I had a sobering chat with a member of a rival front office as the trade deadline was coming to a close.
“If it was our front office you, would have seen a much different trade deadline,” he told me of what he believes his organization would have done in the Cubs’ shoes. “Pena and Marmol and Garza would all be gone, just to start. Anyone who didn’t have a no-trade clause would be on the block.”
Clearly, he was talking about a major rebuild project, but many believe that’s precisely what the Cubs’ organization needs. It may sound scary to trade someone like Matt Garza, but do you really think the Rockies, for example, are planning to suck for three years simply because they dealt Ubaldo Jimenez? No. They’re not. They simply understand that Jimenez had tremendous value in this market, and they could try and pick up several good, young players by trading one.
It’s this forward-thinking approach that seems to have eluded the Cubs for decades. As Aramis Ramirez said, “you can’t rebuild in a big market.” While that may be literally true, the Cubs’ position on what constitutes a “rebuild” has clearly been out of whack for some time. And the fans suffer for it.
Maybe Hendry is simply too nice to make the kind of hard moves necessary to turn this franchise around.
“Hendry just seems too close to his players,” the front office member told me, “and has lost sight that this is a business.”
His final words to me don’t bode well for Hendry’s future with the Cubs, but dovetail with what we’ve been hearing – and saying – for months.
“If you don’t produce wins, major changes must be made.”