Time to blame Jim Hendry.......

[tbird]

did you forget that wood and prior were injured at the beginning of the year and dusty needed a starter or are you going to tell me mitre would have been the answer, oh yeah you probably would after all he is one of our prospects and everyone knows prospects must play

[chicubs]

 

Actually, he wasnt concerned about them getting injured. He just didnt want to pay the pricetag.

 

Is that supposed to be an insult or complement? I know I didn't want to give any of those pitchers that much money. The fact that they got injured only justifies my belief. And to OHCF, Hendry was looking into acquiring all of them but he felt that they weren't worth the amount they got. There were rumors of us acquiring all of them during the offseason, though.

 

Probably an insult. We did really need a closer but the price tag was too high considering its "only" a closer and we were already over our spending limit. In hindsight, it was definately the right move and 8 mil or whatever it is way too much to pay for a closer anyway.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

 

Actually, he wasnt concerned about them getting injured. He just didnt want to pay the pricetag.

 

Is that supposed to be an insult or complement? I know I didn't want to give any of those pitchers that much money. The fact that they got injured only justifies my belief. And to OHCF, Hendry was looking into acquiring all of them but he felt that they weren't worth the amount they got. There were rumors of us acquiring all of them during the offseason, though.

 

Probably an insult. We did really need a closer but the price tag was too high considering its "only" a closer and we were already over our spending limit. In hindsight, it was definately the right move and 8 mil or whatever it is way too much to pay for a closer anyway.

I was perfectly fine with having Dempster close. I would have been very, very upset if we paid any of those pitchers what they got. You can't just make [expletive] moves because you have a weakness. That gets you into problems over time.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

did you forget that wood and prior were injured at the beginning of the year and dusty needed a starter or are you going to tell me mitre would have been the answer, oh yeah you probably would after all he is one of our prospects and everyone knows prospects must play

I, personally, thought that he did a pretty good job when he started for us. He has been bad since he has gone into the bullpen but that is not a situtation that he is used to pitching in. I would have loved to have seen Demp in the bullpen from the beginning of the year and Mitre in the rotation and I have said that from the beginning of the year.

[CubfaninCA]

I think that's a little harsh. Hendry's the same guy who got the Cubs a potential Triple Crown Winner and their first legit 3b since Santo, who also happens to be an all star. If the Moneyballers and misers had their way, Choi would still be whiffing away at 1b. AT LEAST HE'D WALK THOUGH!

 

I think Hendry had to give Wood the benefit of the doubt and another year. Wood has pretty much proved he'll never get over the hump. I guess is that 95% of this board would have ripped apart Hendry if he dealt off Wood before this season. Me included.

 

Altogether Hendry has given Baker the pieces to win. Baker needs alot more pieces though. If Baker had Steinbrenner as owner, maybe he could win it all. There's enough money to make up for his hard-headed philosophy.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

did you forget that wood and prior were injured at the beginning of the year and dusty needed a starter or are you going to tell me mitre would have been the answer, oh yeah you probably would after all he is one of our prospects and everyone knows prospects must play

 

What's interesting about this is that Dempster was moved to the pen while Wood and Prior were both still injured. I thought, and still do, that at the beginning of the season that Rusch should have been the fifth starter and Dempster the closer. The Cubs did this about six weeks too late in my opinion. That was Dusty's call and not Hendry's.

[katway]

IMO Hendry has done a fantastic job except when it comes to hiring Managers. Getting D. Lee and Ramirez in trades was highway robbery. We even got Clement in the D train trade... so that wasn't a bad trade. We can't fault Hendry for not resigning Clement, that decision was above his head. We also got Nomar for a song last year. Nomar's injury really was a freak thing even if he has been injury prone.

 

In any event, Hendry has done a good job getting value trades that help the team. Some of the best things he's done is stay away from the Percivals, etc. when everyone said we had to sign a relief pitcher.

 

But, Hendry does need to make one more move to help this team without mortgaging its future -- FIRE DUSTY!!!

[Roast]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

[davecubsfan]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

 

I think it's fairly safe to say that Wood is injury prone now.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

[treebird]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

 

one time i saw prior and z after the game at the grocery store and carlos zambrano was like "hey i do believe i will purchase some milk" and mark was all like "i dont drink that stuff because i choose to have weak, easily breakable bones because i like to get injured because that means i get to go back to my mansion sooner"

[Roast]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

 

one time i saw prior and z after the game at the grocery store and carlos zambrano was like "hey i do believe i will purchase some milk" and mark was all like "i dont drink that stuff because i choose to have weak, easily breakable bones because i like to get injured because that means i get to go back to my mansion sooner"

 

DONT BELEIVE IT GUYS!

 

That is total bunk.

 

Carlos would never actually say that. (besides, he drinks Ape blood to make him strong)

[Roast]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

 

I think it's fairly safe to say that Wood is injury prone now.

 

I never said he wasnt.

 

I said that Percival also has a history of injury (at least, i think i remember it that way) so if he woudl take the risk on percival, why not wood.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

 

one time i saw prior and z after the game at the grocery store and carlos zambrano was like "hey i do believe i will purchase some milk" and mark was all like "i dont drink that stuff because i choose to have weak, easily breakable bones because i like to get injured because that means i get to go back to my mansion sooner"

 

Was Carlos yelling it into his glove while he grabbed himself?

[treebird]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

 

one time i saw prior and z after the game at the grocery store and carlos zambrano was like "hey i do believe i will purchase some milk" and mark was all like "i dont drink that stuff because i choose to have weak, easily breakable bones because i like to get injured because that means i get to go back to my mansion sooner"

 

Was Carlos yelling it into his glove while he grabbed himself?

 

no he was just mumbling it to himself while reading off of his grocery list

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

 

He had no idea Percieval and Benetiz would go out injured.

 

So how the hell did he know Kerry and Prior would get injured.

 

Dont tell me they are injury prone either. Percival has been hurt in the past. And priors injury was a total freak accident.

Prior just has weak bones. If he would have had stronger bones then that ball would have bounced off of him and he would have been fine. We need to feed him calcium pills.

 

one time i saw prior and z after the game at the grocery store and carlos zambrano was like "hey i do believe i will purchase some milk" and mark was all like "i dont drink that stuff because i choose to have weak, easily breakable bones because i like to get injured because that means i get to go back to my mansion sooner"

 

Was Carlos yelling it into his glove while he grabbed himself?

 

no he was just mumbling it to himself while reading off of his grocery list

 

Was bazooka gum on that list?

[treebird]

Was bazooka gum on that list?

 

3 turnips, a bag of flour, a gallon of milk, and a 24 pack of diet dr pepper

 

i think the cubs provide carlos with his gums

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Was bazooka gum on that list?

 

3 turnips, a bag of flour, a gallon of milk, and a 24 pack of diet dr pepper

 

i think the cubs provide carlos with his gums

Any idea what he does with the turnips?

[rickrolled]

Was bazooka gum on that list?

 

3 turnips, a bag of flour, a gallon of milk, and a 24 pack of diet dr pepper

 

i think the cubs provide carlos with his gums

 

Dr pepper is good, without the diet part

[burnt out cubbie fan]

Was bazooka gum on that list?

 

3 turnips, a bag of flour, a gallon of milk, and a 24 pack of diet dr pepper

 

i think the cubs provide carlos with his gums

I hear Carlos like Dew, not Dr. Pepper.

[treebird]

Was bazooka gum on that list?

 

3 turnips, a bag of flour, a gallon of milk, and a 24 pack of diet dr pepper

 

i think the cubs provide carlos with his gums

I hear Carlos like Dew, not Dr. Pepper.

 

i hope bruce miles doesnt show up and disprove me : (

[brinoch]

I think Hendry has earned his share of the blame, as has Baker. The player's, too, need to share some blame. The season's not over, however, and is much too early to play the blame game. It's one game. That said, I think there are valid points that must acknowledged from this offseason.

 

1. OF production. Burnitz has been below average, but not terrible, in terms of RF production. CF has been a mess, though I hardly blame Hendry for that. LF, on the other hand, is entirely Hendry's fault. There's absolutely no excuse for Hollandsworth to be starting for the Cubs. He's a $900,000 OF for a reason. I don't care that Dusty plays him; Hendry doesn't have to sign him. Moreover, if Dusty won't play young players and consequently gives the team a lesser chance to win, then it's incumbent upon Hendry to take corrective action or relieve Baker of his duties. Baker is Baker, and he's not going to change. Hendry needs to assert his authority.

 

2. Bullpen. I grant you that it's a crapshoot, but it's been terrible for three years. Just the mere fact that I write this year after year demonstrates the inadequacy of the Cubs' bullpen. Some of this blame does fall on the players themselves. Some also must adhere to Baker for placing pitchers in the wrong situations and for never taking the pitcher out at the right moment.

 

3. Bench. Our Bench is seriously one of the worst in baseball. Hands down. It's an embarrassment.

 

4. Sosa fiasco. There was absolutely no reason for what they did to Sammy -- even if Sammy lied, there was ample reason to trade him. All that was served by this PR hackjob was to denigrate a player who meant a lot to Chicago Cubs fans and reduce his trade value.

 

5. Rookies. At the end of the day, Hendry can overrule Baker, and that's a point that's rarely mentioned. We are team rich with young talent that is likely to at least match, if not exceed, the production from sub-par major leaguers. Neifi Perez and Todd Hollandsworth come to mind. Bringing up Cedeno and Murton is great and all, and I like rookies too, but if Baker won't play them, letting them rot on the bench is not worthwhile. Injuries, suspensions, and the DH for interleague games are a prime opportunity to give youth a trial run. The fact that Hill, Choi, Bellhorn, Kelton, Dubois, Cedeno, and now Murton have all had a cup of coffee and sat for the likes of Lenny Harris, Randall Simon, Todd Hollandsworth, Tom Goodwin, Neifi Perez and Jose Macias is ridiculous. If Baker's not going to play them voluntarily, you need to force him. If he's insubordinate, you need to fire him. Cedeno and Murton right now will outproduce Perez and Hollandsworth, respectively. Sitting them for lesser players is hurting the team.

[Clogged Basepaths]

Could more people just watch the games? If you did watch them, you wouldn't think that closer was a problem...guhhhhhhhhhhh

Dempster was a better pickup BY FAR than any of the other closers this past offseason (Percival, Benitez, Kolb). You can't trade for players that aren't available.

 

I'm sure I'm the 1,000th person to complain about this, but that seems like only a fraction of people who still think that Hendry messed up with closers. Remember, he didn't intend Hawkins to be the closer. This year, he talked up Dempster all offseason, but since Dusty HAS to have his 2 lefties in the pen, he was forced to misuse Dempster in the rotation.

 

The pen, is sort of his fault. He tried signing proven guys to long contracts, but that doesn't work. So he got smarter and decided to just bring up young guys and retreads (Rusch is, by all accounts, a retread) for the bullpen and rely on YOUR COACHES to gel them into a consistent group. The Braves and Twins do it every year with less.

 

Any of the other things, you CAN nitpick with what he's done. Most notably, partial ignorance of OBP (until recent moves), or not acquiring enough speed or defense.

 

Somebody start a 'days until Grady Little' countdown...

10?

[Backtobanks]

I think Hendry has earned his share of the blame, as has Baker. The player's, too, need to share some blame. The season's not over, however, and is much too early to play the blame game. It's one game. That said, I think there are valid points that must acknowledged from this offseason.

 

1. OF production. Burnitz has been below average, but not terrible, in terms of RF production. CF has been a mess, though I hardly blame Hendry for that. LF, on the other hand, is entirely Hendry's fault. There's absolutely no excuse for Hollandsworth to be starting for the Cubs. He's a $900,000 OF for a reason. I don't care that Dusty plays him; Hendry doesn't have to sign him. Moreover, if Dusty won't play young players and consequently gives the team a lesser chance to win, then it's incumbent upon Hendry to take corrective action or relieve Baker of his duties. Baker is Baker, and he's not going to change. Hendry needs to assert his authority.

 

2. Bullpen. I grant you that it's a crapshoot, but it's been terrible for three years. Just the mere fact that I write this year after year demonstrates the inadequacy of the Cubs' bullpen. Some of this blame does fall on the players themselves. Some also must adhere to Baker for placing pitchers in the wrong situations and for never taking the pitcher out at the right moment.

 

3. Bench. Our Bench is seriously one of the worst in baseball. Hands down. It's an embarrassment.

 

4. Sosa fiasco. There was absolutely no reason for what they did to Sammy -- even if Sammy lied, there was ample reason to trade him. All that was served by this PR hackjob was to denigrate a player who meant a lot to Chicago Cubs fans and reduce his trade value.

 

5. Rookies. At the end of the day, Hendry can overrule Baker, and that's a point that's rarely mentioned. We are team rich with young talent that is likely to at least match, if not exceed, the production from sub-par major leaguers. Neifi Perez and Todd Hollandsworth come to mind. Bringing up Cedeno and Murton is great and all, and I like rookies too, but if Baker won't play them, letting them rot on the bench is not worthwhile. Injuries, suspensions, and the DH for interleague games are a prime opportunity to give youth a trial run. The fact that Hill, Choi, Bellhorn, Kelton, Dubois, Cedeno, and now Murton have all had a cup of coffee and sat for the likes of Lenny Harris, Randall Simon, Todd Hollandsworth, Tom Goodwin, Neifi Perez and Jose Macias is ridiculous. If Baker's not going to play them voluntarily, you need to force him. If he's insubordinate, you need to fire him. Cedeno and Murton right now will outproduce Perez and Hollandsworth, respectively. Sitting them for lesser players is hurting the team.

 

Most of your post points to the fact that the biggest problems have been caused by Baker and not Hendry. Hendry has been very adamant about giving the kids a chance to play, having Dempster as closer out of spring training, etc. As for Hollandsworth, he is an excellent 4th OF/PH and that is what he was signed to do, not to play regularly. Hendry believes it is his job to provide the players and let the manager make the on-field decisions. As for firing Baker, that decision is up to MacPhail and the Tribune. I think the Tribune Company won't be sorry to see Dusty leave, but aren't willing to eat his salary.

[neely crenshaw]

1. dempster has been good as the closer, yes. however depsite all that hendry said in the offseason, dempster was not going to get a hsot until everyone else failed. we had every arm in the pen get a shot before dempster, it was not a good move by hendry, it was that he had no other choice but to try him, finally! and if jobo had been healthy at the beginning we would have had to go through 3 weeks of him syucking before we tried hawkins

2.bullpen- tinkering from within the bullpen does jack, putting all your hopes that injured arms save us is worse. we were depending on jobo,fox,williamson and dempster to all stay healthy and be themselves! so far only dempster has worked.trading farnsworth while getting no ready to use help was just stupid. i can understand moving a guy but you have to replace him with something!you can't take an already weak bullpen,take away a main cog and then hope someone will step up. if they could step up they would have been helping the situation last year!

3.everyone that has watched knows we needed a leadoff man. they knew corey was not it. hendry did nothing. again hairston was not even considered an option. he was not even given a chance to start until walker got hurt and never looked at on left. he got the job simply because corey was so bad. if corey was hitting .250...hairston would be rotting on the bench. funny that the only playoff season the cubs have had they had lofton. and the only offensive push the cubs have had this season came with hairston/walker at the top.....doesn't sound like rocket science

4. hendry has completely left this team dependent on starting pitching.if we had nomar our o would be slightly better but postition wise we would have serious issues. we win if the starters have great seasons, if not we are .500.