Jim Hendry Cubs Fired: Cubbies Finally Do Something Right By Canning GM

Firing Jim Hendry was the best move the Chicago Cubs have made in years, and perhaps now they can start rebuilding the pieces of a once-proud franchise.

Hendry has been the general manager of the Cubs since 2002. He saw three of his teams make the postseason and leaves the Cubs with a record of 749-748 during his tenure.

That doesn’t seem too bad, right?

While three postseason berths is nothing to scoff at, an overall record of just over .500 is nearing pathetic, especially when you consider that this is the Chicago Cubs we are talking about.

This would be understandable, and quite frankly more than acceptable, if Hendry was the general manager of the Royals or the Orioles, but the Chicago Cubs?

No way, that’s not going to fly in Chicago.

Now, if Hendry’s time with the Cubs was only judged off of his record and playoff appearances I think there was no way that he would be looking for a job right now.

Unfortunately for Hendry, that’s not the case.

His tenure in Chicago may be remembered most for the bold and quite frankly stupid contracts that he doled out to his players.

Back in 2006 Hendry handed a $136 million eight-year contract to outfielder Alfonso Soriano. At the time, Soriano was one of the best offensive players in the game and the Cubs were coming off a dismal 66-96 year, but if you’ve followed Soriano’s time with the Cubs since then you would know that he has been anything but worth such a huge contract.

The money that the Cubs forked over to Soriano is just one example of a bad Hendry contract.

Hendry’s intentions may have been good, but his execution and decision making as a general manager was extremely flawed.

His best prospects washed out, his managers made fools of themselves, and the Cubs have become the laughing stock of baseball.

Overall, his teams have been embarrassing, and that alone is worth being fired over.

The Cubs are in the midst of another horrible season, but they may have finally gotten a win here.

Firing Jim Hendry is the right thing for the Cubs to do, and to be frank it is long overdue.

They have been hindered by his bad decision making and gaudy spending for far too long, so getting out from under the oppression of his idiocy is literally the biggest win they could have gotten during this dismal season.

It’s not going to show up in the record books, and it’s not going to launch them on a magical post-season run. But, what it will do is allow the Cubs to take a step back and figure out how to best turn this thing around.

The Chicago Cubs have finally done something right.

It’s been a long time in coming…