Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry Part 2: The Bad

(Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images)

When we last left our hero Jim Hendry, he was holding on for dear life as I was about to enter the bad phase of the trilogy.

With a huge payroll over the past several years, Hendry has spent like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

While the screws have been tightened a bit this year as the sale of the Cubs hangs in limbo, Hendry did not have his best offseason with the money he was allocated. However, this is not the ugly phase yet, so let’s proceed to the bad.

Needing a bullpen pitcher before the 2002 season when Tom Gordon went down, Hendry thought he would bring a circus act to join the clowns that have inhabited the big top at Wrigley over the past century.

Antonio (six fingers) Alfonseca joined the freak show at the house of horrors. Nothing was scarier than watching Alfonseca trudge to the mound to start the ninth inning. Completely out of shape and looking like he was ready to give birth any day, Alfonseca joined a long list of failures at the closer position.

He did come with a companion though, Matt Clement, who pitched well for the team for a couple of years.

The Cubs sent the Marlins psychotic reliever/starter Julian Tavarez along with a young lefty from the farm system named Dontrelle Willis.

Willis was Rookie of the Year in 2003 and a Cy Young candidate the following year. He’s fallen on some hard times lately, but would have looked really good in the Cub rotation for a few years there.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?