The Jim Hendry Scorecard
I’m a fan of Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and really like him, but one of the enjoyable aspects of being a baseball fan is second guessing the moves your team’s general manager makes. It’s easy to grumble when a player misses a hanging curveball, but let’s be honest here, you or I would have swung through it too. But on the flip side, how many of us would have traded away Mark DeRosa for…um… what did we get for Mark DeRosa again? With that in mind, here’s my personal scorecard of Jim Hendry’s decisions regarding the ’09 Cubs so far, with each move judged to be a Win, a Loss, or as they say in Vegas (and I’m guessing in Reno too) a Push.
Traded Away Mark DeRosa. Even if you ignore the fact that DeRosa was, by all accounts, a great clubhouse guy, this move has been a clear mistake in terms of numbers. Sure DeRo’s contract was fairly big and it’s not like Cleveland has been thrilled with him, in fact there was talk they wanted to trade him a few weeks back. But DeRosa’s 38 RBI would be tops on the Cubs by a large margin over current leader Alfonso Soriano’s 27. His .262 average would place him in a 4th place tie with DLee among regular players with more than 100 ABs, and his 9 HRs would be second on the team. But more than any of that, I think the moment Aram was lost to injury and the Cubs really didn’t have a true backup third baseman, the decision on this decision was in. Big time LOSS for JH. Oh, and for us.
Let Kerry Wood Walk, Replaced by Kevin Gregg. The Kid K fan in me wants to call this one a huge mistake, but Wood has struggled in Cleveland. His ERA is over 5 and half, he’s blown 2 saves and he has 2 losses. And while Gregg hasn’t been much better (he has 2 more saves, the same number of blown saves, an ERA that is better but just by about a run) I think you’d have to say this one has been a breakeven situation. Yes there are some intangibles with having Wood’s leadership, but the difference in salary helps to negate that. I’m by no means wowed by Gregg, but this one is a PUSH.
Traded away Jason Marquis. A few months ago no one would have thought the Marquis deal would look worse than parting with Wood, but that’s the reality. I’m tempted to call this one a push because Marquis is notorious for having a solid first half followed by a rough second, and his contract was ridiculous, but when a guy leads your league in wins on a near last place team (Marquis now has eight) you just can’t ignore that. Luckily the Cubs starting pitching has been fine, but the simple fact is that as of right now Marquis would be a welcomed addition to any staff. So though I expect this one to change by the end of the year, this is a LOSS for JH.
Said Goodbye to Pie. Felix is hitting .200 in 90 ABs and struck out 24 times for the O’s. He also has only stolen 1 base in 3 attempts, which is what happens I guess when you can’t get on base. In retrospect this should have been done when more teams wanted a slice of Pie, but this one is a WIN.
Ditched Bob Howry. Some might say this one is too obvious to reward with a win, but when a guy hits a homerun it doesn’t matter if it’s off a Cy Young winner or a AAA call-up, you still put the run on the board. Howry’s ERA is at 4.64 for the Giants and he’s blown 3 save opportunities despite not being the closer. WIN.
Signed Milton Bradley. I don’t know how long I need to go off about how violently this move has blown up in Hendry’s face as I think it’s pretty obvious. And it doesn’t help when one of the other left-handed options the Cubs could have had, Raul Ibanez, is leading the NL in everything. But what’s been so confusing about this move from the start was not just that Bradley hits better from the right side, but that there wasn’t any reason to think he’d be healthy, as he hasn’t ever been throughout his career. He has averaged about 90 games a season over 9 seasons and has only had more than 500 ABs once. Bradley is a DH on an NL club, and even when he turns things around at the plate the question will still be can he stay healthy, and the answer to that is simple…No. That’s why this one is, at least so far, a LOSS.
Gave the final Bullpen Spot to David Patton, Dropped Luis Vizcaíno instead of Neal Cotts. These are really two separate moves but I’m combining them into one. The Cubs didn’t have a lot of decisions to make towards the end of camp, but as inspiring as it was to hear they were taking a gamble on Patton it hasn’t worked out too well. He did just get his second win in a solid extra innings outing on Sunday, but he has a 6 ERA and Lou has only elected to use him 12 times this year. As for Cotts v. Vizcaíno, Cotts is now in the minors and Vizcaíno is, where else, on the Cleveland Indians… where his ERA is at 2.31, he has a win, a hold and a save in 8 innings of work to go against 2 losses. LOSS.
Results to Date: 2 Wins – 4 Losses – 1 Push. Not so good. But if you convert it into a batting average, you could argue Hendry’s 2 for 7 and thus has a .285 average. Which is a full 67 points higher than his new right fielder.
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Tags: DeRosa, Jim Hendry, Milton Bradley, Moves, Pie
5 Responses
Adam June 10th at 10:01 am
It’s hard enough to disagree with the DeRosa assessment without De-Ro hitting a game-winning grand slam just hours after you posted it. But it’s difficult to judge the trade objectively since the Cubs got three prospect pitchers out of the deal, two of whom (20-yr-old Christopher Archer, A; 25-yr-old Jeffrey Stevens, AAA) have a sub-2.0 ERA right now (I have no idea where #3, 20-yr-old Jose Flores, is). In the short term, clearly this is a loss, but how could it not be? (Oh, yeah, I guess if Hendry had traded those prospects in a Peavy deal, then it would be a win). Also, if you compare their numbers, Fontenot and DeRosa aren’t as far apart as it might seem. DeRosa has 16 more RBI, but he’s also inherited 50 more baserunners.He also has a lower fielding pct. (.929, 7 errors) at 3B than Fontenot (.946, 4 errors).
On the other side of the trade evaluation, I think you have to actually make two of the losses even bigger, unfortunately. Remember that the Cubs traded the current NL wins leader to the Rockies in exchange for Luis Viscaino, who they later cut (without cutting his salary). In my opinion, that makes both the Marquis loss and the Viscaino cut all the more painful and damaging.
CrankyShoulder June 10th at 11:12 am
Great article, but I think you’re being WAY too kind on Hendry. Where’s the mention of Freel or Miles? You don’t replace a super-utility (and HEALTHY) guy like DeRosa with two 2B’s that are injury prone. And what makes it worse is that Fox has been sent down because Miles is back. These are all results of Hendry building a team based on left-handedness and their ability to form a 9-man triangle on second base.
As for Bradley. This is clearly the biggest mistake of the next 3yrs because his health, attitude, reputation and baggage were all evident BEFORE signing him. With Sori/Fuki already on board the addition of MB has the outfield is locked down until 2012 which means no space for trying out young guns and having Reed ride the bench. Which means the ONLY way to get out of this mess is to trade away Fukudome despite him being the teams most reliable player.
Howry and Pie do not give Hendry a Win because they are inconsequential to what is wrong with the team. So the score should be adjusted to “F+”.
Sheps June 10th at 5:33 pm
Great thoughts guys.
Adam, I agree that when you trade for youth you don’t know what you’ve got for awhile. A sub 2 ERA is great, but I didn’t think any of the prospects were considered that promising, it was sold to us more as a salary dump to make room for Bradley. And yeah, Font has been pretty solid, but the versatility of DeRo would really be helping this team with all the injuries. But point well taken, we may look back on the deal down the line and love it if one of the young arms is a star. For this year though it’s a major kick in the balls and it’s hurting this team.
And Cranky, what can I say, you’re right, there is very little positive to say about the moves thus far. I guess one I didn’t cover was the decision to resign Dempster. Might need to wait to score it for awhile, but obviously I’m happy he’s back and the starting rotation has been solid. Not sure you can give Hendry credit for Wells, but I think the team brought him back fairly recently after losing him in the rule 5, so that could be a win.
Zac June 12th at 1:30 pm
Great Article. It made me laugh, it made me cry. . .
mark gast June 14th at 11:12 am
I am writing this on Sunday,6/14, as the Cubs are in the midst of putting together an incredibly disappointing season. The one thing that I must say in Hendry’s favor is that the Cubs have been over .500 in 4 of the last 6 seasons and won the division in 3 of those seasons. I can remember when it was a surprise for them to attain .500. Hopefully they will make the moves to get this turned around. If an AL team wants Bradley or Soriano, they should be shipped out. Fox is 26 so it is now or never and Hoffpaur is 29 so it is also time for him to play or go be sent away.
In my opinion, the biggest mistake was adding Miles, especially since Blanco and Scales were in the minors. Both seem to be better players than Miles.