erik316wttn

believe me, i do not want to be defending erik here. God forbid. :roll: :roll:

I'd think if you finished the season with a GM who has the "interim" tag, yes. If you fire Hendry then name someone the permanent replacement right now it wouldn't affect us.

1) Not a "central point" of anyone's argument, but the "the next guy we get could be worse" argument has been brought up a few times. 2) I guess it depends on who is available at 3rd. If Aram is the best option, pick him up. If not, test the market. It's too early to say yet. ... waiting for the light bulb to come on between those points ... Why are you so testy? I'm trying to debate reasonably and you just seem pissy. I guess you'll have to explain the correlation to me, because I'm not seeing it. Enlighten me. I'm not really being testy - I thought the correlation was obvious. In each situation, you've got a person currently inhabiting a role for the cubs. In each situation, the team has the "option" of retaining them or letting them move on. In one case, you're in favor of jettisoning the person without any kind of a plan on how to replace him. In the other, you feel you need to have at least some idea of how to proceed to actually improve that position before making a decision. I'm simply pointing out the inconsistency in your logic. I'll concede that point to you, and I edited. The bad thing about the internet is sometimes it's hard to tell intention. My bad. But I'll restate: If Aram has a poor year this year and we think he's no longer a productive player, we shouldn't keep him because there may be a "chance" that the next guy will be worse. It's a calculated risk that you need to take. And I think comparing Aram to Hendry is flawed. Aram, with the exception of the first half of last year and this year so far, has been good-to-very good for us during his Cubs tenure. Hendry has had some flashes of brilliance (I'll give him the Lee trade, Aram/Lofton trades, Nomar trade, etc as some very good moves that he's made), but I think that his negatives cancel out his positives. There's no proof to back this up, but I have a strong feeling he pretty much let Dusty pick out most of his roster during his tenure here. In fact, keeping Dusty (and Lou after it became apparent he no longer gave a crap) are black marks on him. The Soriano deal is a black mark, as is Neifi, Grabow, etc. He has these idiotic philosophies that he just throws together on a whim and doesn't stick with from year to year (guys who can "catch the ball", getting more left handed, etc). He over-pursues the guys he wants that he feels fill this philosophy at the expense of other, better players who may actually be a better fit on the team. Does absolutely everything Jim Hendry touches turn to crap? No. But I think we've let him coast on the big moves he's made for too long. but again, like I said, if you're going to make a change, do it soon, because a front office in flux is not going to be attractive to any worthwhile free agents. I'd be willing to stick with Hendry at least until next Opening Day if it means landing Pujols and some other useful pieces this winter.

So you concede that you don't really trust Hendry. This also assumes new management won't come up with alternative ways to improve the team in the offseason that Hendry might not. I've said many times in this thread that there are valid reasons for not trusting him. I feel like your thinking is way too binary here. It's possible to not be in love with the job Hendry has done and still feel that it may be the best thing to retain him for a bit longer. I can agree with this point, at least. If you're going to fire Hendry, do it relatively early in the season. Don't wait until after the year, because a front-office in flux would not be attractive to potential FA targets. However, if Hendry were fired tomorrow, I would not shed a single tear. But you gotta ride him out at least till Opening Day next year if he makes it to the offseason.

1) That's the central point of whose argument again? 2) Do you want Aramis replaced at 3b next year or do you want the team to pick up the option? Or do you feel it depends on who they'll get to fill third in his place? 1) Not a "central point" of anyone's argument, but the "the next guy we get could be worse" argument has been brought up a few times. 2) I guess it depends on who is available at 3rd. If Aram is the best option, pick him up. If not, test the market. It's too early to say yet. ... waiting for the light bulb to come on between those points ... Why are you so testy? I'm trying to debate reasonably and you just seem pissy. And you know what, the next guy we get COULD be worse than Aram. But does that mean we shouldn't make a move this offseason if we think he just doesn't have it anymore? Because some other guy could be even worse than the over-the-hill (possibly) 3B we have now?

1) That's the central point of whose argument again? 2) Do you want Aramis replaced at 3b next year or do you want the team to pick up the option? Or do you feel it depends on who they'll get to fill third in his place? 1) Not a "central point" of anyone's argument, but the "the next guy we get could be worse" argument has been brought up a few times. 2) I guess it depends on who is available at 3rd. If Aram is the best option, pick him up. If not, test the market. It's too early to say yet.

I personally think "We shouldn't replace him because the next guy could be worse" is very bad logic.

Curious to see if you can back that up. Mike Flanagan (started in '03, his first full season, same as Hendry) has topped out at 78 wins. Ed Wade GMd the Phillies for 8 years, never reaching the postseason, he then got a job with Houston after one year off and has led them to 0 postseason appearances in 3 seasons. Dan O' Dowd has been pretty terrible with the Rockies, but they've been superior to the Cubs recently. ETA: That's just current guys, and there aren't many that qualify in terms of having been around a long time with big payrolls. Is O'Dowd still there? Because the Rockies have had a pretty kickass farm system (look at their core) and could very well win the pennant this year. I'd say that's a pretty decent job.

It does crack me up that for all of the "Hendry hate", the bottom line is Hendry is somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to GMs. As you stated, the results have wildly fluctuated. His weaknesses start with spending money on secondary players and following the advice of his managers too often. Hendry has always pushed for developing a better farm system and promoting through the farm system, but Chicago (Tribune, fans, and media) push for immediate results. It's the nature of the job to be criticized for every move you make or don't make. All of the discussion over the years about all of the brilliant GMs that could work miracles with Hendry's budget are just opinion since there's no way of proving it. As others have posted, Hendry has raised the expectation level, but failed to deliver. If Ricketts decides to fire him, hopefully it will be for a better GM and not one that's worse (Coletti). Except Hendry's not in the "middle of the pack". No one has done less with more than Hendry in the entire history of professional baseball and held on to his job for 10 years. He's a terrible GM. I wouldn't say "in history", but in a major market with a top 5 payroll there's no damn reason at all to have performed as poorly as he has. He made some good moves in 2003 and 2004 to get us some key players (Lofton, Aram, Lee, Nomar) but some of his just plain idiotic moves have offset his good ones. He's given out some very questionable contracts that either have or will turn into albatrosses very soon. Jim Hendry is not a good GM. I don't know if I'd say "worst ever" or even "worst in the game today", but certainly bottom 5, and if not that then he's absolutely bottom 10.

Dude is gonna be in jail 5 years from now if he doesn't get some serious help. He's a loose cannon.

I can't wait to see what mediocre middle reliever or middle infielder Hendry grossly overpays this offseason.

I hope we sweep so I can give endless crap to one of the managers at work who is a Cardinals fan.

He's pretty good with the bat, too.

The dude traded for Josh Hamilton vs the dude traded for Sam Fuld.

I couldn't believe Holtzman had 0 k's during his no-hitter in 1969

Well I guess we'll just have to take Kemp and Kershaw off their hands. Ethier, too.

His contract may make it hard to move him.

DUDE YOU'RE GONNA JINX IT!!!! I'm drunk! hrrrr!!~

Is that a season high?

Demp should be next then.

Congrats to him. It's nice that pitchers can have their day again now that offenses have seemed to level out a bit.

I have this picture hanging in my family room. How many runs does Demp give up tonight?

Castro is on the cover of the newest Sports Illustrated. http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-cubs/2011/5/3/2151386/cubs-starlin-castro-latest-victim-sports-illustrated-cover-jinx I'm framing it.

Every time I see something like this, I think of the clip where the idiot ran on the field during a football game and just got clocked by a defensive player.

I love that it's not even May yet and the game thread is a page and a half.