Would things have been different if......

I’ve been one of the few defenders of MacPhail in these parts. First off, IIRC, the Cubs would not have been able to hire MacPhail simply to the GM post. He had a contract with the Twins who were not willing to let him go simply to go to another team in the same position. MacPhail joining the Cubs was contingent upon him getting a promotion, thus him becoming the team president.

There were two big mistakes made off the bat. The big one was the hiring on Lynch. The man had no business being a major league GM, lacked any clear vision, and aside from rescuing one or two guys off the scrap heap, really did nothing well. The second big mistake made by the MacPhail/Lynch regime was that they didn’t tear things down. They came to the Cubs, felt that they were closer to a winner than they actually were, and from that point on, the regime tried to build a winner piecemeal.

But the real issue was that MacPhail was hired not to the job he was successful in with the Twins, but rather to a job often reserved for anonymous corporate types. MacPhail had the belief that you let people do the job you hire them to do, unfortunately he hired a complete idiot to be the team’s GM. He waited far too long to fire Lynch.

I cannot speak for any rumored friction between MacPhail and Hendry. This is the first I’ve heard of it. But MacPhail clearly had a fiscal philosophy that many believe led to the team’s unwillingness to sign big name free agents. I frankly believe that its just as likely that the higher ups at Trib Co were unwilling to open up the purse strings until after Dennis Fitzsimons departed. But I will say this, once MacPhail did leave, Jim Hendry got free reign to do what he thought best. He went as far away from the fiscal philosophy of MacPhail as possible. Most people loved that. Unfortunately, we’re not starting to really see the effects of Hendry’s complete lack of fiscal discipline. One of the things that MacPhail believed in was maintaining a significant degree of flexibility. The Cubs now have next to no flexibility due to the backloaded contracts that are now coming due as well as the players in early or middle stages of long term deals for big dollars with no-trade clauses.

I know many here are glad that MacPhail is gone. I believe he did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. I will say this, though, the Cubs likely would be in better shape moving forward had someone in the Cubs brain trust exercised a degree of the fiscal philosophy that MacPhail advocated.

During Andy MacPhail’s presidency, it seemed as if it were more important to run a fiscally responsible organization that would embody his vision of the model franchise than it was to do everything possible to resuscitate a championship-starved club. He was reticent to deviate from his conservative inclinations, even when assets were at his disposal that would allow him to spend lavishly on necessary additions to the lineup. Even though the Cubs’ identity as a lucrative national brand was a whole different species than the small-market Minnesota Twins, he saw them as the same type of creature and therefore ran the Cubs in his ledger-conscious manner.

I’ve gleaned from comments MacPhail made regarding making and advancing through the postseason a definition of success as a matter of getting the breaks more than a conscious effort to proactively amass as much talent available on the market. His goal every year was to compete within the division – winning it depended on other teams faltering and getting injured as much as the Cubs outslugging and outpitching the competition. He credited luck far more than he did actual and quantifiable talent when asked why the Astros or Cardinals or Reds fared better than the Cubs.

This is where MacP’s “spread it around” method of payroll allocation originated. Talent being more or less equal in his eyes, he did nothing to bring in MVP-caliber free agents that the organization badly needed to build around. Rather, he viewed the market as a place where you go bargain shopping, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with role players (as he did with the Twins).

Now, this FA approach may have worked had the Cubs’ farm system been a top-notch producer of young talent that churned out two quality players per season. Sadly, however, the farm stayed dry. MacPhail’s reputation as a guy able to implement a solid S&D system is questionable; with the Twins, the young core or Hrbek, Gaetti, Puckett, and others was already in place when he came aboard. He wasn’t the one who oversaw the drafting and development of the home-grown guys on the 1987 and 1991 champs.

Where MacP excelled was in augmenting a solid nucleus that was already in a position to contend for the pennant. He made an excellent trade with the Mets in 1989, swapping Frank Viola for Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani. He wisely picked up Jack Morris and Chili Davis for the 1991 team. Although the 1992 team only finished second, he did add 16-game winner John Smiley from Pittsburgh before the season began.

FWIW I’ve met Andy MacPhail and he is a kind, gracious gentleman. He is nowhere near the carpetbagger that Wayne Huizenga was. If anything, MacPhail’s business model outlived its usefulness and his loyalty to underachieving underlings retarded the organization’s progress. Both ultimately hindered what all of us hoped would be a successful tenure running the Chicago Cubs.

Whenever the Cubs came off a horrid year like 1997 or 2000, I would hope that MacPhail and Lynch would go into wholesale rebuilding mode and hold a fire sale of their tradeable commodities. Peddle off Sosa, Grace, HRod, etc and restock the system with prospects. Other clubs have done so, some even landing genuine talent that allowed them to compete a year or so afterward. But you never saw the Cubs even try.

In his book “The Million To One Team”, George Castle quoted Andy MacPhail as saying that conducting fire sales was akin to giving up and wasting a year that could have otherwise been devoted to competing for the division title. That always struck me as quite short-sighted and evidence of the front office looking down at the field through a pair of rose-colored glasses.

I couldn’t understand why MacPhail wouldn’t trade for prospects on one hand, nor go out and sign a Robin Ventura or Randy Johnson on the other (‘tho I’m glad he missed out on Mike Hampton). As a fan, it felt like being caught between a rock and a hard place – no expensive All-Star caliber signings, but no development of youth either. Then I came across another MacPhail quote in which he said that his approach was to just cobble together the best team you can on a year-to-year basis. And that’s when I really started having doubts about a guy who was well-spoken and intelligent yet mired in a peculiar baseball mindset.

Thing about rebuilding is I think MacPhail felt the fans would not accept tearing it up and rebuilding.

Excellent at identifying MLB arms. Poor at development. Over pay for past performance. Extreme loyalty and an ability to sell a losing franchise to some quality players.

I’d agree with with one of the observations in DML’s post at the beginning of this thread and that is the lack of flexibility we now have from these contracts. If Hendry wants to do something big this year then tis off-season is a huge test for him to pull something off.

IMO, the Cubs had a superior team in 2003, due to the SPs. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time and money being loyal to Dusty and gambling that some guys would return to that magic form.

There are other faults to overcome besides the budget ceiling. However, I think he’s capable of fielding winning teams consistently and that’s what we are seeing.