No, he's not a top 5 GM tradewise. As I said, his best trade came because he was trading with a small market team. So what if he was trading with a small market team? The other 28 teams had the opportunity to trade with Pittsburgh, but Hendry did. That's more credit to him. It's definitely not anything to rip him on.
Im actually not a big fan of the DeRosa trade. As a matter of fact, I think trading DeRosa is one example of how poor Hendry is. Consider that Hendry had this fixation on trading for Jake Peavy (and injury aside, that was a smart move). DeRosa was supposed to be one of the pieces to make the trade. When a deal for Peavy never happened the fixation went from trading for Peavy, to trading DeRosa, like DeRosa was burning a hole in his pocket. He traded DeRosa just because he had it in his head to trade DeRosa for Peavy. Except he didnt trade him for Peavy. And sorry, but DeRosa has not been replaced since he was traded. The DeRosa trade is already a good one, because DeRosa has completely fallen off the cliff, since 2008. Jim sold high on him and got a really good package. The true value of this trade will be how Archer plays out. As long as he is worth more than 2 or so wins in the MLB, the trade will be considered a success, although that will not happen for a couple years.
Blake DeWitt for Ted Lilly wasnt a very good trade either. Ted Lilly is a quality starting pitcher. DeWitt is an OK second baseman. Id rather have Lilly. There is a lot of quality SP's. Especially for 12 million. DeWitt is an average 2B, at league minimum. He is also an upgrade over Theriot, who was addition by subtraction. Lilly will be 35, IIRC. DeWitt will be like 25. DeWitt can still get better, whereas it is all downhill for Lilly.
Another place he is poor is in how he has constituted the lineup. Derek Lee, during his time in Chicago was a paper tiger. He was like a super sized Matt Murton. He had his biggest seasons when the Cubs were out of the running. Dont get me wrong. Lee isnt total garbage but he's a paper tiger. And I find it amusing that people talk about his defense when some of Hendy's lineups have had Barrett playing catcher and Fukudome playing center field. Hendry doesn't make the line up, the manager does. It's not Lee's fault that his biggest years have been when the Cubs suck dick.
When youre putting together a lineup, offense at the corners and defense up the middle is a proven approach. But Hendry has a defensive first baseman, with a very poor defensive catcher in Michael Barrett at catcher and Fukudome in center field (not at the same time maybe but theyre examples of how Hendry just cobbles together lineups with pieces that dont fit). Dude, Get over Barrett, he's gone. We have Geo now, who is an offensive and defensive catcher. Fukudome isn't in CF, he was because we got Bradley, a better bat. It isn't Fukudome's fault he was playing out of position. His "defensive 1B" is one of the best 1B in Cubs history. Lee was just an all around good player.
Another thing Hendry tends to do is fall in love with media favorites like Lee and Barrett. Both Lee and Barrett were good with the media. Sorry but when your catcher is THAT bad defensively, youre going to have problems. And it took Piniella to realize this. Pinella didn't realize shit. Barrett got into a fight with Zambrano and the Cubs took Z's side.
Harden was a good acquisition but, similar to the Ramirez deal, Hendry was exploiting a small market team. So what?
Im not saying we shouldnt try to fleece the small market teams because thats the current system but youd also like to evaluate a general manager on some other basis that doesnt involve getting guys you wouldnt ordinarily get if not for the disparity between big market and small market teams. If he uses and abuses small market teams, then good for him. You are really not looking at this clearly.
And for the resources Hendry has had at his disposal, the Cubs have been a too much of a cobbled together mess for the money that was spent.A lot of that falls on the trib, though. That can't all be put on Hendry's shoulders.
And how long has it taken Hendry to find a left handed bat?Would you rather he have over spent on some big name who amounted to nothing?
And sorry but, "we're better than the Mets" isnt really an argument for Jim Hendry. Besides, Im not even sure thats true. The Mets have had a lot of payroll tied up in injured players. The Bay contract is a good example of what youre talkign about though.And those injured players are consistently injured. Stop trying to be the world's biggest pessimist and just look at the stuff with an open mind.
