Yeah he had the #1 farm system, how many of those guys actually panned out? Take a look at first round draft picks under Hendry and it would be enough to make any Cubs fan cry. His best pick Archer, he traded away for Garza. Cubs had a lot of top prospects under Hendry but one after another they failed.
The leftovers Theo took over lead to an awful few years, but if he kept the team intact they were winning 75 games instead of 65 games.
Archer came over in the Mark DeRosa trade to Cleveland. He was not a Hendry draft pick. but I know what you meant.
The saying "look at the stupid people and don't do what they do" kinda applies here. The Cubs were trying to compete every year. When that soured, there was nothing to fall back on.
If you look at successful teams with long runs, you can look no further than the Giants and Cardinals for example. Both developed a lot of home grown talent, and then spashed a few free agent signings along the way to fill out any voids in the roster. Sound familiar?
Now look at the amount of years these teams have been at or near the top of their own division, while being outspent by a large market team.
The Yankees just might be the next team to follow this pattern. Not with the rebuild thing, but with the farm. When was the last time you seen this many free agents out there, and good ones, not being approached by the Yankees?
In fact, Hank Steinbrenner was quoted as saying that "teams don't have to spend 200 million to win a WS", right?
Theo is doing something Cubs fans have never seen. It isn't just about building the farm. It is having the talent in waves. Has there ever been a GM for the Cubs talk about sustained success? Not to my recollection there hasn't.
The game is ever changing, and this front office has changed things all of the way throughout the organization, and it will change again, and again with impending moves.
Adapt, or die I say.
