The Cubs Off-Season

Lots of folks are disappointed in the Cubs activities so far in the off-season. In a way, I am too. But in another way, I'm not. To understand this, you need to look at what the Cubs did last year, after a season in which they won 97 games and scored a lot of runs. What they did was dump their closer, Kerry Wood, initially with the idea that Wood was not all that reliable and that Carlos Marmol was ready. Except that they then went out and got a really awful closer in Kevin Gregg, whom they stuck with way too long and then demoted. So this off-season they have dumped him.

They also dumped Jim Edmonds, Jason Marquis, and Mark DeRosa. Marquis went on to have a pretty good year, but I can see letting him go as he was and is very inconsistent. DeRosa also had a good year until he was hurt and letting him go was goofy. Edmonds was done anyway. But all this really paved the way for the rest of Hendry's acquisitions, which were just mindless in most cases and disastrous in the case of Bradley.

So during the off-season last year, we added Bradley, Miles, Gathright, Gregg, and Heilman. They all stunk and they are all gone now. What's more, we knew they would stink to begin with. So part of me wishes the Cubs would make some moves, and most of me dreads the moves they are likely to make based on this track record, especially when you add in the numerous other duds we've signed or dealt for in the past, including Jones, Floyd, and Soriano, just to hit the highlights.

This is not the sort of past performance that inspires confidence. So maybe our New Year's wish should be that Hendry is stymied in all his efforts to continue his history of errors and is forced to sit tight for a while. The last time this happened was between the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and we made some late moves and had the most successful season we've had in many years.