Some Back Up

Read this article in Monday's Sun Times by Jay Mariotti...

Money quote:

The man who has set back the Cubs is Jim Hendry. If he wasn't the man who also built them into a division champion, you might ask if his job should be in trouble. We're not sure if he has considered Lasik, but the general manager has developed blind spots that have reduced a pennant contender to a slacker in a division already ruled by the Cardinals, who scored 11 runs in the first inning Sunday and might clinch the National League Central by Memorial Day. So busy was Hendry in eradicating the clubhouse of Sammy Sosa and his Eminem-infested boombox, he seemed to forget about his other wintertime chores.

He left the Cubs without a closer, with Ryan [The Streaker] Dempster becoming the third pitcher to inherit the role in a month. He left them without corner outfield bats capable of justifying the loss of Sosa and Moises Alou. He lost an $8.25 million gamble that Nomar Garciaparra would avoid DL hell. He appears on his way toward losing the $32 million gamble that Kerry Wood would stay healthy for three seasons, which makes the departure of Matt Clement more painful, given his 4-0 record and 3.35 ERA in Boston.

I am pretty sure he must have been reading my blog - since I've making those exact same points since the first post back in March. I couldn't agree more with his points -- but the guy has chutzpah -- he was the one guy drumbeating for Sosa's departure since the cork bat incident, and still can't leave the guy alone.

Some of us said from the beginning that the reason we didn't make the playoffs last year had to do with the bullpen, not Sosa, but not Jay. He still won't stop on the poor guy. Pitiful if you ask me.