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

[wastra]

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

 

 

It is blatantly obvious that Dusty Baker just doesn't like Hairston. The guy rarely played before Walker's injury. Then, when Walker got injured, who started at second? Neifi. It took a couple days of absolute BASHING by the fans and press and then an injury to Nomar (forcing Neifi to SS full time) to get Hairston into the everyday slot at second.

 

Then, they trade for Gerut- who IS NOT a good leadoff hitter anyway, and the first full day he's on the team, he's in (leading off), and Hairston is out. Not Hollandsworth (who plays the corner spot- Gerut's position) or Burnitz (who has played EVERY game this year), but Hairston. Dusty's explanation? "He's tired. He's a 2B and isn't used to running in the outfield." ???

 

When Dusty, known for publicly praising nearly everyone on the team despite horrid performance at times, is asked about Hairston, he routinely subtley (or not so subtley) makes underhanded knocks or criticisms on his performance.

 

The bottom line is that dusty doesn't want Hairston in the lineup. I don't claim to know why- so I'm not throwing any accusations of hatred or personality conflicts or anything. Dusty doesn't have confidence or trust in JHJ for whatever reason, it's just that simple.

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

D) He will eventually be way too expensive.

 

Eventually? More like currently.

 

is money really a problem? are we not getting players b/c of money?

 

the only example i can think of is Clement. i don't think anyone is happy that innings eater left our club. well, other than all of Boston.

 

another possibility is Beltran, who is so overrated and overpaid, he's not even worth using as an argument that Kerry is too expensive.

[Chocolate Milk]

D) He will eventually be way too expensive.

 

Eventually? More like currently.

 

is money really a problem? are we not getting players b/c of money?

 

the only example i can think of is Clement. i don't think anyone is happy that innings eater left our club. well, other than all of Boston.

 

another possibility is Beltran, who is so overrated and overpaid, he's not even worth using as an argument that Kerry is too expensive.

 

I completely agree with you. That being said, I'd like a 10 million dollar player to, well, play a little more often.

[brinoch]

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.

 

Hendry can fire Baker, just as he hired him. While you are correct that many of the problems faced by the Cubs are caused, in my opinion, by Baker, Hendry shares culpability by providing the players and giving Baker the autonomy to misuse them. For example, if Hendry wants Remlinger used against righties, the kids to get a real chance to play, etc., etc., he needs to either lay down he law -- impose his will from above -- or fire Baker. If he shares Baker's philosophy... well, let's just say he's still guilty!

[neely crenshaw]

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.

the problem with that thinking is that despite what hendry said, dempster was not going to get a shot at being closer.yes, he was put in the rotation but we had literally 10 options to replace a starter. hendry was hoping that jobo,fox,hawkins,williamson,any of the youing kids would fill the hole. dempster only got a shot after jobo got hurt, hawkins failed,wuertz failed,fox got hurt,wellmeyer failed, remingler failed...does not sound like he was very high up on the plans! so please do not give credit to hendry for finding dempster(as a closer)

 

hawkins not signed as a closer. exactly but when you do not address closer and your main set up guy is really the only guy who has done the job at all (be closer) then who do you expect to take over?hawkins failed because he was never really given a chance tod the job he was signed to do. dusty fault? a little but in 2 years you are given no one else to do the job, you have to go with what you have! it hurt the team, it hurt hawkins and the blame goes to the guy who put together the team. this is not a situation like leftfield where dusty had an option to play other than holla, he had no one who could do it.

i'm sorry for 100mil you should have a better team. and for more money(over last year) you should not end up with more and larger holes than the year before.

[neely crenshaw]

one other thing, everyone stop with the clement talk. nearly everyone was done with him last year. he is a .500 pitcher-period. he has a nice w-l right now but it is fading and his era is awful 4.30 and rising! his whip 1.32 which means it will continue to rise

he has won 1 game 1-0, the next fewest runs was a 5-2 win. his other 8 wins the red sox have scored at least 6 and average around 9-10. you can put together a nice w-l record getting that support. with this team(cubs) his record would be closer to 4-10 not 10-4.

innings eater? please. as someone said if you watch the games then you would see the real pitcher. he might average 6 innings a start but he would throw 8 one game and 4 the next, and that kills your bullpen. how many starts did he throw 100 pitches in 5 innings?

williams is every bit as good as clement and cheaper.

clement in 19 starts this year has 6 (or 1/3) that are 5 innings or less!

[Backtobanks]

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.

 

Hendry can fire Baker, just as he hired him. While you are correct that many of the problems faced by the Cubs are caused, in my opinion, by Baker, Hendry shares culpability by providing the players and giving Baker the autonomy to misuse them. For example, if Hendry wants Remlinger used against righties, the kids to get a real chance to play, etc., etc., he needs to either lay down he law -- impose his will from above -- or fire Baker. If he shares Baker's philosophy... well, let's just say he's still guilty!

 

I think Hendry is stuck in the middle. He wants to let Baker run the team, but I'm not sure the Tribune Company would back him on firing Baker (and eating his salary) or forcing him to play the kids with a $100 million budget. [/b]So to answer your post, he can fire him or impose his will on Baker, but the end results for this year would not change dramatically and all of the criticism and pressure would then be put on Hendry for a mediocre season. If Hendry was managing this team all year, I guarantee you would have seen the kids playing 80% of the time, but again the result might not show up in the standings this year.

[Connor McConnor]

 

Do we forget that Woody is responsible for winning us our only playoff series in the past 90 years?

 

Thats an overstatement. The team won that series. If we are going to look at the past (which I think is a waste of time....and not very pleasant if you are a Cubs fan).....then we can also point to game 7. He was terrible that night.....and it was an opportunity for him to get us in the WORLD SERIES......and he blew it.

 

Kerry has had his moments....and no one would argue that he's talented when healthy. But I think a valid arguement could also be made that he is one of (if not THE) most over-hyped pitchers to come along in the last 10 years.

 

I'm beginning to agree with the "make him a closer" idea. He cant pitch more than 3 innings anyway. The idea that he is going to all of a sudden stay healthy for the next 5 years doesnt wash. The guy has real health issues.

[Satch80]

The blame game. Somebody has to be responsible. Right?

 

Hendry. A great GM who either had a blind spot last off season or lost too much sleep over trying to unload Sosa that he couldn't think clearly.

 

You cannot.....repeat, cannot...enter a season depending upon reclamation projects and rookies to man your bullpen. Especially not when you have the likes of Maddux ( limited to about 80 pitches), Wood who rarely makes it past the 6th and Z another power pitcher who can also pitch himself out quite early. Anyway, throwing $hit against the wall to see what sticks is hardly the way to build a pen.

 

Dusty.

Forget DuBois, ok? He couldn't catch the ball. can't hit a ML breaking pitch yet, just wasn't going to help this team no matter how many times he was trotted out there. He belongs in the AL. Wish him well.

 

Corey wasn't going to hit no matter where he was put in the order because he apparentely isn't recognizing pitches early enough and his swing is far too long to adjust late. Hopefully he is fixing this.

But batting him leadoff was insane.

 

Nefi is what he is. A backup for an injured Nomar. But come on, playing Cedeno over Nefi is going to get us to the wild card? Cedeno had a hot two months but his career stats show he has a ways to go.

But hitting a back-to-earth Nefi 2nd was also insane.

 

Hendry again.

Jim needs to start seriously considering the health history of players before acquiring them Back to back seasons with ravaging injuries is totally demoralizing. Reclamation projects are fine if they are just a bonus and not depended upon. Signing Wood long term was probably a mistake given his injury history but I can understand why he did it at the time.

But hopefully he lets go of Nomar or signs him one year cheap with incentives. Even then, if he goes down again it's a mental hit to the team.

 

The players.

Yes, they're responsible also. Too often they have approached hitting like swatting at hornets. Clueless at the plate. Look at the videos, players, try to understand what the pitcher throws in what count and be ready, have a plan. Work the count in your favor. Get into the middle relief, always the weak part of the pen. Take your walk if you get nothing to hit.

And don't you know ANYTHING about situational hitting? Bah! When they don't hit HR the offense usually tanks.

And there's more. Missing signs, poor baserunning, careless errors. Yuk. No need to go on.

 

The Coaches.

I'm sure thay wonder why experienced multi million dollar ball players can't execute fundamental baseball. So is it really the fault of the current coaches that players have reached this point and have trouble bunting, running the bases, hitting behind the runner, getting them in from third, reading the ball off the bat, etc. etc. ?

Or is it attitude and expectations?

 

Which brings me to Dusty again.

Dusty's player's manager persona is a double edged sword. Yes they all want to play for him and will work hard for him but at the same time, failure to execute ( except for stepchild Hairston) carries no penalty, no manager's black mark. they're not going to be pulled, called out in the media or chewed into shreds in his office.

 

In some respects this takes the pressure off but it also takes the "edge" off. And that's what I see a lot of. Players in a comfort zone who do not always come to the situation with the intensity and grind that it usually takes to succeed.

 

At this stage players should not need to be "coached" except for the occasional tweak to their swing or some improved footwork on defense.

They need to concentrate and execute and focus.

And the manager has to expect it and demand it.

 

That's how I see things.

 

 

[/b]

[Satch80]

The blame game. Somebody has to be responsible. Right?

 

Hendry. A great GM who either had a blind spot last off season or lost too much sleep over trying to unload Sosa that he couldn't think clearly.

 

You cannot.....repeat, cannot...enter a season depending upon reclamation projects and rookies to man your bullpen. Especially not when you have the likes of Maddux ( limited to about 80 pitches), Wood who rarely makes it past the 6th and Z another power pitcher who can also pitch himself out quite early. Anyway, throwing $hit against the wall to see what sticks is hardly the way to build a pen.

 

Dusty.

Forget DuBois, ok? He couldn't catch the ball. can't hit a ML breaking pitch yet, just wasn't going to help this team no matter how many times he was trotted out there. He belongs in the AL. Wish him well.

 

Corey wasn't going to hit no matter where he was put in the order because he apparentely isn't recognizing pitches early enough and his swing is far too long to adjust late. Hopefully he is fixing this.

But batting him leadoff was insane.

 

Nefi is what he is. A backup for an injured Nomar. But come on, playing Cedeno over Nefi is going to get us to the wild card? Cedeno had a hot two months but his career stats show he has a ways to go.

But hitting a back-to-earth Nefi 2nd was also insane.

 

Hendry again.

Jim needs to start seriously considering the health history of players before acquiring them Back to back seasons with ravaging injuries is totally demoralizing. Reclamation projects are fine if they are just a bonus and not depended upon. Signing Wood long term was probably a mistake given his injury history but I can understand why he did it at the time.

But hopefully he lets go of Nomar or signs him one year cheap with incentives. Even then, if he goes down again it's a mental hit to the team.

 

The players.

Yes, they're responsible also. Too often they have approached hitting like swatting at hornets. Clueless at the plate. Look at the videos, players, try to understand what the pitcher throws in what count and be ready, have a plan. Work the count in your favor. Get into the middle relief, always the weak part of the pen. Take your walk if you get nothing to hit.

And don't you know ANYTHING about situational hitting? Bah! When they don't hit HR the offense usually tanks.

And there's more. Missing signs, poor baserunning, careless errors. Yuk. No need to go on.

 

The Coaches.

I'm sure thay wonder why experienced multi million dollar ball players can't execute fundamental baseball. So is it really the fault of the current coaches that players have reached this point and have trouble bunting, running the bases, hitting behind the runner, getting them in from third, reading the ball off the bat, etc. etc. ?

Or is it attitude and expectations?

 

Which brings me to Dusty again.

Dusty's player's manager persona is a double edged sword. Yes they all want to play for him and will work hard for him but at the same time, failure to execute ( except for stepchild Hairston) carries no penalty, no manager's black mark. they're not going to be pulled, called out in the media or chewed into shreds in his office.

 

In some respects this takes the pressure off but it also takes the "edge" off. And that's what I see a lot of. Players in a comfort zone who do not always come to the situation with the intensity and grind that it usually takes to succeed.

 

At this stage players should not need to be "coached" except for the occasional tweak to their swing or some improved footwork on defense.

They need to concentrate and execute and focus.

And the manager has to expect it and demand it.

 

That's how I see things.

 

 

[/b]

[BadKermit]

I'm in on this. I'm going to blame Hendry for every day after last night that Dusty continues to "manage" this team.

[AramisRamirez]

i do place a signficant portion of blame on jim hendry. i also place the blame on the Tribune for not allocating a higher payroll enabling hendry to be more aggressive. Dusty Baker is another big part of the problem. Injuries too, and finally individual players like Corey Patterson.

 

Hendry didnt make alot of good moves this summer, but to his credit he didnt make any real bad ones that caused the organization long-term damage. we're still positioned just fine, not too many players away from being contenders. he could have spent money on Armando Benitez, Troy Percival, or gave up some good talent for Kolb. it would have made us happy at the time, but all three havent lived up to their expectations. Dempster has been more productive than them.

 

fortunately beltran didnt accept our 5-year/$75M deal. his .260 average is great an all, but we already have our hands full with corey patterson. i still have faith in hendry because he's made some big time moves in aramis ramirez and derrek lee. its the Trib that worries me. i think he's hamstrung financially, which has in some respects has worked to his benefit because he hasnt brought in any albratross deals.

 

in retrospect, the one biggest mistake he made was passing on miguel tejada. not that the Trib would ever authorize hendry to offer anybody a $72M contract, but he's actually worth it.

 

i cant help but think what might have been with Tejada, Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee in the same lineup. If those three were healthy at the same time as Prior, Zambrano, and Wood we'd win the world series.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

i do place a signficant portion of blame on jim hendry. i also place the blame on the Tribune for not allocating a higher payroll enabling hendry to be more aggressive.

 

We've had a 20 percent increase in payroll the past two years, I really don't see this as being a payroll issue.

[dalgreen]

i do place a signficant portion of blame on jim hendry. i also place the blame on the Tribune for not allocating a higher payroll enabling hendry to be more aggressive.

 

We've had a 20 percent increase in payroll the past two years, I really don't see this as being a payroll issue.

 

It's not a payroll issue. The issue is the decisions made using the payroll. Why else have the Cardinals and Astros pretty much dominated the NL Central for the past ten seasons while having an equal or less payroll than the Cubs?