Cubs fire GM Jim Hendry; Latest: Epstein about to become GM?

[JohnBriggs12]

Reports are surfacing that the Cubs finally have fired GM Jim Hendry.

 

I would imagine that Quade will be gone after the season.

[The Mexican Weez]

I hear Sal Bando is available...

[Invader3K]

Probably was inevitable for a while now. Just seems like a franchise spinning its wheels and waiting for some horrible contracts to come off the books. I'm not sure their farm system is that well stocked, though.

 

Really makes the trade for Garza seems pointless, too.

[patrickgpe]

i thought it was pointless from the beginning, you knew they weren't going to contend so why give up all the prospects. It was only done as a PR move to get the base excited.

 

I think that was the biggest issue with Hendry. He made a splash every off season by signing players to lavish contracts that were plast their prime. It got cubs fans excited when it was done, but they don't have much to show for it and are years away from getting back on track.

[DuWayne Steurer]

http://espn.go.com/chicag...neral-manager-jim-hendry

[owbc]

The Cubs remain a big threat to the Brewers because of their spending power, so I am always a little uneasy when there is a regime change. I expect that they will be looking to make a splash this offseason to keep the fan base interested and avoid a big decline in ticket sales. I am hoping that they sign Pujols to a ridiculous contract.

[StearnsFTW]

The Cubs remain a big threat to the Brewers because of their spending power, so I am always a little uneasy when there is a regime change. I expect that they will be looking to make a splash this offseason to keep the fan base interested and avoid a big decline in ticket sales. I am hoping that they sign Pujols to a ridiculous contract.

Agree with every word. I'm just glad Hendry signed Soriano to that ridiculous contract. He still has 3 years and $54M left (!). I guess if you ate $30M an AL team might take him on as a DH, but holy God was that a horrible signing.

 

As you said, with a real GM, the Cubs could be a serious problem. Imagine them with Alex Anthopoulos.......

[jjfanec]

Sickels top 10 for the Cubs coming into the year included a few guys who have really struggled

 

#2 McNutt has not been good at all in AA.

#3 Carpenter is now a reliever and not putting great numbers. High K's but also high walks, and hits

#4 Jackson has been pretty bad in AAA

#5 Hayden Simpson - last years first rounder has been Eric Arnett-like at best. Terrible numbers as a college pitch in rookie ball still

#6 Reggie Golden - Young bat who is supposed to be a power guy but not really showing it this year

#7 Vitters - Once prime prospect is about to be 22 in AA and has an OPS of .766

#8 Robinson Lopez - mid 5 ERA with very little in the K department

#9 Austin Reed - has been brutal. 6 plus ERA in low A

#10 Alberto Cabrera - ERA above 6

 

That is a rough system. Their number one guys Brett Jackson has been really good since being promoted to AAA. And I am sure they had some guys step up this year but going of Sickels start of the year list that is depressing for Cub's fans. I heard they had a good draft though.

[crewcrazy]

Truly a sad day for Brewers baseball.

 

Of course, there's always hope the Ricketts family hires someone like Jim Bowden or Ed Wade (once he's fired in Houston) to replace Hendry. They'd probably be better off poaching one of Tampa's young FO minds, but with the Cubs the pressure might be there to hire someone who's "done it before."

[fondybrewfan]

After 2012 virtually every bad contract is off the books other than Soriano right? I might be mistaken.

 

If that is correct they have the chance to become very good very quickly. Or they could do what they have been doing and just mess things up over and over again.

[GoudaBrew]

Hendry was notified a month ago he'd be let go, but Rickett's allowed him GM the team through the trade deadline and sign 2011 draft picks. Kind of strange in my opinion. Might explain Hendry's inactivity at the deadline. What was his motivation?

[Invader3K]

Hendry was notified a month ago he'd be let go, but Rickett's allowed him GM the team through the trade deadline and sign 2011 draft picks. Kind of strange in my opinion. Might explain Hendry's inactivity at the deadline. What was his motivation?

If this is truly what happened, I think it's very indicative of the competency of Rickett's ownership. I'm not really that worried they'll be hiring a competent GM.

[RightFieldCoder]

Steve Phillips might be available. Get it done, Ricketts.

[jjfanec]

After 2012 virtually every bad contract is off the books other than Soriano right? I might be mistaken.

 

If that is correct they have the chance to become very good very quickly. Or they could do what they have been doing and just mess things up over and over again.

They have a chance but it is really hard to build a pitching staff through FA just ask the Yankees. They dont have many guys in their system who are starters. Garza is there but will be a free agent in a couple years so they will have to break the bank to keep him. Dempster and Zambrano will be gone. Randy Wells isnt that good. Maybe Cashner could be a starter but this team doesnt have much starting pitching that I could find in the minors. Coleman has been bad in his first call-up. Replacing three spots in a rotation is costly when you dont have pieces to trade for it.

 

Their OF is a mess going forward with Soriano's terrible deal, Byrd getting older, Colvin being unable to hit and Campana not being that good. Jackson could help a lot here

 

The IF has a piece or two. Castro could be really good, Barney doesnt look great, Pena is gone, Ramirez is old, and Soto has regressed

 

They need a lot of work and with a depleted farm system it is going to be hard to fill all those holes through FA

[JoeHova]

Hendry was notified a month ago he'd be let go, but Rickett's allowed him GM the team through the trade deadline and sign 2011 draft picks.

That's interesting, especially because I'm pretty sure I read a "vote of confidence" quote from Ricketts within the last month. It's pretty crooked to claim a guy will still be working for you next year when you've already fired him.

[GoudaBrew]

Hendry was notified a month ago he'd be let go, but Rickett's allowed him GM the team through the trade deadline and sign 2011 draft picks.

That's interesting, especially because I'm pretty sure I read a "vote of confidence" quote from Ricketts within the last month. It's pretty crooked to claim a guy will still be working for you next year when you've already fired him.

I think it was around two months ago when Ricketts made the "Hendry is my GM" type of comment that was viewed as a "vote of confidence" type of comment. That scared the crap out of Cubs fans obviously. Earlier in the week, Ricketts announced that he would have a press conference in the near future and he would give his vision of the Cubs future. The general consensus was that if he wasn't announcing Hendry's termination, that Hendry's job was pretty much safe for 2012. Cubs fans got their wish.

 

There was a lot of talk the radio in the last week about how anit-sabermetric Hendry was. He took his hate of "Moneyball" to a pretty far extreme in that he made it known that he didn't like walks and made that known to the kids in the minors too. He may have screwed up that system for a while (one can only hope!). FYI, The Cubs are last in baseball in BB%, while Yanks and Red Sox lead baseball in BB%.

 

edit: They also noted on the radio that all of the Cubs minor league teams were either last or 2nd to 3rd from last in BBs in their respective leagues. That would be pretty concerning to me.

[fondybrewfan]

Does this make it more or less likely that they throw a mega deal at Fielder or Pujols? I guess we probably won't know until the new full time GM is found. I guess I have a hard time believing that the Cubs are going to throw 6-8 year money at Fielder or Pujols just as they are getting out from under a couple other awful contracts. Should be interesting

[monty57]

I was in Chicago for a conference and took in a couple of rooftop games. Multiple people noted how empty the bleachers were, and they're always sold out. They're definitely going to try to "make a splash" to keep fans in the seats. My guess is that they will give Pujols or Fielder $25MM / year. Even for a $130-150MM payroll, that's a lot of money on one player, but that signing would be enough for Cub fans to renew their season tickets. They'll probably exercise Dempster's option, but they may have to pay someone to take Zambrano off their hands. They should still be bad next year, and then the "splash" signings they'll continue to make will hamper them just like the Soriano signing is hampering them now.

 

They should probably "go Orioles" and try to stock up on prospects to be good in a few years, but with the empty seats this season, I don't see that happening.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Any chance they would move Ramirez before the deadline. I'll say this again, if we get this guy we can play with anybody!!

 

 

GO BREW

[thebruce44]

I was in Chicago for a conference and took in a couple of rooftop games. Multiple people noted how empty the bleachers were, and they're always sold out. They're definitely going to try to "make a splash" to keep fans in the seats. My guess is that they will give Pujols or Fielder $25MM / year. Even for a $130-150MM payroll, that's a lot of money on one player, but that signing would be enough for Cub fans to renew their season tickets. They'll probably exercise Dempster's option, but they may have to pay someone to take Zambrano off their hands. They should still be bad next year, and then the "splash" signings they'll continue to make will hamper them just like the Soriano signing is hampering them now.

 

They should probably "go Orioles" and try to stock up on prospects to be good in a few years, but with the empty seats this season, I don't see that happening.

I live on the north side of Chicago and this isn't the impression I get. Ricketts just said on the radio that he has no idea what the payroll will be next year. This fanbase won't show up for a flashy signing, they are used to bad contracts being handed out to peaking FAs. They want a winner before individuals start buying the single game tickets again (season ticket sales are doing okay since most are owned by corporations, attendance is down since the tickets are sold already but nobody uses them).

[StearnsFTW]

Does this make it more or less likely that they throw a mega deal at Fielder or Pujols? I guess we probably won't know until the new full time GM is found. I guess I have a hard time believing that the Cubs are going to throw 6-8 year money at Fielder or Pujols just as they are getting out from under a couple other awful contracts. Should be interesting

I hope more likely......whoever signs those two will regret it in 4 years. Unless an AL team signs Prince. That would probably work out.

 

God, I hope Pujols signs for 8 years in our division............

[JohnBriggs12]

I listened to part of Ricketts' news conference. He didn't sound like a guy who was ready to plunge millions into huge long term contracts any time soon. After all, that essentially was Hendry's undoing. In fact, he pretty much sounded like the opposite as he talked about getting value in the free agent market. He also made it clear that he had veto power over any significant size contracts so any new GM would really need to do a selling job to find "value" in $200 million contracts for guys like Pujols or Fielder.

 

I suspect the Cubs will spend some money this offseason, but if indeed Zambrano is out of the picture, their focus is going to be on pitching where they are woefully short.

[thebruce44]

I suspect the Cubs will spend some money this offseason, but if indeed Zambrano is out of the picture, their focus is going to be on pitching where they are woefully short.

Yea, it sounds like they also want to put the money into player development or maybe foreign prospect signings.

[fondybrewfan]

I get that signing Fielder of Pujols to 8 years would suck in the long run; but if both stay in the division both are likely to stay very productive for 4 years and make hard on the Brewers. I would just assume they both just go to the AL (Assuming we can't sign Fielder for 5 years)

 

Cubs fans are awfully excited thats for sure. Hendry did field very good teams on a couple of occassions; but he has really left the franchise in poor shape.

[igor67]

The problem with building through FA is that in any given offseason there are only usually a couple of top shelf talents. Under ideal conditions you could find some shrewd league average filler, and break the bank 2 years in a row grabbing an elite position player and starting pitcher. At which point your roster looks about as good as the Brewers. The trick is hitting the jackpot two years in a row on the right starters, and convincing those position player to play for you.

 

We talk about the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies but in each case the team was really built in a much more comprehensive fashion. building depth through the draft and trades, at which point FA becomes a lot more predictable. They usually have one need or so per year, and just go out and grab the best. It's a great way to stay dominant if you have the money, but I can't think of a single team that has truly built itself that way. Keep in mind the roots of the Yankees success were those great prospects from the early to mid 90's. Without those guys the Yankees would have been supper expensive wild card contenders instead of playoff locks.