...you've got your horses. Now what?

Do NOT blame Dusty . . . this is 90% Jim Hendry's fault.

Oh look, I think Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch just got two more multi-year deals . . .

I think Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch are quality bench role players...Dusty is the one starting them near every day and trying to put them in the rotation, respectively.

Phil Nevin vs. Murton is Hollandsworth vs. DuBois all over again. Neither of the latter pair is still here and DuBois is just now starting to come back together after the experience.

Jim Hendry didn't make Corey Patterson and LaTroy Hawkins both headcases, nor did he decide to make the franchise pitcher throw an extra inning after knee pain. He also didn't make the previous franchise pitcher(s) average like 125 pitches per game over a half season (Prior and Wood, 2k3, never have been the same since).

I've been on board with nearly every move Hendry has made. I was skeptical about Jacque Jones, but he has turned out to be the best they could do (compare to Burnitz or Encarnacion). Garciaparra would have worked had we not given up a year too early. Nevin was a month too late and Wade Miller is a gamble I'm not sure will ever work out, but the price is low. The Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee trades were fantastic, and word on the street is that there's a possibility of Ramirez and Jones for A-Rod (I'm not kidding either), with tagalongs from both sides changing hands.

Fire Dusty and send Brenly down from the booth. Brenly worked under Dusty yet is different enough and has won a world series, he could make it work. This season is over anyway.

Hendry's fault or no, Dusty's still incompetent. You only need to look at how he uses Nevin for proof of his dumbassery.

I agree that Dusty is not the best manager, and probably needs to go. But I'm just pissed that Hendry has flown under the radar when he's the one that put this miserable team together.

Under his reign, the team has not developed one position player that has done anything on the major-league level. He has spent the Tribune's money frivolously, and has not used the money toward quality players. Neifi Perez should not be making $2 million a year as a mere utility player. He should not have a multi-year deal either. Glendon Rusch is an embarassment, and also should not have received more than one year. Yet, Hendry gave them multi-year deals anyway based upon the mediocre performances of last year.

Hendry is responsible for the pathetic pitching staff this year as well. Rothschild complained last November that it would be foolhardy to rely on the health of pitchers Prior and Wood going into this year. Yet, Hendry signed a starting pitcher coming off of shoulder surgery that would not be available until after the All Star break. Pure idiocy. So, instead of addressing the problems with the starting pitching, Hendry actually makes the problems worse.

Also, to suggest that they could not foresee Prior or Wood going down is just plain ridiculous. After all, you're talking about two pitchers that, since 2004, have been on the DL 6 times. How could you NOT foresee the health problems?

As for the outfield, how could one possibly look at Jones, Murton, and Pierre and expect offensive production? Jones is a decent hitter, but he's only as good as the other people in his lineup. Defensively he's a joke. Pure and simple, he's not worth $6 million a year.

Now, with each day that passes, Hendry's wasting more and more leverage he has for trading guys like Greg Maddux. Maddux's value will only continue to decline with each game that he pitches. What is Hendry waiting for?

Now, he says that he needs to take the next week or so to evaluate Baker. Are you kidding me? Hendry is still in the process of evaluating Baker? Hasn't the 3 1/2 years given him enough time to evaluate him?

The fact is, Hendry is still living off of the goodwill from the Lofton and Ramirez trade in 2003. Since then, he has done nothing. Meanwhile, the team continues to plummet. Yet, amazingly, Hendry gets a 2-year contract extension while the very man he brought in to correct the mess gets the ax. They both deserve to share in the blame. MacPhail needs to be accountable as well.

Typical Cubs.

You say that as though the team hasn't developed about 200 pitchers that have done something on the major league level.

Who? If you're referring to Wood, Prior, and Zambrano, they were all before Hendry. On top of it, the Cubs sacrificed Wood's career for a Wild Card birth in 1998. I wouldn't call that development.

Honestly, name one position player that has been developed and succeeded (preferably on the Cubs, and not with the Orioles) under Jim Hendry. After that, name a position player that is major-league ready that is in the farm system right now. Felix Pie? He's hitting .260 in AAA. He's not much of an upgrade over Juan Peirre. Eric Patterson? He's doing mediocre in AA and not ready to play. What's Bobby Hill doing now-adays? How about Hee Sop Choi?

Also, explain why Baseball America ranked the Cubs' farm system No. 3 overall in 2003, but why we haven't seen anyone play for the Cubs from its farm system that has done anything since that time. While the Cubs may have known how to draft players, they sure as hell did not know how to develop players. Case in point is Matt Murton (the Red Sox drafted him) (and I'm not even bringing up Corey Patterson, because he's too easy). Why in the world is he limited to the bench now when he could be better served by playing everyday in Iowa? He's not going to get any better playing behind Phil Nevin and Angel Pagan. Yet, he'll sit there.

Again, I just want to know why Dusty Baker will take 100% responsibility for this team's failure when Jim Hendry is the one that assembled this mess. The future doesn't look any better.

willis and garland are two off the top of my head, which of course leads you to make the argument that he's awful because he traded them...


...but there's very obviously two ways to use your farm system to develop your team. the first is, of course, to develop talent and call guys up and blah blah blah. The other is to trade young guys to fill spots in your major league lineup. Clearly, the Cubs have gone the second route in recent history.


I alluded to this very situation in my first post in the thread. Lee goes down, Hendry brings in 1B Phil Nevin to at least provide a power threat. Instead, Baker moves Todd Walker to first, puts Perez/Womack at 2nd and uses Phil nevin as a PH. Lee comes back and suddenly Nevin is an everyday player...in left field. How's this quagmire Hendry's fault?


Talentwise, this team is a shitload better than 23 under .500, especially in a limping central division. You're telling me an infield of Ramirez, Cedeno, Walker, Lee, and Barrett isn't any good? When a team significantly underacheives like that, I know who I point the finger at first.

I think it's easy to second-guess, three years later, a couple of the moves Hendry has made, but I don't often hear much complaining about the moves he makes as he's making them. But when ol' Dusty (finally) comes out of the dugout, it's not too hard to first-guess him. Do I wish there was a little more talent in the outfield on this team? Hell yes. But I'm not sure who you expected Hendry to get over the offseason.

i should add, however, that it was jim hendry who hired dusty baker in the first place, so i don't know where that leaves us.

At least they got Karchner out of the Garland deal . . .



The problem is, Hendry's trading guys for the short term and giving away a lot of talent for questionable acquisitions (with the exception of Lee).



It's Jim Hendry's fault because he waited until 6 weeks after Lee went down before pulling the plug on a trade. I agree that Baker was stupid for not playing Nevin earlier, instead bitching about not having a replacement for Lee then sitting a replacement. But Hendry didn't do anything to help the situation. That has usually always been how Hendry's operated -- tread water until better days.



Michael Barrett is a decent hitter that happens to play catcher -- he's not a good catcher. I would take Miller back any day over Barrett and his 15 percentage in throwing out baserunners. There's a reason pitchers prefer to pitch to Hank White instead of Barrett. In fact, you can trace the downfall of the Cubs to the day they decided to get rid of Karros and trade for Michael Barrett.

As for Cedano, I would take Alex Gonzalez defensively, but Cedano offensively. That's really a draw.

Ramirez was a better all around player in 2003 (defensively liability and all) than in 2006. I really do think he was a user and the effects are catching up to him (pulled groins, hamstrings, backs).

Todd Walker is a terrible fielder. I think that I have more range than he has. Can he hit? Yes. But his OBP and situational hitting are not better than Grudz in 2003.



It's not necessary a function of getting X, Y, or Z, but rather the mindset that the numbers put up by Sosa and Alou can be replaced and that pitching, much like 2003, will carry the day, when significant upgrades in pitching were necessary.

I'm sick of Hendry plugging holes. I'm sick of rewarding old, washed up veterans because they produced one month the year before. I'm sick of doing the bare necessity and relying on the Cardinals and Astros to fail, rather than the Cubs to succeed.

Dusty Baker is not the reason this team is 23 games under .500 and in 5th place in the weakest division in baseball. This team looks good on paper, but in reality it's pretty damn bad. In fact, like I said at the beginning of the season, it's dysfunctional.

When Dusty is fired either this week or next, who do fans expect to come and turn things around? While I'm not a Dusty Baker apologist, I'm just not sure that anyone out there is any better.

what's the liklihood baker tore ramirez a new one after he tried to stretch his almost-home-run into a triple last night? 1%?

Failures run deeper than Baker -- so should blame

By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
Archive

MILWAUKEE -- In a different season with a different record it wouldn't have meant a thing. But as the Chicago Cubs lurch toward their first 100-loss record in 40 years, there was no ignoring the irony of who sat where Thursday evening at Miller Park.

It was probably a coincidence -- it had to be, right? -- but there was embattled Cubs manager Dusty Baker seated at the very end of the dugout, one foot on the first wooden step, his baby-blue lineup card and handwritten cheat sheets within easy reach. And just behind and to the right of him, not much farther than the length of a fungo bat, was Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, literally looking over his shoulder. Hendry's front-row seat at field's edge was so close to the visitors' dugout that he could have tapped Baker on the head.

Or handed him a pink slip.

Will he or won't he? That's the question being asked by those in the Cubs' clubhouse, by the seamhead media, by Cubs followers, by the goofballs who have Baker over Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel in the Who Gets Fired First Pool. Will Hendry pull the plug on the guy he personally chose and recruited to rescue the Cubs from their latest 100-year rebuilding plan? Will he dump the second highest-paid manager in the big leagues less than four seasons removed from the magic, weirdness and heartbreak of 2003?

He shouldn't. Not because Baker hasn't made mistakes -- he has, plenty of them -- but because the Cubs' latest descent into baseball hell is a lesson in teamwork. Rarely has everyone in a franchise contributed so evenly to a 31-54 record, the third worst in the majors.

The only person in the Cubs' dugout living and dying with every pitch isn't a player, it's Dusty Baker. Thursday night it was a 2-0 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs' 11th loss in their last 14 games. Greg Maddux, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer, pitched well enough to win. He gave up those two runs in the fifth of his six innings of work. But Maddux can only do so much. He can't hit, but then again, neither could the Cubs. They also couldn't field (two errors) or run (after jogging down the first-base line on a drive off the right-field wall to start the seventh, Aramis Ramirez was thrown out at third by, oh, five feet when he tried stretching the sure double into a suicide triple attempt).

What a mess. The Cubs are 23 games under .500 and entered Thursday evening's game last in the National League in runs scored, RBI, walks and on-base percentage. No NL team had been shut out more often, and Chicago was next to last in total bases, home runs and sacrifice flies. The pitching isn't much better. The Cubs had the second-worst ERA in the league and had given up the most home run and walks.

In other words, they're almost the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Three and a half seasons ago the Cubs were five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1945. Now they're three losses away from having the worst record in the majors.

Baker said earlier this week that he expected to survive this latest scrutiny. "Why not?" he told reporters. "I ain't walking death row."

Or maybe Baker simply doesn't know he's a dead man walking. Hendry isn't saying much, other than Baker, his staff and his players are all being evaluated, and that decisions, hard decisions, will be made, presumably not long after the All-Star break.

The usual goat in situations like that of the Cubs is the manager.The usual casualty in these situations is the manager, and you certainly can make a case for Baker's dismissal. Since winning the division in '03, Baker's Cubs have missed the playoffs in 2004, 2005 and, barring Bud Selig's moving St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Houston to the NL East, they'll miss it again in 2006.

Yes, this is happening on Baker's watch. And Hendry's too. And club president Andy MacPhail's. Baker leaves and they stay?

Something has to be done, but firing Baker isn't that something. If Hendry wants to try a novel approach, why not make the players accountable for this 11-car pileup? After all, Baker isn't the guy who trotted down the line and got thrown out at third with no outs.

Watch the Cubs' dugout during a game. The only person in that dugout living and dying with every pitch isn't a player, it's Baker. Lame duck? Baker manages every game with passion and compassion. His least favorite letter is L.

Of course, there's no use pretending the Cubs consistently play fundamental baseball. They don't. There's no use pretending that Baker doesn't protect his players, sometimes to a fault. His credo: "Not to embarrass players in front of other players. ... I had a manager do that quite often and he got very negative results out of that."

But when you're 31-54, it's time to quit with the friend/manager combination. Pats on the back are fine, but so are kicks in the rear.

Hendry is a smart guy. Smart enough to understand that Baker never had a chance this season, not when Mark Prior and Kerry Wood made their annual trips to the disabled list. Or when Derrek Lee broke his wrist. Or when Michael Barrett decided to go Oscar De La Hoya on A.J. Pierzynski and pick up a 10-game suspension. Baker was short starting pitchers and a left fielder. When Lee missed more than eight weeks on the DL, it wasn't Baker's fault the remaining eight starters forgot how to hit.

"We really haven't had the pleasure of having the team that we put together," said Baker, citing injuries over the past two seasons. "You understand? That's big."

He isn't the first manager to deal with injuries, but the Cubs' margin of error was foul-line thin at the start of 2006. The one pitcher they couldn't afford to lose -- Prior -- they lost. The one position player they absolutely needed -- Lee -- got hurt. And good luck winning when 31 of your games feature rookie starting pitchers (those pitchers are 6-16 in those games).

"This year," said a Cubs official, "God couldn't manage this team."

Deep down, Cubs followers realize this isn't all Baker's doing. This is a shared failure, which means there should be shared blame. It also means Baker deserves to at least manage the remaining 77 games on the schedule.

As Baker looks over his shoulder he sees Hendry. But he also sees Prior, despite an 0-4 record, getting stronger. He sees Juan Pierre bump his average up to .270. He sees Lee back in the lineup. He sees the Gatorade cooler half full.

But Baker knows better than to ask for patience. "They've been hearing that too long in Chicago," he said. "They've been hearing that for 100 years now. Yeah, you can say it, but nobody wants to hear it."

I'll say it: Baker is worth the wait. Hendry might not want to hear it, but in Dusty he should still trusty.

i read that article this morning. it's awful. Throw in a few "dude"s and it'd sound just like a Baker press conference

Personally, I think Dusty Baker should be fired for no other reason than he continues to play the percentages and plays Perez over Walker and Pagan over Jones just because a lefty is pitching. Beggers hitting a collective .240 and .169 with RIS cannot be choosers. Nevertheless, if Baker goes, so goes Hendry (in my ideal world).