Baseball Official: Hendry Won't Deal Maddux for Prospects
Submitted by cubsnet on Wed, 2006-07-19 14:37.
At least one "baseball official" "familiar with [Jim] Hendry's thinking" believes that Hendry won't deal Greg Maddux for just minor league prospects, reports ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. "'The Cubs aren't going to take two minor-league prospects for him," said [the official]. 'If they trade Maddux, you're going to know who it was for.'"
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trades
This is fine by me in theory, but I have to wonder what it really means in practice. Certainly Maddux would be traded to a contender, and what kind of contender would have players who are contributing on a major league level that they're willing to give up? How many deadline deals in the last few years have happened like that?
Add this to the news (again, only a rumor) that Hendry isn't shopping Eyre or Howry, and it makes me wonder just where his mind is right now. True, these are only rumors and speculation, but does Hendry really believe this team is close?
Really, a little bit of foresight would be nice.
Being close
I think that's it -- I would not be suprised if Hendry does believe that the Cubs are close. A little more health, maybe a new leftfielder or second baseman picked up in the offseason, a tweaking of the bench, and off we go.
Hendry also believes in the power of the bullpen. It's why he throws a lot of money at it each year. And now that he's got a couple of decent relievers, he's not going to let them go.
re: being close
You're probably right. I'm sure Hendry's working off of his memories of how the awful 2002 team became the glorious 2003 team. Obviously these things can happen.
But it's painfully obvious in hindsight that the 2003 team was not built to last. Nobody from that team is even still with the club except for Zambrano, Wood, and Prior. That's just not the way one goes about building a ballclub that's going to be competitive year-in and year-out. It's the way to go about building a ballclub that, if everything breaks your way, you might have a shot that year.
I really think Hendry's gearing up for another year just like this one: not just a house of cards, but one built on a foundation of sand. Some of the problems they've had have been predictable, and some haven't, but the point is that he was completely unprepared for any problems at all. The whole thing simply collapsed at the first sign of bad luck, and in response all he could do was just throw up his hands and complain that the team isn't "whole".