Jim Hendry Will Face Limitations This Offseason with the Chicago Cubs

With the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series, the Major League Baseball season has come to a close. Cubs fans could only sit and watch, wondering what might have been. It could’ve just as easily been Kerry Wood and Geovany Soto celebrating the final out with their teammates in front of the Wrigley faithful; but alas, it was not meant to be.

For Cubs fans, it will be a long, cold winter, left with only a bitter taste in their collective mouths as the dream season quickly turned nightmarish in four days. The team that won 97 games seemed to all but have vanished into the summer wind. Studs turned to duds and the heroes who helped this team reach levels that have never been witnessed before by Cubs fans turned into villains.

In all honesty, what can General Manager Jim Hendry do to improve a team that won 97 games? All the pieces seemed to be in place during the regular season. Hendry’s free-spending capabilities are limited, as the team remains in a state of financial limbo waiting to be sold to a new owner.  

Hendry’s first priorities should be re-signing free agents Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood. Both Dempster and Wood played huge roles in winning the Central Division.

Word on the street is the Cubs are trying to acquire Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres. If Hendry is able to obtain a player of Peavy’s caliber, it would make an already decent rotation even better, but it would also send a message to a very angry fanbase.

Cubs fans have every right in the world to be upset this time around. The team teases them with a season that not many have seen before only to go three and out in the playoffs.

Hendry would be wise to sell the farm for Peavy because it makes the Cubs the front-runners to win the National League, but also it is a nice insurance policy, in case Dempster leaves via free agency.   

Outside of bringing back key contributors in Wood and Dempster, the Cubs don’t have any glaring needs. This is a team that won 97 games for a reason, so why mess with a good thing.

However, acquiring a new starting right fielder in lieu of Fukudome being a $48 million bust would be in Hendry’s best interest.