The Cubs Need to Move on from Lou, and Hendry

Watching Cubs baseball, has gotten to the point where it is just plain embarrassing for all of Cubs fans. Time after time this season the Cubs have lacked basic fundamentals and have made countless mistakes while hitting, running, pitching, and fielding. And as it goes in the white collar society, when a boss or CEO are not getting the job done and not living up to their contracts, they get fired. Time has come for Owner Tom Ricketts to finally put his foot down and stop the non-sense that we have seen out of General Manager Jim Hendry, and manager Lou Piniella and fire them both.

I am tired of game after game we have to see Lou at his press conferences and he has no solution to any of the Cubs woes. I am tired of hearing the words “What are you going to do”, “What do want me to do”, “Ask the pitching coach or hitting coach”, “Ask the Players”. No Lou, the media has the right to ask you all of these questions. It is your job as a manager to know how to solve the Cubs struggles. But, you have yet to come out with any consistent solution to any of the Cubs problems.  It is pathetic that Lou Piniella opts not to have the team take any fielding practice, despite the fact they have 52 errors which are the 4th most in the entire league.

As for a replacement to Lou Piniella, the Cubs would be better suited to not promote Ryne Sandberg, and look for a manager that has some experience winning, and emphasizes the fundamentals. The one guy that is a perfect choice in my opinion, is the Cubs own broadcaster Bob Brenly. Brenly already has won the world series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he know how to play baseball the right way.  Cubs fans get the chance to hear Brenly’s expertise on a regular basis, as he criticizes the obvious lack of baseball intelligence this Cubs team has.

Now, onto Jim Hendry, who should have been fired last year, but somehow managed to keep his job. To those who credit Hendry for trading a bad contract in Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva, remember that Hendry was one that gave that horrendous contract to Bradley in the first place. He could have picked any free agent right fielder which included Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn, and Raul Ibanez and they all would have been better than Bradley. Not to mention that Hendry also inflated the Cubs payroll with bad contracts that he dished out to Kosuke Fukudome, John Grabow, Carlos Zambrano, and Alfonso Soriano.  And, even if the Cubs become sellers this year, it is going to be very difficult to trade any of those players, either because of the bloated contracts, or the fact that they have a no trade clause.

The Cubs next General Manager has to be someone that has a great baseball mind. Someone that is determined to improve the farm system, as well as making timely deals that make sense from a baseball standpoint. Something, Jim Hendry has not done for a long time.