Hendry won't blow up Cubs
ST. LOUIS — Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and his staff have set up shop in St. Louis to prepare for any possible last-minute trades before the July 31 nonwaiver deadline.
Hendry did not seem to foresee any major deals. With the Cubs in fifth place in the National League Central and going nowhere, Hendry was asked about the notion of “blowing it up and starting over.”
That's not likely to happen, either.
Many Cubs fans no doubt want big changes.
On Friday, they watched the Cubs drop their fourth straight game, 9-2 to the Cardinals. The big highlight for the crowd of 42,042 was the Cardinals' Albert Pujols picking up his 2,000th career hit, a double off Carlos Marmol in the eighth inning.
The Cubs fell to a season-worst 22 games under .500 at 42-64.
“When you say ‘rebuild,' there are certain people that won't be back, obviously,” Hendry said. “There are a whole lot of people that we should be happy with — young players, the two kids in the middle (shortstop Starlin Castro and second baseman Darwin Barney). We're hoping (Tyler) Colvin gets back to where he was.
“Marlon (Byrd) has been a fine player here. He's got another year of his contract. You have basically a bullpen of a lot of guys coming back who are very good. Everybody should certainly be encouraged by the year (reliever) Jeff Samardzija's had and where he's going and the year (James) Russell has put together since he went back into the bullpen only.
“Sean Marshall is going to be here. (Carlos) Marmol is going to be here. You always need some kind of rebuilding when you're in fifth place. You certainly don't look at it like, ‘Oh, we're not going to put a (competitive) team out for a few years.
“When somebody says ‘blow the place up and start over and do it right,' OK, does that mean we should get rid of the people that are real young and real good? Pittsburgh, weren't they 20 games under (.500) a year ago and now in contention? And Cleveland?”
Hendry noted that “for the first time in a few years, there are significant dollars coming off the books.”
“All you need is for your young people to keep getting better and you make the right moves with the money that will now be available, and why couldn't you be right back in it?” he asked.
The subject of rebuilding came up at first on Thursday, when third baseman Aramis Ramirez talked of the possibility of being open to a trade. Ramirez said again Friday being part of a building process does not appeal to him.
“We have to get better,” he said. “We have to get good players, and that's the bottom line. I don't know where, what position you want to upgrade. But we all know what ‘rebuilding' means. And that's no secret. If that's what they want to do, when you go through a rebuilding process, that means you want to develop young guys. And I'm 33. I don't think I'm young anymore. I don't think a player like me is part of a rebuilding process.”
If ever a team looks like it needs rubuilding, it's this one.
Against the Cardinals on Friday, the Cubs committed 2 fielding errors and made several other mistakes on the field. Starting pitcher Matt Garza, who has pitched well most of the season, fell to 4-8 with a 3.99 ERA. The Cardinals scored 3 runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.
“Sloppy,” said manager Mike Quade. “Three physical mistakes that hurt us. ... The total package wasn't good.”