Hendry Tied Piniella's Hands!

It seems more clear to me that Hendry will lose his job because of this year. Not that any but the best of GM's would have much of a chance with a new owner coming in, but Hendry this off season, in his kid in the candy store approach to spend the twenty dollar bill he found, has brought in players with no thought to how they help the team.

Piniella is now faced with this absurd surplus of outfielder's of which none can actually field their position. If we look at this team objectively, you understand how Piniella's hands are tied.

Backup player's are the type player who brings something to the table the starter doesn't. Like Blanco for instance. When we look at the Cubs outfield personnel, that's not the case.

I'm sure Piniella would have felt comfortable going to war after spring training with Pie in CF, but how many damn outfielder's was he going to carry?

Hendry dropped the ball by not trading Jones and eating some salary if need be. Pie is the LH bat that replaces Jones and his superior defense, as evidenced in yesterday's game where at least Ohman wasn't brought in until Piniella had no one left, demonstrated that superior defense can help the offense just like a HR or RBI.

As Cubs fans we just don't see great defensive play very often. When was the last time you saw a Cubs outfielder defensively intimidate the opposition's base runners?

Pie's defensive play yesterday demonstrates how numb we've become and how clueless Hendry is realizing how great defensive play can help the team. When Soriano comes back are you going to tell me he belongs in CF after seeing Pie play there? Why should Pie be sent back down? Is it money? My answer is yes and I'll tell you why. Outside of Soriano, Jones is the biggest contract in the outfield. If it wasn't a matter of money, why wasn't Jones traded when Floyd was acquired? You guessed it, the Cubs would rather eat their children than eat part of a contract. Unless of course they are trading away a HOF pitcher. Don't you think the Cubs would've received a player like Izturis for Jones? Of course they could have.

Hendry's dumb moves go even further with the signing of DeRosa. Now don't get me wrong, I like the way DeRosa has performed, but why would you pay a career utility man starters money when you had The Riot on the team? The organizational scouting department is clueless.

There was a study done by one of these Baseball America type organizations that showed a player's stats on what percentage of the time he scored per plate appearance. This list included Pujols, Seizmore, Utley, Beltran and players of that stature as scoring with the greatest frequency per plate appearance. Do you know who was #1 on that list last year? Ryan Theriot aka The Riot.

The Riot has speed and more importantly knows how to steal bases, doesn't strike out much, good OBP, seems to play at least average defense, and cost what, $600,000?

Want more great Hendry moves? Ok let me ask you this. How does Guzman get sent down to bring up Pie and not Ohman? I'm waiting? Cat got your tongue? Let me share with you this little nugget. Do you know San Diego has zero LHRP's and they are leading the league in ERA? What good is a LHRP if he sucks? Guzman was sent down because he has options but Ohman should be released. It's to bad because we could've made a deal with the Indians this off season as their bullpen was and is still a mess. Come on, the Indians have 42 year old Roberto Hernandez as a setup man and 38 year old Borowski closing. But once again, Hendry's failure to make a trade and move Ohman in the off season means that after his showing during the regular season, the only option is to release him. Will Hendry do that? Ohman makes only a couple of million a year but that's still no guarantee they'll eat even that paltry sum. Enough said as I could go on and on.

So now what? Well if I had Hendry's ear, the first thing I'd tell him is that his only chance of keeping his job is to Win or at least be in the World Series. Then for him to make these moves.

Pie's defense has to be in the starting lineup even if he hits 240.

Jones needs to be traded immediately, even if it means eating some of the contract which they may not have to do anyway.

Option Ohman to the minors, he probably won't clear waivers but who gives a shit. His contract is peanuts.

If Miller struggles after a couple of more starts, option him as well and slide Guzman into the fifth spot and bring up Rocky Cherry.

This team is definitely a work in progress but Pinella seems more than willing to play his best people. If Hendry would clear some of the dead weight that ties Piniella's hands, the team will be in much better shape.