win team and did so with an ever growing payroll during a period in time when most of the rest of the league was cutting costs. This year's team will have to really turn it on to even get to those levels. And considering the goal is World Series, the inability to even field 90+ win teams with a top payroll is pretty disturbing. At some point we need some results. And contrary to some Cubs fans who are satisfied with merely a winning record, the results I'm talking about are much more. When Hendry inherited the job, he was blessed with the top system in the game. Of course, he built that system. Now the question is can he turn what was once the top system (and is now further down the line) into the top team, or is he merely a great minor league coordinator and not a great GM? I have my doubts, but that's not to say I don't think he can. Like everybody else in baseball, it's up to him to prove his ability.

 

It's hard to fault Hendry at all for last year. The Cubs were the most talented team in the division, but were absolutely decimated by injuries.

 

2003 was supposed to be a building year.

 

This year, a degree of balme can be assigned to him for not solidifying the bullpen and the bench. Blaming him at all for last year would be silly, IMO.

[goonys evil twin]

 

Hendry hasn't made any move that I can think of that blew up in his face. That, of course, is a good thing. But, threads like this tend to focus on his accomplishments in a vacuum.

 

 

Note that I did touch on his failures, I just believe his successes (Ramirez, Lee, Hundley Trade, Nomar, Lofton/Simon) far outweight his failures (Bartosh)

 

Ultimately you judge him by how the team finishes. Individual trades don't really matter. Sure, he's made some great deals, and he's made some head scratchers. What really matters is how many games his team wins.

[Peoriaman]

YES

[goonys evil twin]

It's hard to fault Hendry at all for last year. The Cubs were the most talented team in the division, but were absolutely decimated by injuries.

 

2003 was supposed to be a building year.

 

This year, a degree of balme can be assigned to him for not solidifying the bullpen and the bench. Blaming him at all for last year would be silly, IMO.

 

It's his responsibility to build a winner. Call it blame, call it whatever you want, the bottom line is what you judge him on. Injuries are part of the game. He took risks relying on oft-injured players. The Cubs were an 88 win team in 2001, and he built them to an 88 win season in 2003, and 89 in 2004. This year they should once again finish over .500, but we're a long way from knowing if they'll be closer to 94 than 84. There's nothing silly about holding a GM accountable for the results at the end of the year, especially when he hired the manager and acquired nearly all of the roster.

[XZero771679666304]

It's hard to fault Hendry at all for last year. The Cubs were the most talented team in the division, but were absolutely decimated by injuries.

 

2003 was supposed to be a building year.

 

This year, a degree of balme can be assigned to him for not solidifying the bullpen and the bench. Blaming him at all for last year would be silly, IMO.

 

It's his responsibility to build a winner. Call it blame, call it whatever you want, the bottom line is what you judge him on. Injuries are part of the game. He took risks relying on oft-injured players. The Cubs were an 88 win team in 2001, and he built them to an 88 win season in 2003, and 89 in 2004. This year they should once again finish over .500, but we're a long way from knowing if they'll be closer to 94 than 84. There's nothing silly about holding a GM accountable for the results at the end of the year, especially when he hired the manager and acquired nearly all of the roster.

 

Oft injured players like Sosa (very rarely injured prior to '04) Prior and his perfect mechanics, Wood who hadn't missed significant time since 1999.....The key injuries in 2004 were to players who usually stay healthy. The ones who stayed healthy were the oft injured players.

 

The bottom line is that Hendry built a team capable of a hell of a lot better than 89 wins last year, solid up and down the lineup, in the rotation, the bullpen and on the bench. A GM is responsible for building a winning team, yes. But to say he should have been clairvoyant enough to forsee the litany of the ridiculous and improbable that felled the Cubs last season and is therefore primarily responsible for last year's underacheivement is patently absurd.

 

Wood, Prior, Sosa, Grudz, Borowski, Ramirez...of those players who missed time last year, who had a rep as being "oft injured" going into the 2004 season? I count none. The only players who had that rep were Moises and Barrett, and the were healthy all year.

 

Jim put together a damn good team last year that got raped by injury. Jim pulled off an improbable trade for an impact player at the deadline (again), but it wasn't enough. Expecting him to have done more would have been asking a bit much.

 

A GM is responsible for his team, but to judge the results without weighing the impact of such an astounding precession of aggravating circumstances that could not have been reasonably forseen is, well, just silly.

[goonys evil twin]

A GM is responsible for his team, but to judge the results without weighing the impact of such an astounding precession of aggravating circumstances that could not have been reasonably forseen is, well, just silly.

 

You can break it down however you'd like, and criticize my line of reasoning as much as you want. But I still hold the GM accountable for the record, and I haven't been all that impressed with the record in his first 2.5 years. He's been adaquate, far better than other disastrous front offices both around the league and in Cubs history. But he hasn't built a dominant team yet, and I'm not 100% certain he ever will. I want a World Series champion, not just a contender. So if you ask if I have faith in Jim to do that, I can only say I have faith that he'll put together a good team, but he has to prove whether or not he can create a great one. He has not yet done so, no matter how you breakdown his trade chart.

[Cubfanintheknow]

This upcoming offseason will be the biggest test of all for Jim Hendry. The only contract he acquired when he took the job (Sammy Sosa's) will be completely off the books. All the players in 2006 will be guys Hendry traded for or re-signed.

[wastra]

I give him credit where credit is due- mainly for creative trades, and I give blame where blame is due- mainly for seriously lacking anything approaching a plan in the offseasons.

 

this year, for instance, we began by placing our hopes in an oft-injured shortstop, an injured closer, two pitchers coming off injury-decimated seasons, and a sketchy outfield.

 

What happened? Our 2 pitchers got injured. Our shortstop got injured. Our closer never returned to form. Our outfield has been largely horrendous all year.

 

How does that NOT fall into the lap of the GM? the exact things that every "expert" and casual fan said they were worreid about pre-season turned out to be the main reasons we're out of the Central race.

 

 

Now I give credit to him for finding usable parts at great deals, but the fact is that despite the best crop of home-grown pitchers I've ver seen in Cubbie pinstripes playing for far less than market value most of the time, our GM has yet to build a real winner despite the league's highest payroll. Maybe this offseason will be the one that does it for us, maybe not. But our roster at the moment (and for the past 3 years) is our GM's choice of players (and manager), hence he's the guy who should get credit/blame for its results.

[wastra]

On the injury issue, I have one comment:

 

 

If you're looking to buy a car, and your read the maintenance report on a 1998 Mazda that says:

 

2000: Brakes failed, major repairs

2001: Starter went out, small repairs

2002: Brakes failed again, more major repairs

2003: Brakes needed minor repairs

2004: Timing belt needed to be replaced

 

 

 

Whose fault is it when you buy it have to spend lots of $$$ in repairs on the brakes and starter? The car salesman who gave you the report or your own for ignoring it and hoping for the best?

[dime]

I wouldn't trade hendry for anyone, and that includes beane and epstein.

[1908]

INow, he did trade Farnsworth low (Though Novoa and Moore could be a steal for Farnsie), Sosa low (though I argue we got back solid guys), and Bear Bay for Bartosh, every GM has some deals that work, and other that don't.

He also signed Estes, re-signed Alfonseca after a awful first year with the Cubs, and signed Remlinger to a terribly inflated contract. I tend to like his trades more than his free agent signings, though.

[Chocolate Milk]

On the injury issue, I have one comment:

 

 

If you're looking to buy a car, and your read the maintenance report on a 1998 Mazda that says:

 

2000: Brakes failed, major repairs

2001: Starter went out, small repairs

2002: Brakes failed again, more major repairs

2003: Brakes needed minor repairs

2004: Timing belt needed to be replaced

 

 

 

Whose fault is it when you buy it have to spend lots of $$$ in repairs on the brakes and starter? The car salesman who gave you the report or your own for ignoring it and hoping for the best?

 

That's all well and good but honestly, in the case of Wood and Prior (Who I'm assuming are included in the "injury prone" category people are refering to.), what was Hendry to do about that going into this year? Trade them? Pick up a bunch of starting pitchers in the event that they might get injured? Honestly, there wasn't much he could do about that one.

 

In Nomar's case, yes that was a risk. He should be held responcible for that deal.

 

I personally think Hendry has preformed well. He has made some outstanding trades. He has made some duds as well, but they really haven't been that signifigant. To say that he hasn't built a great team in 2.5 years is holding him to unreasonable expectations, IMO. He made a move that propelled the team to within 5 outs of the World Series a few years ago. That's quite signifigant. I have faith in him and I'd like to see what happens for 2 more seasons before I make a full evaluation regarding him.

[JonnyRed]

Call me crazy, but I am 100% in Jim Hendry's camp. Let's review many of the points brought up about Hendry that led me to this position.

 

1. Hendry is credited as much as anyone with re-building the Cubs farm system. The system has produced two top of the rotation starters (Prior and Z) in recent years, not to mention enough talent to attract two all-stars via trade.

 

2. Name me another GM in the game today, who traded prospects (who haven't even developed into starters) for two all-star position players---and the likely MVP of the league this season. I'm hearing all the whinning about Hendry not securing a closer, but yet no one is praising him for getting D-Lee and A-Ram for junk. Not to mention he has since signed both players to long-term deals. Imagine how much D-Lee would be worth after this season on the open market?

 

3. My favorite one....Hendry couldn't find us a closer last off season. Let's see, would we prefer the injured Perceival or Benetiz right now or the ineffective Kolb (who isn't even closing anymore). And you can't blame him for passing on Urbina considering it looked like he wasn't even going to play this year. A wish of mine is that instead of fans whinning about this, please offer a realistic suggestion for what Hendry should have done.

 

4. Hendry has demonstrated a willingness to go for it the last two years. In '03, his deal with the Pirates not only landing us A-Ram but Loften and Simon won us the division and our first playoff win in my lifetime. In 04, the Nomar deal put us in a great position for the WC until Hawkins decided to choke down the stretch. And I'm confident he will do what it takes this year as well.

 

5. I don't know how you can blame Hendry for not forseeing the injuries we have suffered the past two years. Other than possibly Wood, all of the injuries this year have been new and unpredictable. And his payroll is already at $100 with Sosa, so there isn't much of any wiggle room available.

 

Overall, like any GM, Hendry isn't perfect (ie Willis) but he has this team and minor league system crafted for a long run at winning and I fully support his efforts.

[ltb]

AAAA Dubois

 

yes, you can totally know this after a whopping 150 big league plate appearances

 

:roll: