The big news in the baseball world this morning isn't on the field, as the Cubs announced earlier today that GM Jim Hendry has been dismissed from his role with the club. Hendry, the team's GM since 2002, led the Cubs to three division titles, but he also saddled the club with numerous bad contracts and struggled to build the franchise into a developmental powerhouse. Here are some thoughts from some very smart people from around the game:
- Over at ESPN.com, Jim Bowden lists some potential successors to Hendry, including retired GM Pat Gillick, former D-Backs GM Josh Byrnes, Dodgers assistant GM Logan White, Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington, Tigers assistant GM Al Avila and Athletics assistant GM David Forst, among others.
- As Marc Normandin notes for Baseball Nation, Hendry's last-gasp effort to retain his job by acquiring stud pitcher Matt Garza didn't work out, and now the Cubs are paying the price with a weaker farm system. It does kind of make you wonder if the Cubs should have simply let Hendry go last winter.
- According to Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo! Sports, the Cubs told Hendry on July 22 that he would be dismissed from his position, but he chose to stay on with the team until the club had signed all of its draft picks. A nice gesture by Hendry, who did a great job getting the likes of Javier Baez, Dan Vogelback, Dillon Maples, Shawon Dunston Jr. and others signed.
- Craig Calcaterra of HardballTalk has some of the details of Hendry's press conference, where he discussed his departure from the team. Apparently Hendry stayed with the club through today in order to get through the trade deadline and the draft pick signing deadline, although he later mentioned that he wasn't as active at the deadline because, "those moves are for the next guy." Calcaterra also noted that Hendry was extremely emotional, crying throughout the presser; while I screamed in joy because he's leaving, it's worth remembering that Hendry truly cared about his job and helping the Cubs organization.