Hendry fields them from all directions

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was neither combative nor defensive, but he was forceful in his explanations about what he has accomplished so far this off-season.

During the annual question-and-answer session with fans - who had to cede much of their time to two WGN radio hosts - a fully caffeinated Hendry and baseball management members talked about everything from the trade of popular infielder Mark DeRosa to the signing of controversial outfielder Milton Bradley to the team's playoff collapse after winning 97 games last year.

"A lot of questions are like, 'Are we building a team for the regular season instead of the playoffs,' and that's really kind of an impossible thing to do," Hendry said at the annual Cubs convention. "It's hard to win the division. We're going to continue to try to get in until we knock that door down. There really isn't an answer to like, 'Can you play differently in October than you do in August and September?'"

The topic of DeRosa came up quickly. Hendry traded the versatile player last month to the Cleveland Indians for three minor-league pitchers, whom Hendry promised will be good. The idea, Hendry said, was to get more balance in the lineup. DeRosa bats right-handed, but the Cubs want more at-bats for the left-handed hitting Mike Fontenot. Bradley and recently signed infielder Aaron Miles both are switch hitters.

"Mark is a really, really good player and a terrific guy for us," Hendry said. "I think we all sat in here two years ago (with) more or less a lot of criticism of why we brought in the high-priced utility player, Mark DeRosa. The fellow sitting next to me, (assistant GM) Randy Bush, is the one who scouted Mark in Texas and really pushed me to (sign him). He did an outstanding job for us.

"That being said, we looked at ourselves honestly at the end of the year. I think we will all agree that we were probably a little too right-handed in the lineup. Truthfully, most of that should go on me for not having a little better situation last year from the left side."

Hendry's hackles were raised slightly when WGN radio host John Williams asked if someone would pull Bradley aside and say, "'We've got a good clubhouse. We want you to behave a certain way," or is that just sort of assumed, and you never actually say that?

"Speaking of assuming," Hendry began, "I think you've assumed in that question that he's not good in the clubhouse. We knew we needed a left-handed hitter by the first week of October, and if you noticed, we didn't sign Milton until the first week of January. So there was a heck of a lot of work done, a lot of information gathering, a lot of medical testing, a lot of discussion with a lot of his ex-teammates from every club, managers, general managers.

"I can promise you: Milton has made some mistakes. He's done some things on the field - snapping a few times that he shouldn't have - and he'd be the first to admit it. But as far as far as being a good teammate and an extremely hard worker and a guy that wants to win as much as anybody in that game, the negativity that was bantered around about him having problems in clubhouses couldn't be farther from the truth. He's a well-respected teammate and liked teammate by everybody that's played with him."

The meeting took a somewhat lighter tone when a fan asked team chairman Crane Kenney why he brought a Greek Orthodox priest in to bless the Cubs' dugout before last year's playoffs began, in which the Cubs wound up being swept by the Dodgers.

"That's one of the dumber things we've done, right?" Kenney said. "In my six years of decisions, that's probably maybe (No.) 2 or 3 in the dumb things that we've done."