by A.J. Coltrane
The Cubs futility continues (SI.com):
But the lineup was put together largely by Hendry, and not much has gone right for a team that hasn’t won it all in 102 years.
Pitcher Ryan Dempster got in a shouting match with his manager, the disabled list has been crowded with Cubs and Carlos Zambrano – who criticized his own closer early in the year – was banished from the team for a month after walking out of the clubhouse on a night he surrendered five home runs.
Hendry tried to bolster the lineup and drew some buzz by bringing back one-time ace Kerry Wood with a one-year, $1.5 million deal to be a setup man for closer Carlos Marmol. Yet fat contracts for Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez have always had fans wanting more from their stars, and the only move the Cubs made at the trade deadline last month was dealing outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland.
I read a theory a number of years ago that said (I think it was Bill James, I’m paraphrasing the quote) “The Cubs are going to sellout the stadium and sell tons of merchandise whether they win or not. This creates more inertia in and around the organization than is conducive to winning.”
Really, Hendry should have been fired for the Alphonso Soriano contract (8 years, $136m). To some degree though, it was the Fukudome (4 years, $48m) and (especially) Zambrano (5 years, $91m) contracts that did him in. Hendry seemed to have a knack for signing guys to long term deals right after they’d peaked.
Hendry’s background was in scouting. If the Cubs ever get stats-oriented they’re going to be tough to beat.
Actually, I think that would make them the Red Sox.
FlatbreadGarden 
I thought about this last night and really the only difference between Hendry and Theo Epstein has been the success of the teams. Both teams will draw huge numbers of people regardless of how they perform and both have the ability to absorb large albatross contracts. the Sox have mad as many bad contract moves (Drew, Renteria, Lackey, Matsuzaka) as the Cubs but have won 2 WS in the process, so Theo is a genius and Hendry is unemployed.
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I think Theo has good moves and some moves that don’t work out as well.
Hendry had “What?” moves, bad moves, and the “don’t work out as well” moves.
At the very least you can see some rationale behind Theo’s moves, at least most of the time. It’s not: “What?”
As far as Drew goes, he had 1.9, 4.1, 5.0, and 2.5 WAR in his first four years with the team. ($58m in “value”, per Fangraphs) He’s now cooked in year 5, which is fine — he’s only played in 77 games.
Renteria had 1.8 WAR in his one season.
Lackey had 4.0 WAR last year, though only .9 so far this year.
Dice-K had 3.9, 3.0, .6, and 2.5 WAR before this year’s .2 total. ($44m in total “value”.) (And who the hell really knows what you’ll get out of *any* Japanese player? It seems like it’s mostly a crapshoot.)
My point is, even Theo’s *bad* decisions look positively good compared to something like Alphonso Soriano. He’s had WARs of 7.0, 4.1, -.1, 3.0, and .6. He’s 35 years old and has more than $60m left ($18m annually 2012-2014.) on his contract *and* he has a full no-trade clause. Ouch. How much WAR does he have left in him as a career total? 3?
For comparison: Drew totalled 13.5 WAR in the first 4 years of his 5 year/$70m contract. Soriano totalled 14.1 WAR in the first 4 years of his 8 year/$136m contract. Hendry basically paid twice as much per win.
Also, historically the Red Sox won’t do no-trade clauses, for a reason. I’d call that another point in Theo’s favor.
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