YearofDaCubs

His risks paid off and he deserves credit IMO. To me, it's that simple. If Hendry took some risks and they paid off he deserves credit for them too.

I never said he was the best GM in baseball but a lot of you are discounting what he did. What's the difference between the White Sox in '04 and '05? Pitching, pitching, pitching, and some defense. If you want to give Williams credit for making the defense better, fine. But he had nothing to do with half their rotation pitching out of their mind. Well, he was the one who traded for Garcia, and Contreras late last year and also signed ELDuque and drafted Brandon McCarthy and took a risk by picking up Jenks through waivers. So yes he did have something to do with their rotations. And who knows signing a talented catcher in AJ might have helped the pitchers as well. Pretty big difference on the roster from 04 to 05.

HAHHAH yet all of these pieces got them to the WS. Why the hate? Is it bitterness? Hey, I'm a Cubs fan and I give credit where it's due. KW deserves credit for winning. It's bitterness, yes, but all these moves were much more likely to be bad ones than good ones. The fact that all of these guys ended up having their best years ever (or in Dye's case, his best year this millennium anyway) is just plain lucky. I call BS. It is not lucky. It was risky yes but some of these players were quality. A team wins a WS and it's all about luck? Come on. There's more to it than that. So if the Cubs win the WS this year, does that make all the bad moves Hendry made good? Of course not. Every team has a chance to win the WS, winning it doesn't mean you made the right moves, or even competent ones. The white sox had Rowand who the previous year had a breakout year yet didn't do so great last year. Dye was a solid pickup for them in RF. Podsednik was their leadoff hitter. Upgraded the catcher position. The pitchers were huge for them but let's not forget most of them came here via trade, waiver pickups, and FA signings. He also picked the manager to take them to the WS. A manager that is better than ours. If we win the WS I will give credit to Hendry, the manager, and the players for getting us there and winning. It's a combination of a lot of things and not all luck. The White Sox did it, we are still waiting and probably for a long time to come. If you want to argue that Williams made good moves, go ahead. I'll disagree mostly, but that's different than saying "He won a WS, so he's good". That's just backward logic. I never said he was the best GM in baseball but a lot of you are discounting what he did.

HAHHAH yet all of these pieces got them to the WS. Why the hate? Is it bitterness? Hey, I'm a Cubs fan and I give credit where it's due. KW deserves credit for winning. It's bitterness, yes, but all these moves were much more likely to be bad ones than good ones. The fact that all of these guys ended up having their best years ever (or in Dye's case, his best year this millennium anyway) is just plain lucky. I call BS. It is not lucky. It was risky yes but some of these players were quality. A team wins a WS and it's all about luck? Come on. There's more to it than that. So if the Cubs win the WS this year, does that make all the bad moves Hendry made good? Of course not. Every team has a chance to win the WS, winning it doesn't mean you made the right moves, or even competent ones. The white sox had Rowand who the previous year had a breakout year yet didn't do so great last year. Dye was a solid pickup for them in RF. Podsednik was their leadoff hitter. Upgraded the catcher position. The pitchers were huge for them but let's not forget most of them came here via trade, waiver pickups, and FA signings. He also picked the manager to take them to the WS. A manager that is better than ours. If we win the WS I will give credit to Hendry, the manager, and the players for getting us there and winning. It's a combination of a lot of things and not all luck. The White Sox did it, we are still waiting and probably for a long time to come.

HAHHAH yet all of these pieces got them to the WS. Why the hate? Is it bitterness? Hey, I'm a Cubs fan and I give credit where it's due. KW deserves credit for winning. It's bitterness, yes, but all these moves were much more likely to be bad ones than good ones. The fact that all of these guys ended up having their best years ever (or in Dye's case, his best year this millennium anyway) is just plain lucky. I call BS. It is not lucky. It was risky yes but some of these players were quality. A team wins a WS and it's all about luck? Come on. There's more to it than that.

HAHHAH yet all of these pieces got them to the WS. Why the hate? Is it bitterness? Hey, I'm a Cubs fan and I give credit where it's due. KW deserves credit for winning.

Let's get ready for another mediocre season. Thanks Hendry.

The man set up his team to win a WS. This is ridiculous. He traded for Freddy Garcia, Contreras, signed Hermanson, Jenks also got their leadoff man, their new RFer, and their catcher. Chose the manager and yet you are discrediting him? That is ridiculous. Give credit where it's due. Ken Williams deserves a lot of credit for what the team accomplished last year.

Agreed. There is a saying, "a broken watch is correct twice a day." Or how about the "sun shines on a dog's butt once awhile." Fact is...KW is not a better GM then hendry, heck, I would even say Williams isn't a serviceable Gm. As lawl at dusty said...the White Sox won...despite Williams, not because of his "brillant" moves. That is completely asinine. It was his moves who set the roster. It was him who signed his manager. He traded and signed the pitchers. Give me an incompetent GM if he gets me a world series.

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours. Colletti wasn't going to trade Bradley to the Cubs. And you know this because... Because it was revealed that Colletti and Dusty don't like one another. In hindsight, it seems that the Bradley trade talks hushed after Colletti took the helm in LA. That is pure speculation. In my opinion we were probably not offering enough.

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours. Colletti wasn't going to trade Bradley to the Cubs. And you know this because...

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours.

Yeah that. The Cubs org is full with a bunch of clowns.

I would do it if we can keep Cedeno and play him at 2B.

Am I the only one that says "no thanks" to this deal? I would rather trade for a good RF and leave Cedeno at SS. Tejadas power can be had from the OF spot. Probably cheaper too.

And just won a World Series. If I was a WSox fan I would have complete confidence in my GM unlike ours who has no clue.

Will you just tell us? I'm guessing from that tone it's either Prior or Z. If true, another piece to the Hendry is not a good GM puzzle.

Granted Dallas Clark has games where he puts up good yardage and then LJ Smith was a top target for McNabb but with McMahon and the possibility of him losing time who do I start?

Hopefully, this will open the Mariners up to the possibility of trading Ibanez. The article indicates the Mariners are frustrated in their attempts to obtain pitching. I wonder if they would consider a deal built around Williams for Ibanez? Even if they sign Everett, trading Ibanez would leave them short a LF. They'd have Reed/Everett/Ichiro, if they wanted to deal Ibanez. Who's the DH? Very good ?. I know that last year they wanted Bucky Jacobson to play but he was out for the season. Maybe this year they can leave him in DH? I still don't see the Mariners getting rid of Ibanez.

Why don't Coletti and Dusty get along?

Ignoring the injury, he actually put up pretty good numbers in his first stint: 295/403/448/851 in 2001 266/355/402/757 in 2002 after a horrendously slow start Pretty good actually. Too bad he's 35 and injury prone.

Mueller is 35 and his tenure here before wasn't exactly a success. He also has a history of injury problems. No thank you especially not for a 3 year deal.

Baker gave the word to his puppet and told him Walker had to go. That's a more realistic scenario.

So let;s get this straight. We don't have Nomar anymore at SS. 2B will probably end up being Neifi's position. We currently do not have a RF and if we do look a FA additions for the position they are weak. So with all the money we had to spend what exactly had Hendry done to upgrade the offense? Pierre was a good piece but we still have glaring holes. I mean say we sign JJones or Encarnacion look at the lineup do you guys even think that is such a huge improvement over last year? I have no faith in Hendry or this organization anymore. This is starting to get really bad.

I don't really think it's because the Cubs don't want Todd, because they do (and should). But part of the problem is the Cubs aren't viewed to have a lot of positional ready prospects who could serve as trade bait. Add this to the fact they have an oft injured pitching staff (so they need all the MLB ready pitchers they can get), and the Cubs just don't have a lot of appealing tradeable commodities. Then there's Todd. A left handed bat who hits for good numbers, is versatile densively (even it below-average at every position), is a great clubhouse personality, and has enough integrity to where his salary isn't ridiculous. Bottom line is the Cubs would pry LOVE to keep Todd, AND be able to trade for what they want, but its just not a very plausible scenario. What maybe the only saving grace for Todd is the Cubs 05 lineup. Although its definately not scaring anyone as of yet (though I think it will surprise, people underestimate the power fundamentally sound hitters have on a lineup...ie Murton, Cedeno, Pierre), this lineup figures to be DEMONSTRABLY better in the speed department. Pierre's an upgrade over Patterson (he actually knows how and when to steal a base), Cedeno's an upgrade over Nomah and Neifi, and Murton's an upgrade over Holly and Dubois. Especially if the Cubs are smart enough to bat Cedeno in the 2 hole (he makes exceptional contact, can situational hit, and makes for an impossible DP target), they may be able to slide Todd down to 7th in the order. IMO, he'd be a pretty good fit there, and the Cubs could maybe use some hit and run with he and Neifi (or whoever 2b will be). But if this doesn't happen I think he's gone. It's too bad becasue he's one of my favorite Cubs (he has enough character not to demand ridiculous salaries, and just plays where he wants to play). they wont be able to replace his production at 2b for anywhere near 2.5 mil a year so if they do trade him to upgrade another position like rf (the only one open as of now), they might end up weakening 2b. vidro would be a very interesting option if he's healthy but if he is healthy the nats would most likely not trade him. I suppose there is a reason why they gave Perez 6mil for 2 years. Although it isn't an upgrade.