As if there were any doubt that the Chicago Cubs – if they make trades at all – will be sellers this year, General Manager Jim Hendry has effectively removed all such doubt.
“Anything we will do, we’ll try to set us up better for the future,” Hendry said this weekend.
While he is bitter that the Cubs are not in contention this year, Hendry is at least being realistic.
“Like I told everybody the other day, we’re not ever going to go into a season thinking we’re not going to contend. In my mind, we should have been right in the thick of contention now. We just didn’t get it done. That being said, we’re starting to get better young players coming up in the system. A lot more of those guys are going to be coming in two or three years.”
Dealing contract-heavy veterans to open up spots for those youngsters will be one of Hendry’s primary tasks over the next few weeks. Still, he doesn’t envision the Cubs going into a full-on Marlins-style rebuild.
“We’re not going overhaul the program and think, ‘Oh, we’re going to be young for a couple years and can’t win.’ We’re going to go into it to get ready for next season thinking we’re going to contend again just having the ability of having some of our young guys come up and be part of that.”