Cubdom Reacts To Furcal Signing

Yeah, after my immediate angered response last night(sry for the vulgarity), my awakening this morning made me realize that the Dodgers vastly overpaid.

It is still very disappointing, but it only stresses much more importance on what Jim Hendry does with the holes he has, and what Dusty can do with that.....both being in the last year of their deals.....

Jim, A Star is a Star…

…no matter what position he plays…

All along that “dynamic duo” of Baker and Hendry have been telling us how hard it is to find a good leadoff hitter, so why was Hendry caught absolutely “flat footed” by the Dodger offer to Furcal? Did he expect something this rare to come at a common price?

I am absolutely positive, though he certainly won’t admit it, that this morning, Hendry laments his inaction to seal the deal for Furcal. Furcal was THE pivotal guy, THE single most needed improvement for the Cubs, and yet Hendry misread the market dynamics in play this season and got caught playing it cute or cozy!

Furcal, at least by today’s standards, is a star leadoff hitter, a switch hitter with base stealing speed and ability that would also have helped immensely to balance the lineup, a young gold glove caliber SS….in other words: a STAR at what he does, and he deserved to be paid accordingly. You don’t have to hit HRs to be a star. The rookie GM of the Dodgers recognized this point as well as the market dynamics and Hendry did NOT!

Hendry SHOULD know something about stars. It was only a couple of years ago, that he WAS considered one, himself. What made Hendry a star was his bold decisiveness. But now he seems choked with caution and indecision. Is that because he is resting on his “laurels”? I don’t think so. Jim works extremely hard at his job. Is it because he listens WAY TOO MUCH to Baker? That IS part of it. Baker was his first and largest mistake, even today. However, as it relates to Furcal, I just think that he has begun thinking that he has to live up to his former “star” status by cutting things too close in his decision making, and trying to make the “perfect” deal or the “perfect” evaluation of cost vs. talent. Ned read Hendry’s “book”, and absolutely stole the plum out of Hendry’s pie!

Hendry’s hiring of Baker was Hendry’s Strike one. His “fingerprints on the knife” (along with MacPhail’s and Baker’s) involved in Stoneygate was his Strike Two! Since then he has been fouling off that third Strike…in Sosagate …in refusing to FIRE Baker… and now the Furcal fiasco! I like you, Jim, and want the best for both you and the Cubs, but there are only so many foul balls in that bat and you had better wake up or you will only be starring in your dreams of what might have been!

I'm with you for the most part, Bro. I will hold off until the season begins to make a final assessment of Hendry, though.

Cub Dom.

Cub Dumb.

Heh.

When your players can't bunt a person over, cant drive em in from 3rd, and cant steal bases you have to point to the coaching staff. And what did Jim Hencry do about this... nothing, kept all the coaches. I remember being at a cubs game last year In Florida. Derek Lee had a leedoff double, and our hottest hitter at the time was coming up in Aramis Ramirez. Dusty, the moron, decides to send Derek Lee running with no outs! He's tagged out at 3rd. Aram follows this with a singlr to left, and we end up getting the bases loaded with 2 outs, which by the way Derek Lee would have scored by now, and we fly out to center to end the inning, which, if Derek Lee hadnt been tagged out would have been a sacrifice fly. We lost that game by 1 run. WIthout Dusty's terrible call we would have won. I got back and watched the highlights, and this play did was not even shown. This is an example on how Dusty Baker loses us games, and it's sometimes seamingly such small mistakes it goes unnoticed.

sorry for getting off track from the Furcal discussion.

Wait...hold on...is there a salary cap in baseball?

No

So why are people trying to save the Tribune's money?

Instead of saying it's bid was final, Hendry should have held back and then topped the Dodgers with a 4 year deal. There are no other decent SS's available. I'll wait until Spring Training to evaluate Hendry as a whole, he has usually been good more times than not. So far, he is not impressing me.

I was preatty sure that the Cubs had missed the boat when the Dodgers offered a monster deal to Furcal. Hendry has already over paid for relievers, and he was probably not willing to hole himself with a burdensome contract (see Sammy Sosa.)He knows that he can aquire a leadoff hitter such as Juan Pierre for a much smaller price, and the trade market for middle infielders is rather strong this off-season. Also keep in mind that next year's Free agent crop figures to be a much stronger one. Leaving some breathing room for a big signing would not be a terrible idea.

Hendry has rarely been an excellent free agent GM. Rather, most of his deals have come from the trade territory. It is puzzling to me that he has not been more active in wheeling and dealing, but I suspect he is waiting for the market to further develope.

However, despite my usually optimistic outlook with Hendry, I will say that he has come to a turning point in the off-season. If he does not begin to turn the heat up on the stove in the next couple of weeks, mark off another miedocre year for my beloved Cubbies.

Noone is trying to "save the Tribunes money", but I think its a fair assessment that they won't be in the Yankee range of payroll....

But besides who they throw on the mound, C, 1st, & 3rd, there is a question mark at EVERY OTHER SINGLE POSITION.

So, yeah, it hurts to lose out on Furcal, but you have to give Hendry the benefit of the doubt. He has done his part to put a competitive team on the field. (albeit the occasional Remlinger/Hawkins signing...)

But now they have the time to fill their holes with whomever they choose to run after....No more blame can be put upon Sammy Sosa or 'the last available option (i.e. Burnitz).

The next 2 weeks are going to be interesting. I really think they are going to give Cedeno & Murton a chance. The WhiteSox & Braves both proved last year that you can win with youth & inexperience in the field & on offense, as long as you have the pitching....

So once again, the Cubs will probably field an average at-best lineup, with a rotation hanging on the balance of the few original muscle fibers left in Kerry Woods arm.

YES THAT IS TRUE!! I think we should go after Zito and Lowe

YES THAT IS TRUE!! I think we should go after Zito and Lowe