Transaction of the Day... (07/11)
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July 12, 2009 Prospectus Q&AJim Hendry
Jim Hendry doesn’t shy away from the old-school label, but the straight-shooting Cubs GM is by no means narrow-minded in his approach. In his current position since July 2002, Hendry has seen the game through a wide array of lenses, having served in multiple capacities at both the college and professional levels. Named the National Coach of the Year after leading Creighton University to the College World Series in 1991, he subsequently spent three years working with the Florida Marlins before coming to Chicago in 1995. Since joining the Cubs organization, the native of Dunedin, Florida has worn multiple hats, including those of Director of Player Development, being in charge of scouting, and Assistant GM/Director of Player Personnel. --- David Laurila: How would you describe Jim Hendry, the general manager? Jim Hendry: I don’t know. The "I" stuff isn’t real big on my agenda. You know, I just try to hire good people and let them do their jobs. I try to stay on top, like everybody else, every day. There are only 30 of us in the world and I don’t consider myself to be any harder-working than anybody else. You kind of just have to stay with it every day and try to be honest and fair to players. That’s kind of how I approach it. I try to treat people the same every day and not react to somebody playing well, or not playing well, or whether we won today or lost today. I try to be consistent in the way I act. DL: There are a lot of young general managers in the game today. Do you feel that they approach the game much differently than you do?
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Jim Hendry seems like a nice guy, but he also seems pretty oblivious. For a guy who puts a premium on scouting and development, the Cubs haven't developed any prime prospects during his tenure... even Soto was a bit of a dark horse until recently. I guess he turned a blind eye to the whole Sosa leaving the clubhouse early fiasco and the way Bradley keeps complaining. And yeah, salary dumps happened in the 50s just as they do today.
JH: Jim, how do you feel about the way Aaron Miles has performed so far this season? Would you say that signing Miles, Gathright and Bradley were good decisions? If so, could you explain this rationale so that we could all understand once and for all what you were thinking? We understand the need for left-handed bats in the lineup, but to overhaul the roster to the tune of $45 million on these three seems like a big, big mistake.
There has been a ton of good pitching developed during hendrys tenure. At least give him credit for that. And there were a few positional prospects that just didn't pan out. I'm not sure you can really blame hendry for pie's failure, for instance.
I'm not sure Pie was drafted on Hendry's watch. Pie was drafted in 2002 and Hendry was promoted July 5th 2002.
Since 2003, the best the Cubs have done is Geovany Soto, Sean Marshall and a bunch of bit parts, neither of whom was an early rounder. That's not much for 7 years putting a premium on scouting and development. Meanwhile, he also shares part of the blame for yanking Patterson/Pie/Murton etc back and forth between the minors and the majors.
Before he was promoted to GM, Hendry was running the minor leagues/development side.
So can you give him some credit for Carlos Zambrano?
He turned Bobby Hill into Aramis Ramirez. Hee Seop Choi into Derrek Lee.
It isn't just developing players, it's turning those prospect chips into players too.
Jim Hendry's track record, like most any GM, is a mixed bag.
I like the guy, even if he was the last guy on the obp bandwagon.
It's really not his fault that alot of hitters are falling well short of his projections. They are well short of PECOTAs projections too. And a lot of other people's projections.
It happens, and it's really up to the players to change it.
I can give him some credit because he definitely tries. He's made some moves that worked and some that didn't and he's definitely a GM that goes after what his manager wants.
Damn right, the Pirates salary dumped Ralph Kiner in the early 50's. They basically got nothing for the guy. Of course, by the time he left Pittsburgh, he wasn't nearly as good as he was in his prime.