Cubs GM Hendry finally fired

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Former Creighton coach Jim Hendry......

nice enough guy, very good college coach. I thought he was in over his head at the MLB level as a general manager though. Good scout, yes. Good coach, yes. GM? I dunno.
 
Let won and losses speak for themselves. The players have not produced. Wait until next year from a true Cub Fane.
 
Hendry wasn't as awful as what you guys are making it sound. Did he need to go and was it time for a change? Yes. But he wasn't that bad. Became GM after the 02 season and the team made 3 (03, 07, 08) playoff apperances during his tenure as GM. Before Hendry they made 3 (84, 89, 98) playoff apperances in the previous 55 years. Did he make some bad signings and trades? Yes. Did he make some good signings and trades? Yes. As does every GM. Have the last few years been bad for the Cubs? Yes but it isn't all his fault. He did plenty good for the Cubs organization but I do agree that it was time for him to go.
 

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Not a huge MLB guy, but it just seemed that if Mark Prior (sp?) and Kerry Wood would have hung in and not both been devastated with injuries they were primed to be a force in the NL for a while. Cant blame a GM for that. Dont follow the cubs or MLB enough to really know much, but I always viewed that as devastating. They couldve been one of the top one-two punches in baseball and would have had Zambrano as well, if im thinking clearly. All three healthy and in the right frame of mind would have been nasty.
 
With the roster and staff the Cubs have it's a mess. Lack of talent and there are so many wars going on inside that clubhouse that no one could do anything with that team right now.
 
A friend of mine who lives for Cubs baseball said there has been several "in house" wars with Castro,Barney and Pena. Just going by his statements as I don't follow the Cubbies and we all know about Z's issues with the team and everything else.
 
Well they better get over it because Starlin Castro is the only thing this team has going for them, he will be the guy that they build around - that kid's going to be around for a long long time.
 

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SycamoreFBGM said:
Hendry wasn't as awful as what you guys are making it sound. Did he need to go and was it time for a change? Yes. But he wasn't that bad. Became GM after the 02 season and the team made 3 (03, 07, 08) playoff apperances during his tenure as GM. Before Hendry they made 3 (84, 89, 98) playoff apperances in the previous 55 years. Did he make some bad signings and trades? Yes. Did he make some good signings and trades? Yes. As does every GM. Have the last few years been bad for the Cubs? Yes but it isn't all his fault. He did plenty good for the Cubs organization but I do agree that it was time for him to go.
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Milton Bradley, Carlos Pena and big zs contract were all really bad decisions.
 
Dgreenwell3 said:
Milton Bradley, Carlos Pena and big zs contract were all really bad decisions.
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I didn't say he didn't make some bad decisions. And honestly when he gave Z that contract it looked like it was going to be a good deal but it just didn't work out that way. Z was still young and entering his prime and like I said it just didn't end up working out. That stuff happens. I don't think the Carlos Pena deal was too bad. Wasn't great but it definetly wasn't a "really bad decision." The Cubs needed a 1st baseman this season, he signed him to a 1 year deal and set the organization up to have the chance to sign Pujols or Fielder this offseason.

What about some of his good signings and trades? Traded for Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton in 03 to help get the Cubs into the playoffs. Ramirez has been hitting in the middle of the order and has been one of the most productive 3rd baseman since he became a Cub. The Derrek Lee trade worked out great for the Cubs (gave up Hee Seop Choi). He signed Ryan Dempster who was coming off of Tommy John surgery. That worked out well. Was the teams closer in 07 and has been a solid starter over the last 4 seasons for the Cubs. Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly signings were good signings.

The man did plenty of good for the Cubs. Was it time for him to go? Absolutely. He didn't get the Cubs a World Series championship but his tenure wasn't that bad. The last few years were bad and it is a what have you done for me lately business and that is why he was let go. I COMPLETELY agree he should have been let go but I also think he didn't do too bad of a job ethier.
 
Dgreenwell3 said:
Milton Bradley, Carlos Pena and big zs contract were all really bad decisions.
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Trading for Garciapara, signing Soriano... man, it's painful to think of all of the dumb shit he did. How about taking Josh freakin' Hamilton from the Rays and then dealing him to the Reds for cash. My head hurts.
 
Sycamore75 said:
A friend of mine who lives for Cubs baseball said there has been several "in house" wars with Castro,Barney and Pena. Just going by his statements as I don't follow the Cubbies and we all know about Z's issues with the team and everything else.
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If you could get some links or something from your buddy I'd like to read those. I also read a lot on the Cubs everyday. (cubs.com, espnchicago, chicago tribune, sun-times, and a few blogs) I haven't heard anything about this Castro, Barney, and Pena "in house" war and would like to read about this. I really like Castro and Barney up the middle and this wouldn't be good if this story of your friends was true.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
Trading for Garciapara, signing Soriano... man, it's painful to think of all of the dumb shit he did. How about taking Josh freakin' Hamilton from the Rays and then dealing him to the Reds for cash. My head hurts.
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At the time of the Nomar deal what were you saying about it? The Cubs didn't give up shit to get Nomar. They gave up Alex Gonzalez, the same guy who booted a double play ball a few batters after Bartman, and a few prospects that never panned out (I know one was Brendan Harris and if memory serves me correctly the other was Francis Beltran). It was worth the gamble.
 

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Dgreenwell3 said:
Milton Bradley, Carlos Pena and big zs contract were all really bad decisions.
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They signed Pena to a 1 year deal - was it to much money for a guy that hit like .240 the previous season? Yeah it probably was - but they didn't sign him to a long term deal, the Cubs had no plans on winning this year.

I don't think the Cubs plan on re-signing Pena and if they do it will be for a discounted price because I've heard he wants to stay a Cub and will take a pay-cut (we will see about that). I think that the Cubs will make a run at Albert or Fielder - I personally don't see the Brewers letting Fielder get away and the price tag on Albert will be outstanding. With that said, the Cubs may be stuck with Pena and he's a good club-house guy (or so they say) and I'd be fine with him.

Why you think they hired Mike Quade? They were not going to bring in a Cub great Ryno and let him manage a piss poor product, they gave it to Quade in order to keep Ryno out of a bad situation. I truly believe that.

If I was GM here would be my first 3 moves:

1. Eat the Soriano contract, he's horrible on D and he is not a threat on the bases like he was in his younger years. Basically he's a DH and well the NL doesn't have a DH so his value to us is nothing. The Cubs are not going to get anyone for him in a trade because no one will take on his contact. So he'd be cut.

2. I wouldn't worry about Albert or Fielder, I'd spend the money used to get those guys to get a solid pitching staff in place. The trade that was made for Garza last year by Hendry was a reach. The guy they should have been trading for was James Shields - they need to go get an Ace. Randy Wells is NOT a quality starter. They have one of the worst starting pitching staffs in baseball right now.

3. I would retain Carlos Zambrano and trade him for whatever I could get. Someone will take him and atleast you will get something in return for him. He's still a quality pitcher and if teams will take a chance on guys like Milton Bradley or Nyger Morgan then they will take a chance on Carlos Zambrano. Throw in a little cash with the deal and it's done and he's gone.

Those would be my first 3 moves as a GM.
 
SycamoreFBGM said:
At the time of the Nomar deal what were you saying about it? The Cubs didn't give up shit to get Nomar. They gave up Alex Gonzalez, the same guy who booted a double play ball a few batters after Bartman, and a few prospects that never panned out (I know one was Brendan Harris and if memory serves me correctly the other was Francis Beltran). It was worth the gamble.
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You're correct on the trade pieces, but it is more of an issue of setting back the franchise by tying yourself to an oft-injured guy that was out of his prime. In doing so, you had the opportunity cost of letting a young guy get into the spot. That's magnified when it was a key position. Just my take.

IMO, he has lacked organization vision for a long time.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
You're correct on the trade pieces, but it is more of an issue of setting back the franchise by tying yourself to an oft-injured guy that was out of his prime. In doing so, you had the opportunity cost of letting a young guy get into the spot. That's magnified when it was a key position. Just my take.

IMO, he has lacked organization vision for a long time.
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Who was the young guy he cost a spot? He upgraded at the position in that trade. Don't really see how he set the franchise back with that trade. The Cubs didn't give up anything for him and only had him for another year. Wasn't like he committed to Nomar for 4-5 years.
 
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