Come To Think Of It...Cubs and White Sox Share One City Yet Worlds Apart

Jim Hendry and Ken Williams, the men who generally manage our baseball teams in Chicago, have much differing viewpoints when it comes to the state of their ballclubs.

For Jim Hendry, life is wonderful, couldn't be better, thank you. We're coming off of a 97-win season, you know. Oh sure, we didn't get the job done in the playoffs, but hey, those things happen. We'll do some tweaking and go get 'em next year.

For Ken Williams, life is complicated, wrought with question marks. We're coming off of a division title, also. In fact, we even won a game in the playoffs. But our fans want to win the World Series. 2005 created that expectation. And in order to keep the fans coming out, we need to keep winning. We're willing to blow this thing up if we have to.

You see, Cubs fans will fill Wrigley Field no matter how the team plays next year. Don't get me wrong - Cubs fans desperately want to win. We're sick and tired of the whole 100 year curse and all that garbage. But with the neighborhood bars beckoning, the beauty of the antiquated ballpark, the fans will be there win or lose.

Ah, but for the Sox it's a different story. Their fans are fair weather fans when it comes to attendance. Now I don't mean that to be derogatory by any means. Their fans still love their team. It's just that they won't fill the park, generally speaking, unless the team is winning. And even then, sometimes, they still don't fill the park.

This dichotomy is why the GMs of both ballparks respond as they do. While Hendry is satisfied tweaking a club he knows will be competitive next year, Kenny Williams is willing to trade anyone he feels will help improve the team. He has to.

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote that the Sox are making "anybody and everybody available."  Jermaine Dye? Certainly. Bobby Jenks? Possibly. Javier Vazquez? Very much so. Nick Swisher? Already gone, my friend.  

Understand that Williams won't simply give these guys away. Oh no, he will demand a fair return. But the point is that since he can't just throw money at the problem via the free agency route, they need to be open-minded about trades of any kind.

On the North Side, however, mention to Jim Hendry that he should consider trading Derrek Lee, for example, and he looks at you as if you've lost your mind. He knows Soriano and Fukudome are untradeable, but doesn't seem to understand the need to break up this team because it can't win in the playoffs. He keeps pointing to the fact that he has the nucleus of a team that won 97 games so why tear it up?  

This conservative mind set means that the Cubs may have another good regular season, followed by yet another offseason of heartbreak. Conversely, Williams' mind set, while not guaranteeing anything, does lend itself better to hitting the proverbial home run. Dream big, and you just might win big.

So there you have it. Two men coming off of very similar seasons, yet at the same time, having wildly differing outlooks. The Cubs choked, no doubt, but don't try and tell Lou Piniella or Hendry that. The Sox outperformed their expectations, so their "one and out" routine in the playoffs wasn't nearly as heartbreaking. But the fans understand.

What good is another 97 win season unless it comes giftwrapped with a title? Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. To Hendry and Piniella, it would be disappointing again, but still a great season, not the end of the world.

Two men, two teams, two fan bases, one city. Yet worlds apart when you come to think of it...