Of Harden and Hendry
Word comes out of San Francisco that the Cubs indeed have shut down pitcher Rich Harden for the rest of the season. My colleague Carrie Muskat of cubs.com, who is in San Francisco, blogged the news:
http://muskat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/09/924_harden_done_for_season.ht...
Harden hasn't pitched since Sept. 16, and he says his troublesome right shoulder is healthy, even though the Cubs shut him down because of fatigue.
"It was a mutual decision," Harden said the in the cubs.com story. "I'm still healthy. I feel good, and I take that as a positive for the season."
Harden made 26 starts, which may have been more than anybody could have hoped for based on his history of shoulder woes.
Lineup
Fukudome, RF
Blanco, SS
Lee, 1B
Hoffpauir, LF
Fontenot, 2B
Baker, 3B
Hill, C
Colvin, CF
Dempster, P
GM Jim Hendry seemed perturbed last week when it was suggested Harden could be shut down for the season. That speculation turned out to be accurate.
Hendry has been under a lot of stress lately, and the Milton Bradley contretemps probably put him over the edge. On Wednesday in Milwaukee, Jim was testy with the beat writers, who have given him a lot of breaks this year and over the years. He derided our questions, which were asked merely to get information about the Bradley suspension. He scolded writers for trying to get clarification of how the process worked. I thought it was a bad performance and uncalled for in a lot of ways. It probably hasn't helped that the Trib is running a referendum on whether Hendry should be given one more year.
Here's the thing: From a media-relations standpoint, Hendry should not want to "lose" his beat writers. For better or worse, the beat writers set the tone for the daily coverage. I saw this happen with Dusty Baker in '06. Once Baker "lost" the beat writers, it was open season every day.
Hendry is safe for at least another year, but the Bradley disaster cannot look good to the new owner, who's not going to like eating the better part of $21 million Bradley has coming. Last off-season was a total disaster for Hendry. He'll likely have only one more to get it right.
I see little possible way a brand new owner in the Ricketts family can come in and maintain the status quo. Not after paying nearly $1 billion to buy the team and not after a wretched season like this one. Cubs have a wretched payroll situation and a largely barren farm system, so a "quick fix" is going to be virtually impossible. The best the Cubs can do is ride out some of these awful contracts, start building a legitimate quality farm system and be patient. You don't need Jim Hendry around in 2010 to carry through with that sort of game plan. That is akin to letting the inmate who created this mess run the asylum for one more year.
...It would be hard to change GMs for the 2010 season. The organization meetings come up in October. The GM meetings are in November and the winter meetings are in December. You'd have a disaster on your hands if you fired Hendry at this point. On top of it, the new owner signed off on Hendry's contract extension. Jim got the team to the playoffs three times. He has made some monumental mistakes, enabled by a Tribune ownership group that wanted one last-gasp run at glory so it went the drunken-sailor route of spending.
The best thing the new owner could do would be to hire a baseball man such as Pat Gillick, John Schuerholz or Sandy Alderson (or someone like one of those guys) to oversee Hendry, provide guidance and check some of his more impulsive moves. On the bright side, the minor league system is showing signs of life under Tim Wilken. Next June would be Wilken's fifth draft (if Toronto doesn't hire him as GM). Colvin and Samardzija (both works in progress) are from Wilken's first draft. Vitters and Cashner are moving up, and last year's draft of pitchers had a great year this season.
Hendry deserves one more year, but it should be made clear the clock is ticking.
...is what the organization desperately needs.
I agree that Hendry will be kept around for the short term, but someone needs to approve major decisions and also start to impart philosophical changes that are required from top to bottom of the organization.
The money spent the last two years has helped to hide some of the flaws of the organization, and this year was the perfect storm to reveal the improvements that need to be made. Jim Hendry should not be allowed to have final decisions on player acquisitions, trades or assembling the roster for 2010, without a new "baseball man" blessing these moves.
Colvin was a reach in the first round and there was absolutely no reason to give Samardzija a huge signing bonus and a no trade clause. Cashner is also a guy that people thought could step into the bullpen and help the team but the Cubs are trying to turn him into a starter. I'm sure it won't be much longer before they realize that was a mistake and put him back in the bullpen. The Cubs have not shown much ability to develop position players and Wilken has underwhelmed. I have much less issue with Hendry than Wilken.
Wilken did not give Samardzija the major-league contract and the no-trade clause. Hendry did. All Wilken did was draft him. Wilken also didn't turn Cashner into a starter. That was Fleita and the development staff.
...but you have to admit, paying Samardzija what Hendry did was a gigantic leap of faith.
This move summarizes Hendry's biggest flaw as the man in charge, as he tends to fall in love with certain players (and even pitching coaches) and loses all objectivity in his decision making.
Hendry wasted a ton of money that is going to impact plans for the next 2-3 years, and I doubt Rickett's will be raising the payroll any time soon with $500 mil in debt service each year.
Why draft Cashner if your organization needs a starter? Why draft Samardzija if you are going to have to offer him big money and a No Trade Clause? It may not all be on Wilken but this guy doesn't deserve praise for the decisions he's made. Colvin is now 24 (the same age as Felix Pie btw) and we still don't know if he will even be a 4th or 5th outfielder. The Cubs drafting, scouting and development on the minor league level is in major need of a new direction.
Go read some MLB Draft 101. You don't draft for needs on your major league club.
1 1st round failure doesn't warrant dismissal.
go look at Tim Wilken's draft history...you will NOT find very many people that have had more success than he has over the last 15 years or so.
Whatever involvement Wilken had with other teams isn't relevant to me or this organization. Wow, I didn't even have to let out a big sigh before I typed that either.
Bruce,
I have always enjoyed your take on all things Cub and believe you are the top Cub beat writer in town. That said, I'm a little confused by your statements here today.
First, in your blog, you state "Hendry should not want to "lose" his beat writers. For better or worse, the beat writers set the tone for the daily coverage. I saw this happen with Dusty Baker in '06. Once Baker "lost" the beat writers, it was open season every day."
When NK calls you out about this, however, you responded by stating " Rarely, if ever, has a media person had enough influence to run someone out of town. Don't give us that much credit."
Those two statements appear to be at odds with each other. If a media person "rarely, if ever" has the ability to run someone out of town, than why should it be of such great concern for Hendry to "not want to lose" his beat writers? What is the implied message here?
Again, Bruce, I enjoy reading your columns / blogs. This time, though, it came accross a bit heavy-handed. Hendry is having a bad week (bad year, actually) to be sure, but to call him out for some testy answers goes a bit far IMHO. This is the same guy who has been seemingly quite accomodating to the media for most of his term here. I'm not defending the guys actions, but jumping him here is uncalled for.
Thanks for the posting. Heck, Jim gets testy with us all the time. His tone with this was that we had no right to be asking questions, calling the agents or calling the players association. All we were looking for was a little help on how this process works, and he didn't want to give it to us. It was more like, "Don't bother me, this will all be done in a few days." That doesn't much lend itself to accurate reporting.
The beat writers and the team have a symbiotic relationship. We need them for certain things, and they need us for certain things. When a team or an official appears to be stonewalling or implying that we have no right to be asking for this information (to inform our readers), then it's fair to point it out. Just as a GM doesn't want to "lose" the beat writers, the beat writers don't want to "lose" the GM.
(This little dust-up started on a previous threat, "Milton slams the door," when reader NK cited the "white reporters," implying an element of race in the coverage of Bradley's dismissal. As far as the four beat writers who cover the team, nothing could be further from the truth.)
The way the roster and payroll is set up I don't think they have a choice but to give Hendry one more shot at it. They can't blow it up, players will be more tradeable after 2010 (with the year off everyone's contract), and if Lilly and Ramirez leave, that might be perfect time to clean out and start over.
Hendry has always (ALWAYS) given stock answers )often with the word "quality" repeated several times) to questions presented in print and on the air. Taken out of that comfort zone, finally faced with the prospect of going home on October 5, and having to address a few positions and eat a lot of money, I can see why the guy started to snap. It's his own doing, sure, but that's likely what happened and really I as a reader and fan don't care. Time for him and the others to go out and get who they need and retool for 2010.
Last offseason has to go down as one of the worst offseasons in the history of the sport. The only reasons Hendry will survive another year are that the team has been in the playoffs three times on his watch and the new owner owes him a lot of money if he gets canned right now. So Hendry should really look on the bright side. The Bradley fiasco would be enough to get most GM's fired as would the terrible signings of game killer Kevin Gregg and useless Aaron Miles. Yet Hendry will still be around to collect checks for another year unless Ricketts want to eat his contract......not likely with Bradley's deal being served for lunch for the next two years. So in many ways the monumental Bradley blunder that Hendry made last year will save his job for next year.
I believe this would be defined as irony.
And Ricketts may want to keep his chef handy as he'll probably be eating a year or two of Soriano's terrible contract in a couple of years too as there isn't much chance he'll be able to play the field for another 5-6 years. But Hendry will be long gone by then so he doesn't have to worry about this one.
Look what happened to Bradley when he "lost the beat writers." He has been ridden out town on a rail....mostly for being a moody jerk and having a bad year (like that hasnt happened once or twice in the last 50 years of Cub ineptitude). But since Bradley has had the audacity to be nasty to the writers.....they start the "he must go" drumbeat.
Now you make a not-so-veiled threat to Hendry to watch his step around the writers.
Just who do you guys (and girls) think you are?
By the way. My name is Nick Karstens of Naperville. Earlier this week you made a comment because I used my initials when I commented on this whole situation. I think you used the term "internet hero." I'm not a hero "Mr. beat writer" but a lot of the media in this town are full of themselves. Report the game and the goings on of the team.....period. Dont let the fact that you dont think this or that person hasnt given you the respect you all so richly deserve color your reporting or your attitudes towards players or others affiliated with the team. It obviously has in this whole Bradley matter and its an ugly sight to see.
If Bradley were hitting and not causing distractions around the team, he'd still be here. Up until about two weeks ago, I wrote that the Cubs should stick with him for a second year, and that he could have a Moises Alou-type of turnaround:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=320446
But he chose to make everything about himself. Look at the comments of his teammates after the Cubs suspended him. Not one supported him, and the clubhouse has been a different place since his departure. Sparring between writers and players, writers and managers and writers and GMs has been a normal part of coverage for 100 or more years. Rarely, if ever, has a media person had enough influence to run someone out of town. Don't give us that much credit. On top of that the public is much more eager to run Mr. Hendry out of town than any beat writer is. (I hope he stays.)
And Mr. Hendry, with whom I disagree about the aftermath of the Bradley situation, made absolutely the right call in sending Bradley home.
And cool of you to put your name on the post.
Well the remaining players in the locker room should be looking in the mirror and not at Milton Bradley for the reason they will be going home in a few days. Bradley has become a conveinent scapegoat for the other guys on the team, the manager, and the general manager. And the media helped fan the flames for his departure. True...he's a knucklehead...but sports is full of them and Bradley is certainly not the worst who ever wore the Cub uniform.
The TEAM......has stunk this year. Not just Milton Bradley's attitude. Had they been winning this would not be a story.
Hendry's ineptitude and lack of a world series appearance is a bigger story. But I guess he has gotten a pass (up until now) since he treated the beat guys the way they wanted to be treated. That's what I got from your article.
with you and Milton Bradley?? I don't get how you can defend him! He's done this EVERYWHERE HE'S GONE!!!! there's a reason why he's been on 5 teams in 5 years (next year will be 6 in 6!) There's a reason why NOT ONE TEAMMATE STOOD UP FOR HIM.
Bruce, do you have subliminal hypnosis powers in your articles that brainwash the Cubs team into disliking Milton Bradley? cuz its obviously the media that made the Cubs organization dislike Bradley....
Done what exactly? Been moody and a jerk to reporters? Had a bad season? That is not an unusual occurance in Cubdom...in fact...its been repeated ad nauseum for decades!
Not one of his teammates stood up for him. Great...does that say more about Bradley or his teammates? These are the guys with a 100 million plus payroll who are 10 games out (or whatever...I quit watching) of first in a crappy division that they should have won going away. The ace of the staff is just as big a flake as Bradley is. The point is...why fixate on Bradley when the blame should be everywhere?
Bruce points out that the clubhouse is a much better place with Bradley gone. Well great....fantastic. Now the boys can enjoy the last 10 games of their rotten season in peace and tranquility and enjoy themselves now that Bradley is out of the picture. We wouldnt want them to be uncomfortable.
And this point has been beaten to death...but the reason Bradley is here is because of Hendry. Period.
Dont you have a torch and pitchfork to pick up for the gathering tonight?
Yes, this team underachieved a bit, but honestly.....what did you expect going in? They had some huge holes in their bullpen and bench, that Hendry tried to fix with journeymen players/relievers. Aaron Miles? Joey Gathwright? Aaron Heilman? Kevin Gregg? Neil Cotts? David Patton? Really? You were expecting a divisional championship with those guys?
He overvalued Soto and Fontenot who thrived in a deep llineup, but when expected to come close to 2008 stats.....they......imploded. Now what do you have? Fontenot is god awful. Bench? Fine. Soto? What do you have? 2008 or 2009? Can you afford to NOT have a viable backup option next year who can contribute offensively? Thank christ they didn't keep Bako, or I might be dead. Honestly....that would be unbearable to watch.
The point is, this team was flawed from day 1. That is on Jim Hendry. Bringing in Bradley only magnified how crappy there were, when he stunk. I remember him saying that spring training meant nothing, because "he always hit."> then he stunk, got tossed in April vs St. Louis, and it all started going down hill.
He also failed to run out numerous ground balls that he deserved to get booed on, tossed a ball in the stands, and then started up on racial slurs, racial predujice towards his son, hatred, only playing 9 innings, no love from his teammates, etc, etc. Nobody baited him to talk about that. He did that himself. Why? Because he blames everyone else for his flaws, which is a HUGE sign of a loser and a coward. Both of which Bradley is.
I just don't get why you continue to defend this guy? He's a jag. He's arrogant. He's angry, and he needs PROFESSIONAL help.
I don't EVER remember anyone on this blog, or anywhere saying, that if the Cubs DID NOT have Milton Bradley they would have won the division. Nobody is using him as a scapegoat.
NK,
"Dont you have a torch and pitchfork to pick up for the gathering tonight?"
Take some meds man. You beating the racism drum and here you are labeling people who don't agree with you.
The fact is that Bradley has acted like an impetuous child and he's reaping what he sowed, no racism, just jerkism.
The 24 other guys and the previous 5 teams in 5 years are all wrong about him. He's a victim. I don't know why I didn't see this sooner.
*edit* and I've never once said this teams failures were due to Milton Bradley.
I'm sure the other players didn't appreciate all the nonsense that surrounded Bradley but that doesn't' mean they were all somehow against him. Had they all performed better this season I doubt they would have anything to say about Bradley's presence in the clubhouse.
,,,,who is the biggest jerk to wear a Cub uniform? Sosa the Cheat comes to mind. Don "who cares" Young? Milton the Mental? Ding Dong Kingman? Lazy z? Ed "you know why" Bouchee?
Bill T, bringing up Ed Bouchee - that's going back a ways! Considering the times back then I'm surprised he wasn't drummed out of baseball after seeing a psychiatrist, much less the reason he was sent to one in the first place. Don Young was a strange case, he was thrust into the bad light with one misplay and his third baseman and manager blowing up at him in print. Really, the poor guy shouldn't even have been starting in CF but thanks to Leo and John Holland, he was. I'm not sure, for all his bluster, that Z is even in the jerk team picture. They've had some beauts over the years, Lance Johnson comes to mind. But so has every team in MLB and it's only gotten worse over the last 25 years.
...It's because he got the team to the playoffs three times in six years, not because of the way he has treated anybody. You have to go back a long way for that to have happened. I've criticized him on the Cubs previous disregarding of sabermetrics (they still have some ways to go in this area) and for giving out multiyear contracts for players such as Neifi Perez and Aaron Miles. In this paper, it's been fair and balanced and he's disagreed with much of what I've written over the years.
...in general, you don't believe Jim Hendry has gotten a bit of a pass with the Chicago media?
We are talking about a guy who has been with the club since 1995, and only was able to deliver wins when the Trib was about to sell and they gave him an open check book. He got some things right in 03, but I'd bet that club never wins the division if Patterson didn't go down and they went out and got Lofton and Ramirez. Sure, you have to give him credit for that, but he completely forgot what made that club so successful and for the next 6 years put together pieces that didn't fit.
IMO, one area he has completely avoided accountability on is the non-production of the farm system since 1995. If this is not an indictment on a flawed philosophy of scouting, player development etc.., I don't know what else is. Certainly, Ricketts does not have to dig deep to recognize what I have mentioned, and I hope it spurs him on to bring in a solid baseball man for organizational oversight.
He probably has gotten a bit of a pass. He's been the GM since the middle of '02 and won three division titles. As farm director, he drafted Jon Garland in '96, Todd Noel in '97, Corey Patterson in '98, Ben Christensen in '99 and Luis Montanez in 2000. Who knows how Garland would have turned out with the Cubs had Ed Lynch not foolishly traded him for Matt Karchner in 1998. Ironically, the farm system was rated highly around 1999-2000 with the likes of Patterson, Kelton, Choi, Bobby Hill, Zambrano, Cruz, Goldbach and others. Their real black-hole period was from 2002-05 between Hendry and Wilken.
They've used the likes of Choi, Hill, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher and others to land the likes of Lee, Ramirez and Harden.
Theriot has been serviceable to a little more than serviceable, and Soto was Rookie of the Year who had a bad year this year, as we all know. The biggest fault of the farm system has been the inability to develop an impact position player.
We're at the point now in Cubs history where it's more than fair to debate the merits of whether Jim Hendry should continue as GM. As I said, the most logistically sound way to do this is to give him one year to set this thing on the right course, with a solid baseball man above him. To fire Hendry now would cause considerable chaos.
...well said!
Hasn't he always been testy, Bruce? In every radio interview I've ever heard him give he seems uncomfortable at even the slightest hint of negativity. He's very defensive and has thin skin.
He's been pretty good with the beat writers over the years, especially when we're off the record or "on background." But we had the hardest time getting even a sliver of information about this situation. He could have helped us and helped himself in the process. The information on this one wasn't managed very well.
He reads into questions and if he doesn't like where he THINKS they are going, he gets combative. But that's just one fan's experience on what might have been a bad day - which anyone can have. Bruce deals with him a LOT more.
He's been under a lot of stress with this Bradley thing, so I think "bad day" sums it up. This one was really out of character, though. The point is, the club needs the media and the media need the club. Jim could have helped himself and clear up a lot of confusion and intrigue had he just laid out the process for us instead of making it seem we had no right to ask about it.
Everyone has been so worked into a frenzy over Bradley's departure and apology and Hendry has yet to admit his failings in this matter. It seems to me that Hendry hasn't been taken to task by the local media for handling this Bradley situation so poorly. Hendry has acted in a manner that has most certainly drained whatever value Bradley may have had left. Hendry made an investment in Bradley and did very little to protect that investment. You could even say he contributed to the devaluation of that investment. Hendry didn't even handle the suspension by following proper procedures.
Bruce, you are one of the few if not only people in the local media that hasn't handled this situation like you are part of a torch wielding mob trying to drive Bradley out of town. Hendry is the next individual that should be asked to explain his behavior in regard to this situation and apologize for costing this franchise money they can't afford to lose and talent they can't afford to replace. They will not get a player better than Bradley for less money and that's going to impact the team's ability to win down the road. Shouldn't Hendry be asked why he didn't step in sooner and not allow this situation to escalate in the manner it did? In the end he came across to me as someone who was simply suspending Bradley in an effort to pander to angry fans and media. Bradley was made his scapegoat but he was far from one of the top reasons this season was a disaster. Underperformance due to injuries of Aramis and Soriano along with Soto and Fotenot's ineptitude hurt this team a great deal more than Milton Bradley's club house demeanor. I would also like to know Hendry's rationale for dumping Wuertz, Pie and Cedeno in essence for Aaron Heilman. Wuertz was and still is better than Heilman and nobody has asked why the Cubs dumped him.
Wuertz was dumped because Piniella was tired of him. The guy was sent down last year after imploding. Yes, I don't agree with that logic, but like the never ending quest for left handed bats, Hendry gave in and dumped Wuertz. Great that he pitches well now, but that may be due to a less hostile environment and change of scenery. How many times did you have to pray that somebody would bite on his slider, because if they didn't.....he got shelled.
Please everyone, stop the double guessing about Felix Pie. What else did you have to see? THe guy stunk. He was given numerous chances and failed to live up to the expectations. He was good defensively but did he ever sniff .280? Ever? Come on....let it go. At least Patterson hit close to .300 in 2003 before blowing out his ACL. Pie was lost at the plate, and failed to make the adjustments that were necessary.
Cedeno was good defensively, but is HORRIBLE right now for Seattle. I don't even think he's hitting .230.
Hendry has run around with a blank check book for years. His last 2 playoff appearances were due to the fact that he was allowed to spend and have a payroll that justified a major market. I hate Dusty, but did he ever have a team with a payroll over 100 million, let alone 120? I dont' think so. I think in 2005 or 2006 it hit 90 million.
Milton Bradley is not a scape goat. The guy did it to himself. There are multiple examples that don't need to be readdressed where he opened up a simple Q and A, and turned it into a racial war, or hate, or whatever else his bi-polar self was feeling like. The mistake was made by the Cubs assuming they could handle this dynamic in the clubhouse. IS Bradley been the scapegoat for the 6 or 7 teams in the past 7 years, every time? Come on.
This team is in trouble. Cubs are going to have to eat HUGE salary to make a problem go away with Bradley. They have an aging star in Soriano tied to huge money. They have 2 pieces that they thought would be cornerstones take HUGE steps backwards this year in Fontenot and Soto. You have a .270 hitter, with little power making 14 million. You have a horrible bullpen. You have a guy making almost 18 million year, who's not an "ace" and won't even hit double digits. Your bench is god awful. Who takes Harden's spot next year? Mr. Notre Dame?
So to EXPECT that after Bradley leaves, all will be well....is a joke. This team is a rocket ship straight down, and unless they get a guy making huge money, to waive a NMC, they are strapped. I can't wait to see what horrible contract we get back for Mr. Bradley.
But please....don't second guess prospects who were done here, or think that Bradley is a scape goat. The team stunk, they all failed, Hendry over valued people, but most importantly....Bradley did this to himself, like he has numerous times before, and will continue to do so. I just hope he wakes up one day, and finds some sort of peace with the world. Tought to go through life, thinking EVERYONE is out to get you. That's a cowards way.
And that is EXACTLY what Bradley is.
Cedeno went from Seattle to Pittsburgh many weeks ago.
I don't believe I ever said Bradley was blameless just that he's far from the main reason this team tanked. I can't believe the other players have the nerve to comment on him when they've all failed collectively. You support my point when you bring up the horrible contract the Cubs will probably take on to get rid of him. Hendry mishandled this situation so that the team will be worse off because of it. I would also point out that Bradley was attacked with undue zeal by media and fans and it certainly contributed to a bad situation getting worse and Hendry did nothing to help matters. You could also argue that his firing of Gerald Perry contributed to the decline.
Wuertz had a down 08 but he was nearly as effective as Marmol in 07, it made no sense to get rid of him. It was also pointless to dump Cedeno and then pay Aaron Miles to do a much worse job. Cedeno hit .269 for the Cubs last season and was a decent cost controlled back-up at SS, 2nd and 3rd, something this team could have used. There was also no point in dumping Pie and bringing in a worse player in Joey Gathright. It's starting to look like the Cubs may have made a major error in giving up on Pie. You may not have heard but Pie is actually playing really well for Baltimore.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/pie-in-the-face
Good for Pie. I'm still not concerned the Cubs let him go. THen people couldn't have creamed over Bobby Scailes, Sam Fuld, or Jake Fox. Plus, wasn't Pie out of options? He's battling for a 3rd OF spot on a very bad team.
I believe Cedeno was traded for Aaron Heilman. You might have a Cedeno in Blanco already on the roster.
Agree on Wuertz. I liked him in 2007, but then all he did in 2008 was throw his slider on every pitch. Teams figured it out, waited, and either walked, or crushed his BP fastball. Lou ripped him a new one last June, and Wuertz was banished to Iowa. I don't think him being here right now, would have led to any other result.
I'm done with the Bradley talk. If people want to continue to defend this guy, go right ahead. I'm not going to get baited in a race war, or some other BS debate over a guy that INITATES conflict with everyone and anyone. It's sad.
Mark DeRosa was traded because many teams probably thought he had reached his ceiling, like the Cubs probably did last winter. Granted his wrist is goofed up, but he's a shell of what you saw last year. I'm also AGAINST bringing this guy back. The expectations are so high for him, that bringing him back does nothing. He's not the missing link.
Markakis and Jones in Baltimore are future stars so competing against them for playing time doesn't say anything negative about Pie. The Cubs could have kept Pie on the 25 man roster instead of picking up Gathright who was useless.
Blanco is a nice glove but he can't hit unlike Cedeno. It's also important to point out that the money wasted on Miles would have been saved if Cedeno was kept. It's not like the Cubs were deciding between Cedeno and Blanco. Had Cedeno not been dumped Hendry wouldn't have had to waste the team's time and money on Miles.
Wuertz was excellent in Oakland this season and even if he wasn't able to be that good with the Cubs this year he was a better option than bringing in Heilman.
Acaulpoco taco pie ......That about covers it. Excellent post.
I agree with most of Mr. Rain's post as well....but Bradley certainly is being used as a diversion for all the other more serious problems you correctly pointed out.
Hendry has created a huge mess.....and it will be difficult and expensive to fix.