Jim Hendry Fired From Cubs’ General Manager Post

Nine years is a long time for a general manager, and Jim Hendry made a number of significant moves between getting promoted to GM during the 2002 season. Here’s a quick take on most of the big moves he made, with an attempt (however fruitless) to remain objective on this most subjective of days ...

November 12, 2006: Signed Free Agent Aramis Ramirez for 5 years, $75 million

Ramirez missed half of 2009 with an injury and was ineffective in 2010. But he’s played well enough in the other seasons to justify most of that $75 million. The biggest problem with the contract was Ramirez’s ability to veto a trade, if the opportunity came up.

Grade: B

“I will leave here with nothing but gratefulness,” Hendry said while fighting back tears. “To be a part of an organization for 17 years, not many get to do that. Not many get to be the GM for nine without a world championship. I got more than my fair chance to do that. I’m disappointed that we didn’t do it in years 5-7 when i thought we could.”

Hendry said he was first informed that he would be fired back on July 22, but had been asked to stick around to see the Cubs through the trade deadline and help them with signing some of their key draft picks. He said he chose to stay around because “it would have been shameful” not to.

Yet when he was fired on Friday, replaced on an interim basis by assistant GM Randy Bush. Hendry came to be reviled by most Cubs fans, some of whom had been calling for his ouster for more than two years. Why?

That also relates to another of Hendry’s failures. There never seemed to be a “Cubs Way” of doing things from the lowest level of the minors to the majors; poor fundamental play and no team discipline, represented by something as simple as not having the entire team standing outside the dugout at Wrigley Field for the national anthem, even as visiting teams did. The message was clear: “Cubs can do whatever they want.”

But it wouldn’t be a Cubs firing without something specifically Cubby. Things were looking bleak when this story broke, though. It seemed like every other GM-being-fired story from the past decade. Come on, Cubs. Can’t you throw us something unusual and interesting?

Hendry said Tom Ricketts told him he wasn’t being brought back on July 22nd!Ah. Perfect. Now we know that things are right with the universe, that there’s a natural order. The Cubs today dismissed their GM, who was fired a month ago. That’s like the opening sentence in a Tom Wolfe book about the Cubs. It’s poetry.

Archer, Lee, and Guyer will be missed by the Cubs. Lee has broken out offensively, hitting .317/.389/.442 in High-A as a 20-year-old shortstop who has recently been promoted to Double-A. Kevin Goldstein placed Lee at #19 in his mid-season top 50 prospect report after not ranking him at the start of the year. Archer has had control problems, but was considered a four-star prospect heading into the year by Goldstein, coming in at #4 in their deep system. Guyer was a three-star prospect, an outfielder who hit .306/.380/.488 for the Rays in Triple-A this year, and is now in the majors.

While Garza is under contract through 2013, it’s still odd to give up three pieces of the future for one pitcher who is valuable due to being good right now, when the team is going to be busy bringing the next Cubs’ core into place slowly. Maybe this was a last-gasp effort to bring this iteration of the Cubs into contention before Hendry’s contract expired or was cut short.

Friday morning, multiple reports have emerged claiming that Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has been fired. David Kaplan first tweeted the news, followed shortly thereafter by ESPN Chicago, with MLB.com finally confirming the reports:

“My family and I appreciate Jim’s dedication during our time with the Cubs and thank him for his overall 17 years of service to the Cubs organization,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said. “It is time for a fresh approach in our baseball leadership and our search begins immediately for our next general manager.“Of all active general managers in Major League Baseball, Hendry is among the longest-tenured. He has worked with the Cubs since 1995, and was appointed general manager of the team in the middle of the 2002 season.