Talkin’ Cubs Live – Cubs vs. Rangers – 03/03/11

March 3, 2011 By 27 Comments

Spring Training Game Five: Cubs (1-3) vs. Rangers (ss) (2-2)
Game Time – 2:05pm CST
Coverage – TV: None – Radio: Cubs.com webcast
Location – HoHoKam Park, Mesa

Carlos Zambrano (0-0, 0.00/0.50) vs. Derek Holland (0-0, -.–/-.–)

The Cubs return home today to face the Texas Rangers for the first time this spring. Mike Quade will send Carlos Zambrano to the mound for the second time this spring … and hopefully the Cubs “defense” remembers how to catch and throw the ball today.

Zambrano was very sharp in the spring opener. Z tossed two scoreless innings against the A’s, walked one and struck out two. Z faced the minimum, got his work in but received a no decision after Oakland’s offense lit up Matt Garza.

The other half of the Texas Rangers’ roster will stay behind in Surprise and face the Cleveland Indians. Neftali Feliz is scheduled to make his first start of the spring against the Indians. The Rangers are excited to see if the reigning AL Rookie of the Year can make the move from a dominant closer to a top of the rotation starter. Braden Looper is slated to follow Zambrano this afternoon. Looper is one of the few pitchers in camp that has not pitched in a game … Trey McNutt, Alberto Cabrera and Rafael Dolis are the only other pitchers that have not thrown in a game.

Cubs Lineup vs. Rangers
Blake DeWitt – 2B
Tyler Colvin – RF
Marlon Byrd – CF
Aramis Ramirez – 3B
Carlos Pena – 1B
Alfonso Soriano – LF
Geovany Soto – C
Augie Ojeda – SS
Carlos Zambrano – P

The Rangers announced that Tanner Scheppers would follow Holland in today’s pitching schedule.

Today’s game can be heard on Cubs.com via a webcast from Mesa. Len Kasper and Mick Gillispie, the Smokies’ play-by-play announcer, will call the game.

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  • Aaron

    Neil,

    Did you see AZ Phil’s explanation of the McGehee situation? I remember you and I at the time were beside ourselves over the move, as he provided the versatility we needed….but this is one of the better explanations I’ve ever seen, and if Tom Ricketts looks at any blogs, this should be Exhibit A in why he should fire Hendry immediately. We’ve all complained about his roster management, but this goes into great detail about how stupid he really is:

    ****************************************************************************************
    Submitted by DavidP on Wed, 03/02/2011 – 11:26pm.
    Yeah – I remember the uproar on this board when McGehee was released. Everyone here thought it was a terrible idea because we were certain that he would go on to be an all star.

    =============================================================

    DAVID P: Nobody here was “certain that he would go on to be an all star,” but what the Cubs did was really stupid roster management.

    In September 2008 the Cubs wanted another RH bat on the MLB roster. The two realistic in-house options at AAA Iowa were veteran 1B-LF Jason Dubois (who was hitting 307/399/664) or 25-year old 3B-1B-2B-C Casey McGehee (who was hitting 296/345/429).

    Dubois was going to be a Rule 55 minor league free-agent (so-called “Six-Year Minor League Free-Agent”) post-2008 anyway, so adding him to the 40-man roster (and MLB Active List) for the month of September and then dropping him from the 40 once the season was over would have been no big deal. (McGehee was not eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league FA until after the 2009 season).

    But let’s say the Cubs wanted the defensive versatility provided by McGehee over the Dubois power (McGehee played 3B-2B-1B and even logged 17 games at catcher at Iowa in 2008). Fine. So then if you add McGehee to the 40-man roster, just leave him there. Because McGehee was a Draft-Excluded Player (added to a 40-man roster after August 15th), the Cubs needed to secure waivers no later than the 4th day following the conclusion of the World Series if they wanted to outright him to the minors prior to the Rule 5 Draft, or else they would not have been able to send him to the minors (by optional or outright assignment) any earlier than 20 day prior to 2009 MLB Opening Day.

    But here’s the point… The Cubs did NOT need to outright McGehee in order to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for a future Rule 5 Draft pick.

    The Cubs claimed OF Brad Snyder off waivers from Cleveland in late September just before the end of the regular season, and they DFA’d RHP Adam Harben to make room for Snyder on the 40-man roster. But then the Cubs should have immediately placed Snyder back on Outright Waivers. And why should the Cubs have been fairly certain that they could get Snyder through waivers?

    1. When the Cubs claimed Snyder, they had the second-best record in MLB (only the Angels had a better record). So it should have been obvious that there wasn’t any interest in Snyder from at least 28 other MLB clubs, and there was no indication that the Angels would have had an interest in him either, since their 40-man roster was full.

    2. Since there was no interest from any MLB club in claiming him off waivers for $20,000, the Cubs should have been secure knowing that nobody was going to select Snyder in the December Rule 5 Draft for $50,000 either.

    3. Snyder was not eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league FA (six-year FA) post-2008, so he could not have refused an outright assignment.

    4. Outrighting Snyder immediately after claiming him would have cleared the roster slot for (ultimately) Rule 5 Draft pick David Patton.

    There should have been no need for the Cubs to try and outright Casey McGehee when they did, not because everybody was certain that McGehee was going to be an all-star or that it was obvious that he would get claimed off waivers or that the Cubs should have known that David Patton would prove to be a stiff, but rather because it wasn’t necessary to take the chance that he might get claimed.

    It was just plain tone-deaf roster management by the Cubs.

    And I said so at the time, too.
    ****************************************************************************************

    • cubs1967

      DAMN!!!!!!!

    • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

      Aaron, great find. Phil knows his stuff. Like we’ve discussed for years the roster management by the Cubs front office is horrible.

    • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

      Aaron, great find. Phil does an excellent job.

    • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

      As we discussed when it happened, more bad roster management. A trait of the Cubs front office

  • cubs1967

    some thoughts………..

    4 games into spring training and it appears Quade had e defining moment……not sure if he realizes it.

    all players making errors should be running gassers .(and more if they made more than one).
    silva should be running double gassers. he should be told it’s asinine he thinks his fat ass should make the team and stop blaming others. he should be released NOW, but ricketts does not have his big boy britches on nor the balls to do it; so JH should tell him one more time and he’s gone.
    this will be the start if Quade does not punish these guys of losing the locker room……..last year they did it to lou by may……..so don’t think the mostly same group won’t do it to a minor league career journeyman mgr like quade.
    (now if ryno were there; a HOF, might deserve more respect as he is more popular and a better player than any of them so in his case not off w/ the mgr, but off w/ the player).

    SOS—-103 yrs and counting!

    where or where is the report of tix sales for last friday………was it the worst in a decade???………..and little tommy does not want to say?

    • Aaron

      “where or where is the report of tix sales for last friday………was it the worst in a decade???………..and little tommy does not want to say?”

      **********************************************************************************

      I don’t know where all the reports are. They’ve seemed to vanish, just like the reports of high gas prices under Bush seemed to vanish with our new president…Curious isn’t it?

      Under the Trib, they probably would’ve reported it, but I don’t think the Ricketts family wants everything getting out, just like the low attendance at the end of the year and Convention. All it is is posturing for them to get stadium deals (both in Wrigley and Mesa).

      If they let the word get out that sales were slumping and attendance was low, then they’re argument of bringing in tourist money to both Wrigleyville and Mesa would be diminished. In fact, the much publicized Wrigleyville West commercial part of the stadium deal has been put on hold altogether while they get the stadium built. If their argument was the team brought in tax-payer money through retail/hotels, then why would they put a commercial project like
      that on hold?

      Curious, isn’t it? Fact is, they are starting to realize that the product they put on the field has a DIRECT impact on attendance and tax revenues.

      The owners of the Reds, Brewers, Pirates, Marlins (perennial under-spenders and rebuilders), Mariners, all argued successfully for new parks, only to see their attendance numbers return to normal, unimpressive levels (in the case of the Marlins, I predict that will happen as well)

      The Reds attendance numbers were good when the new park opened, then dwindled dramatically, and all of a sudden, they make the playoffs last year, and their numbers go up. Ditto the Brewers.

      Winning matters, and the Cubs best chance to get everything they wanted was probably 2004, 2008, and 2009…all seasons after they made the playoffs.

      I think cities and civic leaders overall are a bit leery of professional sports teams looking for handouts anymore if they’re not willing to invest a significant chunk of money themselves. But they’re even more leery when a losing organization comes looking for a handout, as they’ve seen the cases I mentioned above play out in front of their eyes.

      • cubs1967

        the Mesa deal is asinine………I went off about it 2 weeks ago and had comments I should shut-up, but the fact is when they asked Mesa voters to say yes; it was never proposed that the WW would be delayed until after the new park was built; don’t people get it that the city was assuming all the fans would stay in Mesa after a game instead of leaving for Tempe, Scottsdale and Old Town……..that’s where the tax revenue is to help the city payoff the bonds for the new park; hello!!!!!

        i was stunned at the number of CCO bloggers ripping me not seeing how 2-faced postponing WW was by the Ricketts…….really makes them look like carpetbaggers.

        great post Aaron!!

        • Aaron

          It’s funny….we were thinking alike there….I was just about to add to my post about the fact people go to Tempe and Scottsdale after games anyway.

          Fact is, Mesa used to be a decent retirement area back when the Cubs first moved down there. A TON of people from the Midwest moved there, specifically Chicagoland, so kudos to them for realizing that fact decades ago.

          However, in recent years, Mesa has become a dump of a town. Crime is much, much higher, and rather than seeing RV’s sitting in driveways, you see rusted out cars on cinder blocks in people’s driveways with bars in the windows (I’m only half exaggerating). East Mesa was supposed to re-energize the city, and get more developers in there, but when the housing market tumbled, much of the developments in parts of Phoenix, Mesa, and parts of Gilbert were left as vacant neighborhoods, inviting even more crime.

          Nobody stays in Mesa anymore, except the old diehards that still live there after all these years. Young people go to Scottsdale and downtown Tempe for fun, taking their tax revenue with them. That’s why it was absolutely laughable to me that anyone would suggest a commercial development in Mesa would do well. It’s simply not realistic.

          I thought Florida was the better choice. Yes, the housing market suffered there, but they have beaches, etc. to keep people occupied, and during spring break…..well, let’s just say that if the retired folk don’t come out to the games, you’d have plenty of drunken debauchery from college co-eds filling the stands.

          I don’t know of too many people that consider Arizona as a prime vacation spot over Spring Break, so you’re basically relying on retired people to keep the stands filled, and given the fact that their 401 K’s took a tremendous beating, there is less disposable income to go around with that age group. Am I wrong?

          • cubs1967

            NOPE–exaclty right. I’ve been to 1 spring training as most of my spring breaks (wife is a teacher) have been spent going to FL due to relatives there.
            My one time there; we rented a hotel in mesa; and per the pictures, etc seemed like a good place. NOPE!……..we left-bugs in the bathroom, etc—my wife was flipping out…….plus a 3 yr old at the time.
            we went to……..TEMPE!!—great hotel, pool, and downtown.
            i’ve been to banking seminars in Scottsdale-great nite life.

            I was stunned at the dump Mesa is along w/ Ho Ho Kam Dump too…..all these fans and this is just like wrigley–dump of a park.

            I vowed never to go back to HoHo Dump until it was replaced and would only go to tempe/scottsdale/glendale parks if we went back (actually I was going to–but now will wait for new park).

            this too me is the bait-and -switch marketing tactic the ricketts played…get the park and then………well–we’ll see if the Mesa area really can support WW.(here’ s a clue——-unless this development stretches mutliple blocks…….it will be packed. so anyone who does not want to feel like a sardine in a tin can will to to Tempe/Scottsdale anyway; Mesa needs more than just WW to keep the #1 fan base in all of AZ staying in their town. (the better hotels are not there so another BIG issue).

            Phoenix area does have the largest amt of transplanted Chicagoans so they do live off of that………….but as the fan base gets younger; les families will spend that kind of money just for spring games if the team sucks……..and in Florida they could of lucked out w/ the beaches as a nice offset for families to go…..

            as i’ve said since day one the ricketts took over; this team is a mess and it starts at the top. why i get ripped for not having patience I do not understand as the rickettts could be making changes now; at least; showing they have a clue w/o even getting into a new Mesa or Wrigley, yet they don’t……….same crap JH and Kenny Crane…….and now the same crap on the field………errors, blow-ups in the dugout, players showing up their teammates, no repercussions by the mgr, and it’s all embarrassing shown on ESPN and throughout the league.

            Sucky team—–OK that can happen, but NO principles by the owner or GM as to how players should treat each other or the mgr and it’s all laughed off as nothing…………..

            DAMN!

      • Dakeller80

        “Fact is, they are starting to realize that the product they put on the field has a DIRECT impact on attendance and tax revenues.”

        You think? I wish this were true, but if I’m the owner of the team, I look at last year’s drop in attendence from 96.3% to 92.0% (and a drop in % attendance rank from 3rd to 4th!) and I think, “Hey, that’ not bad. . .let’s just pretend like we’re trying” Seriously, I know this isn’t news to anyone, but the Cub’s have ranked in the top 5 in % attendance for at least a decade. And, despite there being something like 22 MLB ballparks with higher capacity, they’ve ranked in the Top 8 in TOTAL attendance since 2002! (This in our poor little, crumbling, out-dated ballpark that everybody thinks desperately needs to be updated for the Cubs to be competitive.) Rickett’s isn’t getting the public financing he wants because of the current political and economic environment. . .NOT because municipalities are reluctant to support an under-achieving team. A lousy Cubs team is still a cash cow, and there is still no evidence to the contrary (lower early season ticket sales notwithstanding).

        That said, I’d also like to declare that I am part of the “problem.” I read these mostly negative posts about management and the business of baseball with some interest and passing curiosity, but when the Cubs are in town, I care little about how bad a move the front office made two years ago or even over the off-season, and care the world about enjoying a sunny summer afternoon at the ballpark cheering wildly for the Cubs regardless of their standing in the division. I do this unapologetically. Go Cubs.

        • Aaron

          There’s a distinct difference between ticket sales and attendance numbers. The Cubs, like most teams, count the number of tickets sold as “attendance”. There were multiple times Ron Santo even mentioned it on the air, where he said the ticket sales were different than the amount there, and there were thousands of empty seats.

          You’re correct in assuming that any owner would be thrilled with those type of numbers. I have no argument with that, but when a team loses, fans stay away, even if they have tickets, and you have lost revenue from concession/merchandise that you otherwise would’ve had if you had a decent product on the field.

          I’ve been to many, many Cubs games throughout the years at Wrigley, and I can tell you this….Since about 2003, I’ve seen a HUGE increase in scalpers gobbling up pretty much all available tickets than in years prior. I remember as kids, biking on the trails from the northside of town like 15 miles or so all the way to Wrigleyville, and sometimes we’d make the 1:20 start, and other times, we’d get there just an inning or two late, and there’d STILL be an assload of tickets available.

          However, since 2003, you couldn’t just walk up and get tickets. They would all be sold out, and you’d see scalpers walking all over the plaza and several blocks away hawking tickets.for twice the face value, etc. I remember calling into the ticket hotline numbers when tickets would go on sale, and every game would be snatched up.

          The problem with scalpers is they’d rather eat tickets than give them away to people for face value or under….even if the game started already.

          • Dakeller80

            Yeah, I hear you about the difference between attendance and ticket sales, but after thinking about the numbers, I am still doubtful it is enough to put more more than around a 1.5% dent in overall revenue even in a very bad year.

            But. . .maybe that will change if the Cubs keep down the path to perpetual stinkdom. And it gave me an idea. . .lets all vow to not eat or drink at the games, and maybe we can start to get ownership’s attention. Think of it as a protest fast. . .I can see the headline now: “Cubs fans take vow of game-time fasting until team wins WS; fans collectively lose 103,000,000 pounds in honor of championship drought!”

          • Dorasaga

            Love it!

  • Aaron

    Perhaps we need to hire a guy from the Scioscia stable of managers?

    http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=sh-sciosciaprankstermanager030211

    Maddon has taken the Rays from nothing to the verge of being a perennial contender.

    Black took a moribound franchise at the time (Padres) on the cusp of a playoff appearance last year.

    ….and this year, I expect Roenicke to pull a Maddon and bring the Brewers together, especially with his starting pitching depth that includes the likes of Gallardo, Greinke, and Marcum, and his outstanding lineup.

    I just think with all the drama of 103 years and counting….one of two things needs to happen. We either need to have a disciplinarian guy come in like Piniella did, and turn around the attitudes of players, or we need a guy that keeps the atmosphere loose.

    • studio179

      Lou, Lou, Lou…Pinella tried at first. But his last two years he mentally checked out. He did some good and some bad moves. Overall, I was disappointed in the Pinella era. Although, the Quade era is not off to a ringing start in the early camp days.

  • Cloycub13

    Any idea on Sunday’s game, that is actually on TV:
    My dream would be the following
    Cashner Starting, Wood following, Jackson, Carpenter, Mcnutt
    CF-Jackson
    SS-Castro
    1B-Pena
    3B-Ramirez
    RF-Colvin
    LF-Soriano
    C-Soto
    2B-Dewitt

    Just dreaming….Probably will end up with a full dose of the Johnson’s Aujedas Silvas Russells Gaubs of the world… Thanks Q in advance for ruinign my Sunday afternoon.

    Just kidding all, have to have a sense of humor during this junk.
    On a positive note….a 2011 record has been set with 2+ innings without an error.

    • gocubs

      Cloycub13, why would you have one of your team’s top hitters hitting 7th? And one of your teams worst hitters hitting 5th?

  • gary3411

    Another great outing by Zambrano!

  • Aaron

    …..and to those that aren’t opposed to having Koyie Hill on this roster, today was an EXCELLENT case in point why he doesn’t belong anywhere near a MLB roster.

    The Cubs nearly came back in this game after blowing the lead, with young guys like Snyder, Camp, Moore, and Smith leading the charge….but then Hill comes up to destroy any hope…LOL

    I was listening to the game, and I was excited these young guys seemed to inject life into our lineup, and then Kasper goes, “next up is Koyie Hill”, and I’m like, “easiest out this pitcher ever had in his life.”

    I also think it’s hilarious to suggest he actually improves the pitching staff, considering his splits are similar to Soto in both pitcher’s ERA and CS%, etc. But if you look at today, with him supposedly having a calming influence on the pitchers…..well…..Dolis imploded, giving up 4 runs, 2 earned, Diamond gave up 2 earned, and Mateo gave up 1 earned….all under his watch….so……..

    We need a back-up catcher that can hit worth a damn, and Hill can’t even hit his way out of a paper bag, and that is NOT an exaggeration. He looks so awful at the plate, especially left-handed (which, incidentally is probably the ONLY reason he is even on the team, as Hendry subscribes to the idiotic notion that you need a righty-lefty platoon at catcher). Hill probably knows he’s better right-handed, but won’t scrap switch-hitting, because he knows he’ll be out of baseball if he does

    Here’s his career splits:
    LH-563 AB, 115 hits, 27 doubles, 2 triples, 6 hr, 50 RBI, and 57 walks vs an INCREDIBLY ugly 176 K’s .204/.271/.291 split

    RH-136 AB, 35 hits, 10 doubles, 1 triple, 0 hr, 16 RBI, 9 walks, 28 K’s, .257/.299/.346 split

    Fact is, Hill doesn’t belong ANYWHERE near right-handed pitching. And while he hits better right-handed against lefties, it’s still not very good, but you can EASILY see that about 1/3 of his hits while batting right-handed go for extra bases, which is a pretty decent number

    I know this is going to sound horrible, but I hope Hill gets the flu (not bad), but enough to allow Clevenger, Ramirez, and Castillo enough at bats to supplant him as the back-up. I mean, this has gone to absolutely ridiculous levels where Hendry’s man crushes have damaged the team so bad. It goes all the way back to Floyd, then Bradley, and now Ojeda and Hill. Hill is something like 0-for-7 this spring, while Ramirez is 0-for-2, Castillo is 2-for-3, and Clevenger is 1-for-1….

    It’s about damn time we start using our own damn minor league system to fill back-up holes, instead of relying on 30+yr old veterans that are broken down and/or never would be able to play everyday….or even on anyone else’s roster for that matter.

    It has always been my belief that you fill your bench with guys that could step in at any given time to be your starter. You do NOT have “pinch hitting specialists” such as John Mabry, Lenny Harris, etc. on your roster.

    That’s why you go after young guys like Milledge, Franceour, Hermida, Cabrera, Fields, etc.

    I thought the Cubs learned their lesson with Floyd, Miles, and Fontenot….where they relied on back-ups being everyday players, and it ended in disaster for them statistically. It’s like with DeWitt, Baker, Ojeda, and Barney….with the lone exception of possibly Barney if he continues to build strength as he did this offseason at Camp Colvin, you’re looking at a group of 3 guys that should NEVER be in the discussion as “everyday” players, and thus, you try to trade these type of players before everyone else figures it out too.

    It’s why I cannot fathom the reason why Hendry didn’t at least invite Flaherty or LeMahieu to camp to see if they could be a regular. Hendry doesn’t look at the big picture and see that at one time, they didn’t know what to do with DeRosa. They didn’t know if he was an everyday player, utility/bench guy, or what. But they found ABs for him, because his bat did the talking….Which is PRECISELY my point. Hendry always seems to use “finding ABs for him…or in the case of pitchers, innings” as an excuse to keep young players in the minors until a spot opens up on the MLB roster either due to injury or FA. The problem is, Hendry will then go out the very next offseason, and sign a veteran to fill a hole, thus blocking the young guys yet again.

    I’m so sick of it….and I’m sick of hearing we never produce any players, because if they’d just get a chance, just as Pie…and hell, even Fox with the O’s, and McGehee with the Brewers are getting, I think we’d be very surprised.

    Just imagine for a second that we dealt ARAM and Lee while they were decent/un-injured, and we brought up Dopirak, and let McGehee keep 3B warm until Vitters was ready, then started the cycle all over again, trading either the prospect or the young MLB guy, whomever you thought would have a better career.

    Seriously, I could run this team, and we’d have a championship in no more than 3 years. It’s not that difficult to follow this type of strategy and succeed. For some people that obviously know how to make money and spend wisely, the Ricketts are striking me as extremely misguided and short-sighted with their decision-making.

    • gocubs

      Aaron, I like some of your points such as inviting LeMahieu to camp (he cant be worse than what we have at 2B, can he?)…but, come on man – “Milledge, Franceour, Hermida, Cabrera, Fields, etc.” Give me a break. These are bad players. Young, yes, but bad at baseball.

      • Aaron

        Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo……..

        what you’re saying is that Johnson, Ojeda, Hill, Baker, Montanez, etc. are better options than those guys…..How about you do some stat checking and get back to me, because I’m pretty damn sure they have far better stats, in addition to age being on their side than our veteran options right now.

        Like I said, and I thought it was a tremendous argument…..It’s not like I feel any of these guys would be sure-fire regulars…But in the event they display some of the same successes they had in recent seasons, there’s a very good chance you could trade them for more prospects at the deadline, or if you feel they are valuable enough, extend them beyond next season. But if they can’t get their once promising careers back on track, then you always have the option of cutting them, and they still would make half what the veterans would make if they go north with the team.

        That’s precisely the point…and let me give you stats from recent seasons:
        Franceour-27 yrs old…last 2 seasons:
        .280/.309/.423, 32 doubles, 15 hr, 76 RBI
        .249/.300/.383, 18 doubles, 13 hr, 65 RBI

        Cabrera-26 yrs old….last 2 seasons:
        .274/.336/.416, 28 doubles, 13 hr, 68 RBI
        .255/.317/.354, 27 doubles, 4 hr, 42 RBI

        Milledge-26 years old….last 2 seasons:
        .279/.323/.373, 11 doubles, 4 hr, 21 RBI *65 games
        .277/.332/.380, 21 doubles, 4 hr, 34 RBI *113 games

        Hermida-27 years old….last 2 seasons:
        .259/.348/.392, 14 doubles, 13 hr, 47 RBI *129 games
        .216/.268/.351, 12 doubles, 6 hr, 29 RBI *73 games

        now….compare to:

        Johnson-34 yrs old
        .255/.330/.412, 10 doubles, 4 hr, 22 RBI *65 games
        .262/.291/.366, 11 doubles, 2 hr, 15 RBI *102 games

        Ojeda-36 yrs old
        .246/.340/.345, 17 doubles, 1 hr, 16 RBI *103 games
        .190/.258/.228, 3 doubles, 0 hr, 5 RBI *59 games

        I mean…I’m not trying to go after every single one of Hendry’s moves, and say he sucks, but just look at his track record, and that’s all you need to know….he RARELY hits on any move he makes. In the past 5 years, there are only 2 moves he’s hit on:
        -signing Lilly
        -signing DeRosa

        I mean, seriously…..please tell me another move he’s hit on in trade and free agency. I’d love to know. When you have that crappy of a track record, it’s pretty obvious that any schmo off the street could do better than that.

        Consider the offseason prior to 2009…
        He trades/DFA’s/doesn’t re-sign: Wood, DeRosa, Edmonds, McGehee, Ceda, Pie, Cedeno

        He signs/trades for: Gregg, Miles, Bradley, Gathright, Bako, Heilman

        Now think about that for a second……that’s 11 moves right there, and not a single one of them worked out.

        Wood and Edmonds weren’t resigned=2 moves
        DeRosa, Pie, Cedeno, and Ceda were traded=4 moves (netted us 3 prospects, Olson-which turned into Heilman, and Gregg)
        McGehee was released=1 move
        Miles, Bradley, Gathright, and Bako were signed=4 moves

        now….imagine for a second that you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and 11 straight deals go south, and meanwhile, you have a top 5 payroll in your industry. What do you think the investors would do? They fire you IMMEDIATELY….which is what the Cubs should’ve done with Hendry.

        • studio179

          “now….imagine for a second that you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and 11 straight deals go south, and meanwhile, you have a top 5 payroll in your industry. What do you think the investors would do? They fire you IMMEDIATELY….”

          Or The CEO crys poor to the government for bail out help and the CEO gives upper management sweetheart bonuses/perks.

          Oh, wrong topic for me to rant about…my mistake.

          • Aaron

            LOL….sooooooooooooooooooooooo true

    • carmelo

      Aaron—you could run this team? You just lost all creditability you might think you had. How easy it is to sit back and second guess everything. Can’t wait until your named GM on some major league team.

      • Ripsnorter1

        Aaron would certainly do better than Jim Clueless.

      • Aaron

        It’s not “second guessing” when you not only have suggestions of attainable players, and been right more times than not, but also if many of your predictions come true, as mine have.

        Have I been wrong? You bet. Have I been wrong a lot? Nope, and that’s precisely the point.

        You blast me for saying I could run this team 10 times better than it is right now, but what you fail to understand is that the Cubs fearless “leader” Hendry is a self-admitted old school scouting guy who doesn’t go off stats, and until the Ricketts purchased the team, they didn’t even have a statistician as nearly every MLB team had.

        I haven’t really seen you post on here before, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you’ve been reading for awhile, you should note that I go off stats almost exclusively to make predictions and suggestions. I avoid the “eyeball test” as Hendry said he likes to employ when evaluating talent.

        Yes, it’s easy in all walks of life to second-guess after the fact, but that’s not what I do on here. Hendry is so easy to predict that you can evaluate the moves he makes before they’re even done. He telegraphs just about every move he makes as well, so that makes it even easier.

        It’s true that a lot of things go on behind the scenes that the average person doesn’t know about, so it’s tough to make judgements sometimes, ESPECIALLY when it comes to high ticket FA signings out there. However, when it comes to Rule 5, Rule 55, and non-tendered free agents, it’s pretty fair game to criticize for moves not made. Yes, outside of the Rule 5, a player has a choice on whom they sign with, but a lot of times it’s how you present the options to them and how quickly you make the call. How do I know this? I’ve had quite a few friends play in MLB, and even more in the minors, and I’ve talked to both scouts and other player development personnel.

        For instance, if we’re talking about Cabrera, Franceour, Hermida, and Milledge, you’d tell them that nothing is guaranteed for them, and they have to prove themselves, but you have a glaring weakness for OF depth, and given the age of Byrd, Soriano, and Fukudome, the chances of them gaining significant playing time are exponentially greater than other opportunities. That’s the JOB of the front office to get that point across to a player, and Hendry sucks at that.