50-Game Mark TCR Reader Survey: Question 3

How satisfied are you with the performance of Jim Hendry?

Submitted by Transmission on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 10:59pm

Comments

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 10:37pm

Fire Hendry! :)

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 11:31pm

Funny -- I saw there was one comment on this post and I just KNEW it would be Manny.

Manny -- I appreciate your tongue-in-cheek approach!

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 8:53am

Joe,
I know my adoring fans were expecting it, so i had to do it...:)

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 10:33am

Time to finally take manny seriously... :-p

I'm not anti-Hendry by any measure but I can see the case for getting a new GM in there with a new mentality. Still, it's hard to argue with the results... post season in '03, '07, and '08... and a team this year that is at least capable of winning a pennant, whether they execute on it or not is up to the team, point is they have all the tools they need in '09.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure we could put AZ Phil in Hendry's office and give him Hendry's team payroll and he could also field a perennial winner.

And btw... damn you trans for posting these poll questions after last night's game. Post it after a win and the results would be totally different. It's just the nature of the manic-depressive Cub fan collective.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 10:39am

And there's a lot of talk about the deals Hendry does get done, but we rarely talk about the ones that didn't get done. How different would this team look if we had Furcal as a shortstop? I'm not sure.

Submitted by Q-Ball
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 4:08pm

Furcal is hitting .241 with a OPS just over .600. In other words, Theriot is better so far.

I honestly can't think of too many FAs we pursued and I regret not getting. Maybe Ibanez, but that is hindsight for sure.

Submitted by Chifan
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:32am

I voted in the majority for the following reasons:

- The what was practially the Bradley for DeRosa trade is a bust. Bradley cant even stay healthy or hit above .225 when he does play. Meanwhile with Aram gone our infield at 2B and 3B is barely producing. He could have saved 4 mil (the difference in Dero and Bradley's salary minus the cost of getting another OF) by keeping Dero and getting a platoon partner with Hoff for RF.

-Giving Aaron Miles 2.5 mil to be the utilty IF when he could have had Scales or Blanco give him the same production for 400k. Another 2.1 mil wasted.

- Trading a top prospect in Ceda for the crappile that is Kevin Gregg, another 4.2 mil wasted.

-Wasting 5.76 million on Bako, Gathright, Gaudin, and Viscainio to combine for less than 6 weeks on the roster.

- this wasted money comes to 16.06 million dollars or enough money to have signed Francisco Rodriguez and have 7.46 million left to add payroll at the deadline or for a signing bonus if a top tier prospect in the draft falls to us do to signability issues.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 7:13am

On your points.

1. The pitchers would mount a popular revolt if the Cubs tried to play Hoffpauir 100 games in right field. The season isn't over yet, but I will lay even money that Bradley winds up with better numbers than DeRosa.

2. Same thing with Miles and Scales. Haven't seen enough of Blanco yet.

3. I don't think your money is right there.

4. You haven't added in the cost of your new right fielder.

Submitted by OakLawnGuy
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:17pm

Ceda is now a top suspect with Florida. According to Baseball America he reported to camp hurt and fat (almost 290 lbs). Hasn't thrown a pitch in anger yet, although he could be at XTSP.

Submitted by navigator
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:33pm

Sounds like maybe he and Soto spent the winter working out together.

Submitted by Pell Mell
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 6:59am

I voted very much against the minority on this one even though I recognize that Hendry's made several errors this year. But generally, I put the blame on the players for failing to execute more than I do on Hendry for failing to organize the team well.

--Hendry relied on Fontenot and traded DeRosa, a career-year-having 34-year-old with 2 memorable playoff chokes. This is not indefensible, even if Fontenot doesn't replace DeRosa's offense, which, by the way, is currently only 261/332/432/764. Defensively, Fontenot has 3 errors at third to DeRosa's 6.

--Hendry signed Bradley, who is not an oft-injured head case. He's an oft-injured head case who has produced offensively since 2003. He's also been adequate-to-good in the field, and the only "controversy" he's caused here has been in the vacant minds of the tittering, addle-pated clique that constitutes the majority of the Chicago sports media. I'd love for Bradley to put an end to the chatter by exploding at the plate (in a good way). In the meantime, 2 months is not enough to call this signing a bust.

--Ceda as a "top prospect" is a bit of a reach.

--The Miles signing stunk, no argument there.

--I actually give Hendry credit for dumping Bako, Gathright, and Gaudin as quickly as he did. Most Cub GMs in my lifetime would probably have hung on to them despite their less-than-zero production. For me, the jury's still out on Vizcaino because a) I don't know what he did to get himself exiled, and b) I'm waiting for him to go back to being crummy.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 8:11am

1- If they dropped Gaudin a few days sooner, they wouldn't have had to eat his salary.

2-DeRo is only hitting .261/.332/.432, but with 8HR and 34 RBI
Fonty is hitting .231/.310/.395 with 5HR and 21 RBI.
Please point out all stellar performances in the playoffs last season before labeling DeRosa..who also is moving to the tougher of the two leagues..so a little dip at first might be expected.

3-Who in all of baseball didn't think that Bako and Gathright are anything less than crap? Vizcaino shoulda been kept over Neil Cotts. Even if he's just on a hot streak. Cotts had a good 2005, and that is it.
His career numbers stink otherwise.

Submitted by Pell Mell
on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 9:44pm

Point taken on Gaudin for sure. As for DeRo/Font, I agree that DeRo's producing a bit better, but still defend Hendry's guess that Font could replace him.

Who in all of baseball didn't think that Bako and Gathright are anything less than crap?

As to the latter: Baltimore?

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 8:09am

I am a fan of Hendry in general. As I mentioned before, he makes good trades, rarely gives up young talent that turns into anything, often gets good young talent back, and has managed to draw big free agents to the Cubs year after year, most of which have panned out.

This year I think he did pretty poorly. The moves to get rid of Pie and Cedeno were fine, as was replacing Ward with Hoffpauir. But Miles made absolutely no sense. Gathright did not deserve a roster spot either. Why get rid of Blanco in favor or paying Bako more money and then end up giving the job to Hill? Either keep Blanco or go with the internal option. Wasted money. The Vizcaino move cleared salary, but we end up with nobody. Heilmann sucks a fat one, would have rather had Olson in AAA. Gregg has not done well either. Bradley has struggled with injury, as predicted, and I would have rather had Abreu just for consistency. Everyone knows Ramirez will go down at least for a week or two, yet we basically had no backup at 3B, other than shifting our starting second baseman to a position he is relatively unfamiliar with. Why? Either keep DeRosa or plan ahead with something else. And why dump Wuertz for basically nothing. He's not outstanding but dependable, we should have kept him.

Submitted by Q-Ball
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 10:23am

I am with you WISCGRAD, prior to this year I would have voted "Very Satisfied", but I began to deveop doubts this year.

I caution everyone, second-guessing the GM is popular sport, and very easy. Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20. You make enough transactions, and some are bound to fail, having a failure rate of 30 to 40% is actually not bad. Can anyone name me a GM with more than 3-years tenure who has made all great moves? Anyone? I bet I could find nits to pick on the best of them.

Wertz, Miles, and DeRo, I thought those were bad moves when we made them. That Bradley hasn't panned out so far, that was a gamble when we made it.

Let's not forget the transactions that worked:
1. Moving Marquis: He would be blocking Wells or Marshall right now
2. Harden: That was a good trade
3. Wood: I can't beleive I am saying this, but it may have been the right move to let him go. He has stunk it up Gregg style this year
4. Reed Johnson: GREAT pickup!
5. Kosuke: I can't beleive I am saying this either, but he looks good out there. We would be SUNK without him this year.

The lack of hitting by Soto, Fontenot, Lee, and recently Soriano, injury to Ramirez....that's most of the lineup, all of these are unforseeable, and completely out of Hendry's control.

The ineffectiveness of Marmol is also unforseeable and out of Hendry's control. Noone expected last year's dominance, but he walking or HBP over a guy an inning, which is totally unacceptable.

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 12:51pm

"Moving Marquis: He would be blocking Wells or Marshall right now"

Really? This might not be the time to say that after we are paying a part of his salary this year and he is currently tied for the most wins in the NL (with Johan Santana). He is 7-3 with a 3.93 ERA.

Now I hated Marquis with a passion, but he is pitching really well so far this year in Colorado. Do I expect that to continue? No, but this might not be the best time to judge trading Marquis.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 12:59pm

This is funny.

At least you admit that you hated him. You hated the signing from Day 1, and you couldn't wait for the Cubs to get rid of him. Now you want to bash Hendry for trading him? Nice.

I will tell you this - come August or September, Jason Marquis will not be among the top ten pitchers in the NL in wins, and his ERA will be much closer to 5 than it is now.

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:06pm

"I will tell you this - come August or September, Jason Marquis will not be among the top ten pitchers in the NL in wins, and his ERA will be much closer to 5 than it is now."

I agree 100%. I even said I didn't think it would continue. But my point was this is not the time to be saying Hendry made a good move on dumping Marquis.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:30pm

Why? If you even agree 100% that that is how he will end up, then it was a good move, regardless of his stats on June 1st...

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:50pm

Or you could just point out Wells's ERA...

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:55pm

Just because I think that is how it will end up, doesn't mean it will end up that way. Marquis could end up 20-9 with a 3.50 ERA.

If one is trying to give props to Hendry for the trade, at least wait until Marquis starts to fall off, because right now the trade is not good. But I think it will turn out better by the end of the year.

Submitted by Q-Ball
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 10:27am

PS: Bako didn't cost us anything, he was cut before the salary was guaranteed. Inviting him to ST was a good idea, some competition to Hill, who isn't exactly a sure thing (he's played well for us though)

Gaudin was a waste of money, I grant you that $2 mil.

Miles as well

Vizcaino, that was an acceptable risk, and we did clear Marquis's $9 mil. I would like to know more about why he was cut, we don't know the full story.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 10:58am

According to the sidebar here on the website Bako costs us a $180K termination fee. It's not much, but it's something.

Submitted by jakester
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 9:14am

I think another question that should be asked is. Do you think Henry made these moves on his own or is Lou in charge?

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:21pm

I would imagine they are meeting to discuss. Otherwise Lou would be like Ozzie crying about the players he has.

Get rid of Barrett.
Get me another midget infielder.

They are at .500 with their top players out at various time and their most consistent (offensively and defensively)out for a month now, and hopefully only for a month more.

Hang in there, the Brewers magic number is not up yet.

Submitted by BobbyD
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:52pm

I don't quite get the tone these days of the rest of our division is playing over its head... Maybe, maybe not, but so effing what? Even if we somehow stumble into the playoffs, does anyone think this team, with the added media attention of the inevitable "will year 101 be the magic one?" bullshit, has a rat's ass chance of going anywhere but one and done? What do we need, a 500 run lead in the seventh to believe our bullpen can finally close one out? The ship that was 2008, with everything clicking right, has sailed. I'm looking forward to another 10 years or so of Cubs 70's style baseball. Blecch ...

Submitted by OakLawnGuy
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:21pm

You'd like to think the GM and manager work in concert with each other. But Lou has barely hidden his frustration several times this season in discussing the team's lack of depth, especially at 3B.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:53pm

Yes, Lou said "Get rid of Cedeno" our backup 3rd basemen and "get me left handed bats" which is pretty uncommon among third basemen. He made his bed.

Submitted by billybucks
on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 4:13pm

Last year, everything worked -- Dempster as a starter, Wood as a closer, Shark was briefly a phenom, Edmonds saved CF when Pie busted, Harden dominated the NL hitters, Soto ROY, etc.

This year, not much has worked. Gregg was just a stupid move, Bradley and Fontenot were high-risk mvos that haven't worked.

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