Did Cubs' GM Jim Hendry have the worst off-season ever or what? The guy did absolutely NOTHING right this off-season and we all have to deal with a .500 team because of it.
It started with the trade of Mark DeRosa. I was not completely against this trade at the time because I thought it just had to be part of a much bigger move - Jake Peavy. Instead what happened is the Cubs are left with NO backup for Aramis at 3B. Not only from a fielding standpoint as Aramis is a near gold-glove 3B, but primarily from a production standpoint. Although Aramis has played in only 18 games which is just over 1/3 of the Cubs 56 games and he's still only 11 RBIs shy of team leader Alfonso Soriano with 16. How could Hendry have possibly know Aramis would get hurt this year? How about looking at his career? He's had more years missing at least 20 games than years he didn't. You already know D-Lee is just not a big RBI guy, so how are you going to score runs if Aramis is out? Well, DeRosa has now driven in 42 runs following his game-winning grand slam last night for a LAST place team and those 42 RBIs would lead the Cubs by 15 over Soriano's pathetic team-leading 27 (not pathetic that the lead-off hitter only has 27 RBIs, but that 27 leads the team). So now you don't have the production from DeRosa (he was 3rd on the Cubs last year with 87 RBIs) but you signed Aaron Miles for nearly the same money. Well, after he got hurt along with Aramis, Hendry went out and spent even more money by adding Ryan Freel. I just don't get it.
It continued with more cost-cutting by not resigning Kerry Wood. From a purely numbers standpoint, Kerry Wood is performing very similar to Kevin Gregg so this wasn't a disaster (at least not yet). This was purely a cost-saving move which just doesn't sit well with me since they were one of the few MLB teams that actually raised ticket prices in the face of these rough economic times so while increasing their incoming revenues, they are cutting costs to further increase profit. Is this the right direction for a team fighting to end the drought at 101 years? Or are we, the fans the only ones concerned with this "streak"?
Jason Marquis leads the NL in Wins. OK - I'll admit I was not against this move at the time either. Marquis has been on three straight playoff teams but has never made the playoff roster. Why? Because he's known as a first half pitcher that usually falters big-time down the stretch so let's not go crazy here. He was one of the best 5th starters in baseball for the Cubs the last two years and was even used as a pinch-runner from time-to-time. Like I said, I didn't have a problem with the trade BUT that was assuming teh Cubs could get ANYTHING at all from Vizcaino. It wasn't because he didn't pitch well, but the Cubs got rid of him for whatever reason after 3.2 innings without allowing run in 4 games. Did I mention that the Cubs are still paying most of Marquis' salary for him to pitch for some other team? Brutal Jim!
Two words...Milton Bradley. This knucklehead was the key to the whole thing. This was Hendry's guy all the way in his quest to become more left-handed (Bradley is a switchhitter) AND to throw more money at last year's free agent mistake - Kosuke Fukudome. He was certainly warned how Bradley is a hot-head (although I was hoping he would add a spark to the clubhouse), he certainly knew he was coming off a career year (check out Jeff Blauser's last season in Atlanta prior to being signed by the Cubs), and he should have known he is injury-prone. Yes, Hendry jumped out there to make sure he signed this "prize" free agent ahead of everyone else rather than sticking it out and taking a serious look at Ibanez (any argument that this guy is the MVP right now?) or even Bobby Abreu. Instead, the Cubs are stuck with a moody guy with a hamstring or groin problem just waiting to happen every time he needs to run out a grounder. Did you see him whince in pain last night after hitting a roller late in the game? I will say his fielding has been better than expected, but his hitting is a JOKE. Should the team's clean-up hitter be up there looking for a walk in EVERY situation? You're in the middle of the order to drive in runs, not just get on base Milton. Hit the darn ball man!
How about that awesome bullpen Hendry has constructed? Hendry couldn't wait to run lefty Scott Eyre out of town last August so what has Eyre done since going to the Phillies for a minor leaguer named Brian Schlitter? Well, he compiled a dazzling 1.88 ERA for the World Series champions last year and has a 2.63 ERA while giving up runs in only 2 of his 24 appearances so far this year. While the focus was on making the batting lineup more left-handed (how's that working out Lou? you had the best offense in the NL last year and now with your lefty-lineup, you can't score runs consistently; nice work!), maybe he should have spent more time on the bullpen. The only lefty down there these days is Neal Cotts although Sean Marshall is in the pen again now too. Trust me when I tell you NOT to compare stats between Cotts and Eyre.
Worst GM of the Year??? I certainly think so.
Well there's no question I agree with most everything you said, I won’t go as far as to give a stereotypical Cubs fan “worst offseason ever” or worst GM ever, when the fact is yes Jim Hendry has had a bad offseason, but you did leave out quite a bit of the story.
ReplyDeleteWe do know that Hendry is severely hamstrung by budget concerns. In a normal offseason, Hendry would have been able to sign Bradley without trading DeRosa, and make some of those moves, without having to clear salary first. I don’t think people realize just how bad the budget is for the Cubs right now, they literally cannot add even 15 cents to the payroll without clearing out that amount first. So in order to get Bradley, (a guy their manager insisted on because he wanted more left handed hitting) you had to clear out 10 million.
You call the Wood/Gregg swap a wash, well Gregg is on a one year 7 million dollar deal, and Wood got a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd year at 10 million per if my memory is correct. Advantage Gregg.
Now with that said, there is no argument that most of the moves Hendry has made so far have not panned out. The worst case scenario happened when they traded DeRosa, Ramirez got hurt. Aaron Miles has been a bust, Fontenot is a part time player or 5th infielder at best, and not at 3rd base. Milton Bradley has been an unmitigated disaster, & Gregg has been at best serviceable, but by no means stellar.
Now all of those moves you can blame on Jim Hendry, but some of those things could be covered up if Soriano were even half of the dangerous hitter he’s supposed to be. If Lee hadn’t waited 2 months to actually realized the season started, If Ramirez doesn’t go down for 2 months, and if Geo Soto was even just an average catcher as opposed to the mess he is right now. So yes, now a bad offseason is compounded by these other issues.
Now with that being said, I’ve admitted the offseason was bad. You do have to remember, the budget was extremely limited in what Hendry could do, & the established veterans have sucked. Jim Hendry does need to be held accountable for what he did. He did make these moves, and most if not all of them have not worked out at all. However, when evaluating a GM, you need to look at everything and realize Hendry has one of the deepest, most balanced, & strong pitching staffs in all of baseball.
I was not a fan of giving Dempster that kind of contract, but so far he seems to not have lost too much from last year. Lilly continues to simply pitch solid and consistent start after start, and really is a bargain now for what he’s signed for. Zambrano finally looks to be focused and ready to actually play some baseball. Wells came out of nowhere and has yet to disappoint, and Harden looks to be on his way back to the rotation this weekend.
So it remains, the Cubs are only a handful of games out. If they can straighten out the hitting, the Cubs can get back in this, it is still very early.
The real question I leave you with is this, who is more of a disappointment to you right now, Jim Hendry, or Lou Piniella. I know who I’m most disappointed in.
I think the magic number is 103
ReplyDeleteI agree but Jim Hendry has done a great job with the Cubs. He turned the worst team in the MLB to the best team in the N.L. last year. I have three words Bring Back Derosa!!
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