Posts tagged ‘Jim Hendry’

Note: Please add your thoughts and/or favorite Bradley/Silva trade tweets in the comments.

It’s a funny thing watching as Cubs fans find out about the trade (Bradley to Seattle for Carlos Silva and cash). It’s hard to know how to feel, and then the pure joy of not wasting another minute thinking about Milton Bradley sets in.

So who is Carlos Silva? Here’s his career stats. However, Mariners fans surely have another take, as in his M’s career Silva lost 18 games and won only 5 over the last two seasons.

Here are some of the best early fan reactions, via Twitter:

@alexquigley: Losing Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva feels like finally breaking up w/ a crazy girl…who in turn burns down your house.

@bitterjoe:Carlos Silva is so bad the M’s sent him and $9M to the #Cubs for Milton Bradley. And M’s fans are celebrating.

@draysbay: Carlos Silva wanted to choke Ichiro in 2008. Let’s not act like he’s some clubhouse saint. Plus he’s worse at baseball.

@payollely: Carlos Silva and Milton Bradley are trending topics! I don’t care what anyone says, this is an early Christmas present for #Cubs fans!

This is going to be a fun one to dissect. More news as this continues to develop..

As discussed in today’s episode (download – mp3) the Cubs are closing in on signing John Grabow for two years and upwards of $7.5 million, which is getting plenty of Cubs fans talking (always a good thing). I’m of the opinion that it’s a fair price for a guy that could solidify the left-hand side of the bullpen in 2010.

The Cubs made another move today, sending RHP Aaron Heilman to the D-Backs for two prospects, which most Cubs fans are probably very excited to see.

The fly in my ice cube is when Cub fans are fed the following information, as excerpted from an article on the moves by Bruce Levine:

With a projected $140 million payroll, general manager Jim Hendry was in a position where he had to move peripheral arbitration-eligible players in order to find money for veterans such as reliever John Grabow, who is expected to sign a two-year, $7.5 million contract by the end of the weekend.

It would not be incorrect to say that some of the money saved in the Heilman trade will go toward Grabow’s contract, which will increase about $1 million a year.

This agitates me a bit not because trading Heilman is a bad move (though I would have kept him and settled his arbitration case), but because it infers that Jim Hendry has an airtight budget this offseason. I’d thought that the DeRosa salary dump after 2008 and the fact that Hendry never tried to negotiate a multi-year deal with Kerry Wood that same offseason were anomalies. Until proven otherwise, this is the new status quo for the Cubs. The $300 million offseason happened because an ownership group was ramping up towards a sale.

How an airtight budget fits into a “win this year at all costs” philosophy is anyone’s guess, because to me it’s oil and water.

Anyway, something to keep an eye on. Levine also made mention of Fontenot possibly not being a Cub in 2010 for salary reasons.

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.

UPDATE: Today’s episode is up! Listen in iTunes or download the mp3.

Leave it to Cubs GM Jim Hendry to do exactly what we asked of him in Monday’s episode and make a big splash this week. In case you hadn’t heard, the cannonball-esque splash happened yesterday and is that Ryan Dempster re-signed with the Cubs for 4 years and $52 million.

We’ll have a special episode that covers the signing, comments by Demp on the Cubs’ preparedness for the playoffs, and another topic or two available at 5:00 PM CT today.

Stay tuned, and Go Cubs!

The Cubs front office’s decision to part ways with Kerry Wood had to be a tough one for Jim Hendry, but not because of all this wishy-washy b.s. about family and better opportunities elsewhere. Volunteering to lose a great player and team leader isn’t the same as volunteering in a breadline. Whatever spin and old-timey politeness is put on this, the fact is that this send off is weird.

Kerry is only 31 years old. Yes he’s been in the Cubs organization for 14 years, and yes he has donned signature facial hair that occasionally makes him look older, but the next several years should be some of his best. HE’S NOT AN OLD MAN.

Whatever you thought of Kerry’s performance on the field on his worst days last season, his average and better than average days more than made up for a few blown saves and other close calls. Compare Wood’s stats with newly acquired Kevin Gregg’s stats and it’s clear that the better pitcher just got the pink slip. Oh yeah, and Kerry Wood made just $1.75 million more last season than Gregg. Bobby Howry (cough cough), who is as good as gone, made $4.5 million last season. Money isn’t the issue.

That the Cubs want to go in a direction that doesn’t include Kerry Wood is fine. I personally don’t agree with it, but I understand it. Carlos Marmol is an awesome talent. Kevin Gregg is a decent insurance plan. I just loathe the way they went about this:

I think we all feel that Kerry is certainly deserving of a three- or four-year contract,” Hendry said. “He’s done everything this organization has asked for the last 14 years, been a warrior the last couple of years.

We felt it was time Kerry goes out and does what’s best for him and his family, and gets a huge multi-year deal if possible.”

Telling a man what’s best for his family isn’t courteous, it’s insulting. The Cubs turned on their PR machine last Thursday night and clearly they are working against any chance that Kerry would sign a 1-year deal, which he later said he would have entertained.

He doesn’t want to move, and his family doesn’t either.

The ball is in your court, Kenny Williams. The Cubs may be mannerly, but they’re also a little rude sometimes.

It was announced this weekend that the Chicago Cubs are going to have 7 players represent the National League in this year’s All-Star Game on July 15th. Seven Cubs! By mid-July it’s normally tough to throw a dart and hit 7 of them healthy enough to take the field, let alone represent something that isn’t a pain relief spray or tablet. And while the health thing is debatable on at least one Cubs All-Star, here they are, in all their glory:

Ryan Dempster – SP
Kosuke Fukudome – OF (starter)
Aramis Ramirez – 3B
Alfonso Soriano – OF (starter)
Geovany Soto – C (starter)
Kerry Wood – RP
Carlos Zambrano – SP

Congrats to each of them, and to Cubs GM Jim Hendry, who was directly involved with bringing at least 5 of these players to the Cubs. We don’t often sing his praises, but Hendry has bolstered the club especially in the last 2 years, and has made the Cubs more competitive with his deals each year since he started. Plus, it’s no secret that the day before the 2002 trade of Todd Hundley was one of the darkest days in Cubs history, or what The Rock would call rock bottom. Whenever the Cubs GM retires or moves on, he should be given a room full of plaques for that move. Not to mention any of the other moves that happened in order to bring many of the above players to the North Side.

However, there’s a few duds in every box, so since I had some time I went back and selected a few players that Hendry helped acquire that will represent no one in any All-Star game this year or likely any year. They play the same positions as the talented Cubs players selected by fans, other players, and Rockies coach Clint Hurdle.

Cliff Bartosh – RP
Freddy Bynum – OF (starter)
Todd Dunwoody – OF
Wade Miller – SP (starter)
Josh Paul – C
Neifi Perez – 3B
Les Walrond – SP

Okay, as sad as that list is, I have to admit that I only gained more confidence in Hendry in spending a few minutes looking at the lists of transactions from 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Jim and the Cubs front office drafted both Tim Lincecum and Micah Owings in the late rounds, but they both refused to sign. If they had (especially Lincecum), maybe the Cubs could have sent 8.

Anyway, best of luck to these players at Yankees Stadium (and at the skating rink, respectively) and thanks to Jim Hendry and his staff for working to better this franchise. They unquestionably have done that.