Ignominious Departures Of The Hendry Era

This feels a bit more like a pattern and less like bad luck.

So Al's not backing Hendry anymore; does just leave the Ricketts in his corner?

10 months ago BWoodrum 18 comments 0 recs |

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Read More: jim hendry, tom ricketts, Chicago Cubs

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Still nothing compared to Bill Bavasi

I asked Bavasi on Monday about Bedard’s pitch-count threshold. After bouncing between defending and explaining Bedard, the axed GM — clearly exasperated — said I needed to ask the pitcher.

“You gotta ask him,” Bavasi said. “You gotta ask him. Good luck. And he’s gonna have some stupid answer, some dumbass answer.”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2008001424_brewer17.html

by jerry morales rules on Aug 15, 2011 2:09 PM CDT reply actions

Crane Kenney thinks

Hendry is doing well.

I'm a Cubs fan. The Jaded Bitterness comes as a Standard Feature.

by timh815 on Aug 15, 2011 2:16 PM CDT reply actions

So the question remains if Hendry is leading the club in 2012

Which player that Hendry has handed large sums of money to will need to be suspended next season??

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by Hammer on Aug 15, 2011 2:18 PM CDT reply actions

Let's hope...

…Hendry is done; suspending guys, making trades, hiring managers, filling out the roster, and most importantly, running the baseball operation.

"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel

by MPH73 on Aug 15, 2011 2:40 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

You can't blame Hendry entirely.

Stone, Sosa, Silva, Bradley, and Zambrano all had personality issues.

Z and Sosa were coddled by management so their thoughts that the world revolved around them were reinforced.

Silva is a fat, lazy slob. Bradley is totally nuts. Hendry can be blamed for both of them. Like Frey when he traded Lee Smith, and was forced to trade Palmeiro for Williams the following year.

Stone wasn’t Hendry’s hire or his problem. His ego is what did him in. We are better off without him. Stone couldn’t carry Brenly’s microphone.

by Clark Addison on Aug 15, 2011 3:00 PM CDT reply actions

The "coddled by management" thing is the issue.

The baseball operation is set up that way. That’s a big part of the problem.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 15, 2011 3:11 PM CDT up reply actions

It's called...

…doing the “due dilligence” on the type of players you allow on your club and also tolerating behavior until it gets so bad, it turns out like this.

"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel

by MPH73 on Aug 15, 2011 4:00 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs

maybe it’s just that the cubs need a good HR person in the front office that does all the due diligence you would hope a major league team would do before handing out multi-year contracts. the major league melt downs are well documented but i also seem to recall some draft picks that have, at least in part, failed to develop due to behavioral/emotional/mental health issues.

by circuitclout on Aug 15, 2011 11:05 PM CDT up reply actions

Joe went to Creighton

Jim took Creighton to the CWS. That’s a good enough reason to keep Jim, isn’t it? Even though Joe has apparently never been to WF.

by Bad Dogs on Aug 15, 2011 3:52 PM CDT reply actions

Joe could also care less about sports.

You really think that Joe is going to retain someone that will cost him money on his investment because the GM coached at his alma mater? Don’t think so.

by bdlugz on Aug 15, 2011 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Of course not.

Just can’t think of any rational reason why change is not coming.

by Bad Dogs on Aug 15, 2011 4:26 PM CDT up reply actions

the cubs are not rational

by TJ11 on Aug 15, 2011 4:59 PM CDT up reply actions

I honestly

wouldn’t mind if Hendry was retained as GM IF they brought in a team president with a baseball background that would provide vision for the team and act as an advisor/supervisor to Hendry. Someone like Gillick.

For all Hendry’s faults (and they are many), this biggest to me is that he has absolutely zero long-term vision/plan for the team. He kow-tows to the manager’s whims, rather than finding a manager who shares a philosophy with him. Minor league development seems to be an afterthought, with all his focus on making a “big splash”.

But he does seem to have good personal relationships with other GMs, and he does seem to be respected by players. When he wants a guy, he generally gets them.

So if we had someone who oversaw Hendry, took away a little power from him, and told him what the 5 year plan would be, what kind of players we needed in the system, how to overhaul the minor league system so players were well-developed, evaluated and promoted—then I could be ok with Hendry staying. But that someone, whether it’s Gillick or someone else—HAS to be someone Hendry will defer to. It can’t be someone afraid to tell Hendry what to do.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Aug 15, 2011 4:25 PM CDT reply actions

His best success came when he kow-towed to managers

Hendry needs guys like Baker and Piniella to provide him with some focus on the players he needs to go after. He can’t do it by himself. I don’t know that he has a philosophy and I think that’s the problem.

Honestly, the things that you ascribe to the President really should be done by the GM.

by jerry morales rules on Aug 15, 2011 4:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Hendry is a master of the reverse-detail.

Most folks try to fix up the old jalopy. Not Jim. He highlights the dents.

by Bad Dogs on Aug 15, 2011 4:37 PM CDT reply actions

Hendry's problem is that he isn't proactive.

He’s reactive. His approach has been to buy expensive band aids to resolve immediate problems that resulted from his lack of a long term vision.

by Clark Addison on Aug 15, 2011 5:34 PM CDT reply actions

can we just fire Hendry and move on

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by Cubbie-Tim on Aug 15, 2011 6:44 PM CDT reply actions

Not unless

you take up a collection for around a billion and buy the team from Ricketts. Otherwise it’s his call, and he seems to think Hendry is doing a good job.

It’s the injuries.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Aug 15, 2011 8:49 PM CDT up reply actions