Naturally it depends on what kind of organization or investor group takes over but in all probability whether or not the Cubs make the playoffs this year depends on the players on the field and coaches in the dugout. Obviously Hendry has provided the talent pool to compete as they are leading the division with 33 games remaining. Now the question really is does Hendry have a long term future with the club? My guess is that yes as does Piniella and staff through at least 2008 depending on the performance. The real culprit was not Hendry it was MacPhail who handcuffed the Cubs payroll so MacPhail could make the case that he is Commissioner material, pandering to the small and mid market clubs (KC, Mil, Minn, Pitt, TB, FL, Oak, Was, and mid-market clubs; SD, AZ, Clev, Cinc, StL, Den, SF's, Balt, Tex, Seattle, Tor, Det) who actually own the majority votes against the 10 biggees: NYY, BSOX, NYM, LAD, LAA, Cubs, CSox, Phil, Atl, & Hou It is about payroll and MacPhail put the Cubs in the mid-market payroll category and not the big market category....($125-135M) which would have given the Cubs a real RF'er, all star catcher or starting pitcher and another bench performer), but he kept the Cubs at $90-100M....That is your culprit. What a bunch of bs. How many teams have a 125-135 million dollar payroll, outside of the Yankees and Red Sox? Hendry has been given plenty of money to work with since 2003, and hes done nothing with it. The Cubs since Hendry has been here have been in the top 5 in payroll more often than not. To say Hendry has worked with a mid market payroll is a joke. That's actually not true. The Cubs have been in the top half every year, but not top 5. 2003: 12th in payroll 2004: 6th in payroll 2005: 9th in payroll 2006: 7th in payroll 2007: 8th in payroll So we have been a top 10 team in payroll most years, but never top 5. The Cubs still easily have had enough money to really not put much value on complaining that the funds simply weren't there, but top 5 is overstating it. Also, this is for the entire ML's right? Where have the Cubs been in regards to the National League? Im pretty sure they have been near the top in the NL since Hendry has been here, and thats has equaled 1 playoff team. You are correct on that. On average, AL teams have spent more than NL teams. I'm going to post the Cubs ranking in the NL, the amount of money they spent, and the amount of money spent by the 8th NL team (right around average) 2003: 7th in NL. Cubs-86.58 million, 8th place-79.95 million 2004: 3rd, Cubs-91.1 million, 8th-74.67 million 2005: 6th, Cubs-87.03 million, 8th-83.04 2006: 3rd, Cubs-94.42 million, 8th-88.27 2007: 3rd, Cubs-99.67 million, 8th-87.29 million From looking over the numbers, the Mets typically are the leaders in the NL in payroll. After that, the Dodgers, Cubs, Cardinals, Giants, Phillies, Astros, and Braves are all typically pretty close to each other. The Cubs probably have been 5th or 6th best in performance in the Hendry era of those teams that are close to each other in payroll, which is not good out of 7 teams. Those are the 8 teams who spend money in the NL year in and year out, and then there's a big dropoff to teams like the Padres, Brewers, Reds, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. Thanks for doing the research CCP. Payroll has not been a problem for Hendry since hes been here.