Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 01, 2006
Changes in Chicago

The first changes in the Cubs organization came this afternoon:

The final day of the 2006 season brought massive changes to Wrigley Field on Sunday, as the Cubs turned a page on one of the worst years in recent memory.

Team president Andy MacPhail resigned after 12 years on the job, and John McDonough, senior vice-president of marketing and broadcasting, was named interim president, with no timetable offered for when the promotion might become permanent.

And while Dusty Baker appears to be gone, it looks like Hendry will stay:

"These are the greatest fans in the history of sports," McDonough said. "We have not won the World Series in 98 years. We have a terrific general manager in Jim Hendry. Jim will get all the resources that he needs, and it's time to win."

Why not clean house all together? Is a combination of another manager and Hendry going to do any better? It seems the Cubs believe that Baker got the players and just couldn't manage them to a winner. Has Hendry really gotten him the players, however? Yes, he brought in Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, drafted Mark Prior, but he still goes out and gets players like Neifi Perez, low OBA guys who drag down the offense. Not many managers can win with too many players like that. Maybe a better manager will tell Hendry he doesn't want that type of hitter.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:51 PM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I imagine Hendry's retention is mostly a matter of the organization trying to save face - after all, they just gave him a bright, shiny 2-year extension after a season almost as lousy as this one last year. Dusty's exit is easy, since his contract's up anyway and Hendry was never able to pull the trigger on an extension for him.

My guess is that if the Cubs start off the 2007 season 12 - 27, Hendry will be out the door as well.

Posted by: Mark B. at October 2, 2006 12:36 AM

nice post mark. loser.

Posted by: chris at October 2, 2006 02:31 AM

I like how a team noted for a century of losing had a president named MacPhail.

Posted by: Adam Villani at October 2, 2006 11:46 AM
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