Cubs' Jed Hoyer Needs to Find His Inner Jim Hendry

Upon reading that headline, your first thought might be “Who is/was Jim Hendry?” Older fans might recall him as the Chicago Cubs‘ GM from 2001 to August 19, 2011. While Hendry’s time as the Cubs’ GM was somewhat of a mixed bag, the Cubs of 2003 were his masterpiece.

You might remember that team as the “Five Outs Away Team.” If that doesn’t jog your memory, let me give you two words. Steve Bartman.

High points of Hendry’s tenure

Prior to the 2003 season, and during the 2003 season, Hendry made some moves that made that year’s Cubs’ team one of the best teams in Cubs’ history before the 2015 and 2016 teams. The 2003 team won 88 games after winning just 67 the year before. What accounted for that turnaround?

In 2001 the Cubs had signed free agent catcher Todd Hundley. Hundley was originally welcomed with open arms by Cubs fans, who held Todd’s father, Randy, in high esteem. While in Chicago Todd quickly undermined that good will. His lack of production and poor relationship with the fans, combined with his huge for the time contract, morphed Hundley into a toxic asset. But I need to regress for just a moment.

In 2002 Hundley hit 16 home runs and had an OPS of .735. That doesn’t look too toxic when compared with the current Cubs’ catching situation. Actually, it seems Ruthian.

At the time Hundley was considered almost unmovable. So, what did Hendry do? He managed to trade him to the Dodgers for Mark Alphabet Grudzielanek and Eric Karros. They were the right side of the Cubs’ infield for the 2003 season.

For context, when you think of Mark Grudzielanek, imagine Nico Hoerner with a better bat. His OPS for the 2003 season was .782.

As for Karros, in 386 plate appearances. he hit 12 home runs and put together an OPS of .786. In fairness, he was considered a defensive liability so ultimately, he had a negative WAR. But he did date Belinda Carlisle. Of course that speaks more of his off the field game. For some reason I thought it was worth mentioning.

But Hendry saved his best work for during the 2003 season.

Two stars for the price of none

The Cubs started off 2003 with a promising Corey Patterson as their center fielder. Then Patterson injured a knee. What’s a GM to do?

Well, Hendry went to the Pirates, who seemed to serve as the Cubs ATM for a period of time and made a withdrawal. Not only did he withdraw a great center fielder in Kenny Lofton, but he also picked up Hall of Very Good candidate third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

After that, the Cubs stormed into the playoffs. But what did Hendry use as an ATM card to extract these key players from the Pirates? Two infielders. Jose Hernandez and Bobby Joe Hill. Jose Hernandez had a nice career but was certainly not worth Lofton and ARam. As for Bobby Hill, you can catch his adventures on King of the Hill. Hold on, that’s the wrong Bobby Hill. Hill had 593 plate appearances in his career and put up an OPS of .689.

While Jim Hendry’s overall record as Cubs GM wasn’t great, he did go in an incredible hot streak.

Jim Hendry is a now a special assistant to Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman.