Thursday, July 2, 2009

Is Jim Hendry to Blame for the Cubs' Sucking?

Yesterday's article in the Tribune talks about Jim Hendry and how much blame can/should be put on him. It's an interesting idea because it applies to almost everything in life.

The basic question comes down to this: if someone makes a decision that, at the time, is the "right call," then is he/she responsible if that decision winds up not working out?

Case in point: Milton Bradley. He was third in OBP last year behind Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols. He's a switch hitter and hit 22 HRs.

When Hendry signed him, I thought it was a fantastic deal. Everyone can bitch and moan about how they should've signed Raul Ibañez instead because he's having a ridiculous season (.312 22HRs), but no one ever thought he would do what he's doing right now.

Bradley, on the other hand, was considered a good sign (by most people that know their stuff, including myself).

That has not been the case, however. He's hitting .239 with 5 HRs.

Is this Jim Hendry's fault? Should he be blamed/fired for moves like this?

According to Rick Morrissey of the Trib, he should:
You can say it's not his fault Bradley can't hit. You can say it's not his fault Soriano can't hit.

Ultimately, however, it is his fault.
Is it? Shouldn't the player ultimately feel the brunt of this? Isn't it Bradley and Soriano's fault that they haven't hit?

Sure, but you can't fire them without losing your investment, so that's why GMs and managers get fired instead.

The question is: does Jim Hendry deserve to get fired?

He's been at the helm for seven years and he's been with the team since 1995. Sure, they've become big spenders and got close to the World Series that one time, but the farm system sucks and all that money being spend on superstars doesn't seem to be invested very efficiently.

I do disagree with Morrissey in a couple of his lines:
It's a general manager's job to look into the future and see whether a player with a history of anger issues will be able to perform...

It's a general manager's job to predict whether a manager will be effective long term.
It is NOT a GMs job to predict the future. But he/she should be held responsible for a string of decisions that simply don't work out.

If you make a bunch of decisions at work that don't pan out, over and over again, wouldn't you be worried about getting fired?

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