06-27-2009, 12:32 AM
<!--quoteo(post=46577:date=Jun 26 2009, 10:17 PM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jun 26 2009, 10:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->No one is arguing that the players don't share the bulk of the blame for this season, but the fact is that 2 gentlemen are most responsible for constructing this flaccid roster. If you can't blame the people pulling the strings for the results on the field, you might as well have a computer running the team and never hire a manager or GM in the first place. Or hell, just name an honorary Manager and GM for life, because they don't really matter.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Rok, if tomorrow, Hendry traded for Pujols, and he proceeded to hit .250 with 8 home runs, would that be Hendry's "fault"? Pinellas? Or Pujols? Obviously what has happened to this team isn't as extreme, but the concept remains. Hendry put together a team that, according to the statheads at baseball prospectus, who pretty much despise Hendry by the way, was so loaded that the Cubs couldn't help but walk over the Central. The fact that this offense has exactly TWO guys with an OPS+ better than their career average (Theriot, Fuk), and of those 2 Fuk is the only one with a better OPS than last year (and we shall see where he ends up after a fast start), means the offense, as Hendry put it together, is not performing.
So what I am saying is that the players (and this is important) don't "share" the bulk of the blame. They shoulder pretty much the entire fucking load. If those guys were just average, simply played roughly as good as BOTH scouts and statheads expected them to play, the Cubs would be in first place. Comfortably. Because the starting staff and the bullpen that Hendry has put together has been pretty good. Hendry has put this team in a position to win. I'm not saying he is a genius, because he did a lot of it by throwing money at the problem. But the 2009 Cubs failures are NOT his fault. It is Soto's fault. And Soriano's fault. And Fontenot's fault. And Bradley's fault. And Fuk's fault. And so on.
The honorary GM stuff is unfair, as if Hendry had put together a horseshit team, he would deserve to get fired. He didn't. The honorary manager thing is actually closer to the truth that many of you realize. Unless a manager is going out of his way to screw things up (I think Baylor was guilty of this with his constant bunting), for the most part a manager has much less influence on a game than sports talk radio callers and team fan sites would lead you to believe.
Rok, if tomorrow, Hendry traded for Pujols, and he proceeded to hit .250 with 8 home runs, would that be Hendry's "fault"? Pinellas? Or Pujols? Obviously what has happened to this team isn't as extreme, but the concept remains. Hendry put together a team that, according to the statheads at baseball prospectus, who pretty much despise Hendry by the way, was so loaded that the Cubs couldn't help but walk over the Central. The fact that this offense has exactly TWO guys with an OPS+ better than their career average (Theriot, Fuk), and of those 2 Fuk is the only one with a better OPS than last year (and we shall see where he ends up after a fast start), means the offense, as Hendry put it together, is not performing.
So what I am saying is that the players (and this is important) don't "share" the bulk of the blame. They shoulder pretty much the entire fucking load. If those guys were just average, simply played roughly as good as BOTH scouts and statheads expected them to play, the Cubs would be in first place. Comfortably. Because the starting staff and the bullpen that Hendry has put together has been pretty good. Hendry has put this team in a position to win. I'm not saying he is a genius, because he did a lot of it by throwing money at the problem. But the 2009 Cubs failures are NOT his fault. It is Soto's fault. And Soriano's fault. And Fontenot's fault. And Bradley's fault. And Fuk's fault. And so on.
The honorary GM stuff is unfair, as if Hendry had put together a horseshit team, he would deserve to get fired. He didn't. The honorary manager thing is actually closer to the truth that many of you realize. Unless a manager is going out of his way to screw things up (I think Baylor was guilty of this with his constant bunting), for the most part a manager has much less influence on a game than sports talk radio callers and team fan sites would lead you to believe.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.