| « Fire Come Home After Yet Another Draw | Jim Hendry: Someone Had to Take the Fall » |
Cubs Fri Aug 19 2011
Cubs Put Jim Hendry Out of His/Our Misery
Everybody seems to like Jim Hendry, and I have no reason to question that characterization. But as teams throughout Major League Baseball get smarter every year, it had become clear that Hendry was doing a comparatively poor job as Cubs general manager.
Thus today's announcement of Hendry's firing was far overdue -- directly, because apparently Tom Ricketts actually fired him a month ago, and more generally, because the Cubs were rarely an especially good team. It doesn't take a super-team to win in the National League -- some of Hendry's own playoff teams were proof of that -- but the last few years have seen a parade of overpaid veterans and never-panned-out rookies come through Wrigley Field.
But good on the Cubs for spending big on amateur prospects this month, and kudos to Hendry for staying on to shepherd that process. The only part I can't figure is why the Cubs not only went through deadline trading season with a (secretly) lame-duck GM, but one who had specifically decided he wasn't going to make any trades, instead leaving his successor to make roster decisions.
So why, aside from the amateur signings, did the Cubs keep Hendry around for the extra month? Trading free-agent-to-be Carlos Pena wouldn't have changed anything for the new GM.
If nothing else, it gives the Chicago sports media something to squawk about in the dog days besides Adam Dunn and Bears third-stringers. Thank you, Mr. Ricketts, for that.
UPDATE: Though you'd like to think, with a month's notice, that the Cubs could have proofread the spelling on the email announcement they sent to fans today.
