Chicago Cubs: Jim Hendry Will Likely Return as GM Despite Record of Failure

They are the second-worst team in the National League. They are the third-worst team in all of baseball. They are 10 games behind division-leaders Milwaukee and St. Louis, and in fifth place in the NL Central.

Yet, despite this futility, Cubs GM Jim Hendry says there will be no fire sale. In fact, his chief scout, Gary Hughes, even goes so far as to claim that the Cubs could be buyers at the trade deadline.

Um, crazy men say what?

Look, this is what you get when you have an owner in Tom Ricketts that doesn't know baseball and is relying on his eyes, and only his eyes, to make decisions on the front office.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but instead of hiring a real baseball man to help oversee things, he is allowing his own uninformed opinions to guide his evaluation of Hendry.

And guess what? He likes Hendry. Believe me, Cubs fans, Hendry will still be your GM in 2012.

Back to the fire sale comment for a minute. I understand why the Cubs wouldn't want to unload pieces that may help them in the long run.

But the problem with flat-out stating that you won't even consider offers for Carlos Marmol and Ryan Dempster, for example, is you are unnecessarily limiting yourself from the prospect of being blown away by a trade offer that could make your team better in the long run.

For the long run is all you have.

Hendry might be delusional enough to think his team can still get back in the race, but he is motivated by the final year of his contract coming up and his desire to build a short-term winner to impress Ricketts enough to sign him to a shiny new deal.

Make no mistake—if the Cubs turn this thing around, even just for next season, Ricketts will re-sign his man. Hendry knows this, so he is guided to keep bringing in vets that can help him improve the W-L record at the expense of developing the kids and building for a successful future.

A new GM wouldn't have that dilemma.

Ricketts could tell him that he understands that a rebuilding process is needed and that to ensure long-term sustainability he has his back to take a temporary step backward while building for the future.

That means trading your chips for younger prospects. But Hendry won't do this, see, because that is unlikely to help him win now. And winning now is all he cares about.

So, no, Cubs fans, it is not a fait accompli that Hendry will be gone after this season. We're stuck with him and his penchant for giving long-term, expensive contracts to marginal players while throwing out no-trade clauses as if they were candy.

Meanwhile, what has his farm system actually produced?

Starlin Castro. Oh, and Andrew Cashner may still have a solid future if he can get healthy and the Cubs can decide if he's a starter or a reliever.

Other than that, Darwin Barney is no more than a nice utility infielder. Tyler Colvin, as predicted, may not even have that much value.

Josh Vitters and his sweet swing wouldn't take a pitch if his life depended on it.

In short, there are really no impact youngsters coming to the Cubs anytime soon. And that is on Hendry.

Ah, but he still holds onto his job. No accountability. Total accident forgiveness.

Don't you wish Ricketts was your boss?