Okay, I’ve been a little critical of our GM, Jim Hendry, this year.  I’ve been frustrated with him and the fact that I feel we should have been in serious talks with the Padres about Adrian Gonzalez.  I also want him to go after Matt Garza as well.  Anyway, I decided to dig a little bit and look at his “stats” as a GM.  I decided to breakdown his trades and free agent signings over the years and what success or failures he’s experienced. 

I’ll begin by taking a closer look at his free agent signings.  This will be in chronological order, but I will only list signings or re-signings that I think are relevant to this post.  Beginning in 2003, he signed LaTroy Hawkins to a 2 year/$8 million deal.  At the time, this was a needed move.  In 2004 he signed Ryan Dempster after he was released by the Reds.  Dempster only pitched 20.2 innings in 2004 and was our closer for three years before moving to the rotation the last three where he has really succeeded.  This was a great move and Dempster has been a key part of the Cubs rotation.  In 2004, Hendry also signed Greg Maddux.  This was a good move for a lot of reasons.  First, it was 3 years/$24 million.  Not bad in my opinion.  Maddux has always been a fan favorite in Chicago and it was great to bring him back home.  Maddux now works for the Cubs and I can’t help but think that his relationship with Jim Hendry is one of the reasons why.  In 2006, Jacque Jones was signed to a 3 year/$16 million deal.  Not a bad price and Jones performed really well that year hitting 27 homers and batting .285.  He was later traded by Hendry in November of 2007.  So, I chalk the signing of Jones up as another good move by Hendry.  There were 3 more significant signings in 2006 that have helped define Jim Hendry and the Cubs.  First was Mark DeRosa to a 3 year/$13 million deal.  GREAT MOVE!!!! DeRosa became a fan favorite and a lot of that had to with his willingness to play anywhere on the field and his success at hitting too.  Then Hendry made his first mistake.  Signing Alfonso Soriano to an 8 year/$136 million deal.  I understand that a big move needed to be made at the time.  I agreed with that idea at the time as well.  However, 8 year deals don’t work out very often and that’s why you rarely see a player get one.  So, Soriano’s signing was necessary at the time, but was too long of a deal and has come back to bite Hendry a little bit.  The next signing was Ted Lilly for 4 years/$40 million.  This was another great move.  Lilly was a solid pitcher and provided us with a good lefty in the rotation.  Also, before I forget, Hendry resigned Derrek Lee to 5 years/$65 milion and Aramis Ramirez to 5 years/$75 million in 2006 as well.  I like both of these moves because they were only 5 years and I don’t feel we overpaid for either player.  Then 2007 rolled around and Jim signed Jason Marquis to 3 years/$21 million.  It wasn’t necessarily a bad move, but wasn’t a great one either.  We also resigned Carlos Zambrano in the summer of 2007 for 5 years/$91.5 million.  Okay, I know the Cubs needed to keep Big Z at that time.  He won 18 games in ’07 and just had his fifth straight year with over 200 innings pitched.  However, between 2008 through 2010, he has only won 14, 9 and 11 games and hasn’t reached 200 innings since the ’07 season.  He got his money, but hasn’t produced.  This move has made Hendry look bad, but at the time I agreed with it.  Longer deals for pitchers are a big risk and this one is a perfect example.  In the winter of 2007 we signed Kosuke Fukudome for 4 years/$48 milllion.  With that kind of contract and from what I had read, I expected him to be a combination of Ichiro and Hideki Matsui.  Some speed, some power with a good average.  Well, he’s not panned out that well and he’s finally in the last year of his contract.  This is another move that Hendry took a risk on and it’s backfired.  Soriano, Zambrano and Fukudome have all hurt Hendry and the Cubs at this point.  Then with have 3 more moves that I want to focus on from 2009.  The first is the terrible move of signing “Meltdown” Bradley in 2009 to 3 years/$30 million.  I wanted the Cubs to pursue Raul Ibanez or Bobby Abreu that offseason.  Instead, we ended up with Bradley and we all know how that turned out.  Hendry was looking to add some pop from the left side and ended up with a “bust” in Bradley.  Then Hendry resigned John Grabow after 2009 season to 2 years/$7.5 million.  That’s not much money when you first look at it, but he’s a setup man at best!  Plus, he spent almost all of last year on the disabled list.  Sean Marshall filled the role of lefty setup man beautifully.  Goes to show you that sometimes you need to trust the players you already have in your organization and spend the money elsewhere.  Grabow has the chance to rebound this year, but I doubt it happens.  And then in December of 2009 Hendry redeemed himself by signing Marlon Byrd to 3 years/$15 million.  Byrd plays the game the right way and was a great price! 

This offseason we’ve signed Carlos Pena to a one year deal worth $10 million and Kerry Wood for 1 year at $1.5 million.  I’m cautiously optimistic about Pena’s deal and really excited about Wood coming back. 

When I look at all the signings and resignings Hendry has made it’s up in the air.  Here’s the names of guys that I don’t think worked out too well:  Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley and John Grabow.  And the names of guys that did work out:  Ryan Dempster, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly and Marlon Byrd.  So, I guess it’s about 50/50 when Hendry signs or resigns players.  I’ll breakdown his trades later today or tomorrow.