For the Chicago Cubs in 2010, things have gone from bad to worse to horrible. The team has now fallen 12 games below .500 before the halfway point of the season. And if you've watched the Cubs at all this year, it looks like they're collectively playing out the string with an entire half a season to play. They have been harshly criticized by fans and media, and deservedly so. While starting pitching has been solid through most of the season, hitting on this team has been dreadful. The Cubs enter the 4th of July weekend as the 3rd worst hitting team in the NL. The team has played more one run games than any team in baseball (30) and have won only 11 of them. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have been in season long slumps. Ryan Theriot has 7 extra base hits in nearly 300 at-bats. Additionally, the team continues to exhibit an abysmal display of fundamentals. Players routinely miss cut off men and fail to move runners into scoring position. Overall base running has been inept. As the Cubs' arrow continues to point down, there are others besides players in the organization to blame for this mess. Lou Piniella, historically a very good manager, did an excellent job in his first two seasons with the cubs--leading the team to back to back National League division central titles in 2007 and 2008. However, he now appears lethargic and weathered by the awesome responsibility of trying to lead the cubs to a pennant. He says so much when interviewed by the media. His growing passiveness combined with a tendency over the last two years to unconditionally play slumping veterans over younger players has created a sagging, pulseless feeling on this team. Who ever thought that fiery Lou, the man with years of experience both as a player and manager handling the relentless media and pressures of New York, would succumb to the pressure of running the Cubs?
Current Cubs general manager, Jim Hendry, may be the person who holds the greatest responsibility in the team's downward spiral. It is beyond the scope of this blog entry to detail all of Hendry's blunders throughout the last decade. In summary, Hendry's greatest failures include terrible organization scouting and player development from 2002 through 2006, bad contracts to free agents with back loaded money and no trade clauses, and questionable free agent signings. The Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano, and Kosuke Fukedome signings were colossal mistakes with reeling team payroll implications for 2011 and beyond. Jim Hendry deserves some credit for helping lead the team to 3 division championships over the last decade. And when it comes to trading marginal prospects to a vulnerable team with horrible payroll issues to get good players in return (i.e. Aramis Ramirez, Rich Harden), Jim has been pretty good at that. What general manager wouldn't be? But overall, Hendry has been given too much time and too much money to make this team better. And things have just gotten worse.
Tom Ricketts, the new owner of the Cubs, has done a lot of things in his first year of ownership that most would consider to be pretty fun. He has handed out hot chocolate to fans standing outside of Wrigley Field in February waiting to purchase tickets for the upcoming season. He has given fans free beer at bars nearby Wrigley Field on opening day hours before the game. He's tinkered with Wrigley Field, built a shiny new Toyota sign in the left field bleachers, and has held negotiation wars with the cowboys out in Mesa, Arizona about a new extravagant "Wrigley West" spring training facility with the threat of bolting for pink flamingo grapefruit baseball in Florida (yuck). Now it's time for Ricketts to get down to business--baseball business. Fire Jim Hendry and get a new general manager.
If Ricketts and the rest of the Cub brass decide to bring in another general manager, they may not have to look too far outside the organization. Tim Wilken, current Cubs' director of scouting (pictured above at the top) may be just the right man for the job. Wilken, who was named director of scouting in 2006, has a long, impressive history of scouting and developing major league players going back some 30 years. He spent 27 years in the Toronto Blue Jays' front office rising up the ranks. During his time in Toronto, he was associated with having drafted a host of stand out major league players including Derek Bell, Chris Carpenter, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Roy Halladay, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Michael Young. While with the Blue Jays, he contributed to the team's string of 11 consecutive first round draft picks reaching the major leagues. This is an incredible John Wooden-like streak. After a long run in Toronto, Wilken spent a few years working in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office as a special assistant to the general manager. During this time he helped the team make several key player acquisitions such as stealing away starting pitcher Scott Kazmir from the Mets. After a brief stint in Tampa Bay, the Cubs were fortunate to lure Wilken in early 2006 to become director of team scouting.
Since taking over the Cubs' scouting and drafting responsibilities in 2006, Wilken's early results look promising. In his first 4 drafts with the cubs, he has selected outfielder Tyler Colvin, infielder Josh Vitters, pitcher Andrew Cashner, and outfielder Brett Jackson. Both Colvin and Cashner are currently playing for the Cubs and appear to be legitimate major league players. Outfielder Brett Jackson (pictured below) is now considered by team insiders as the fastest rising prospect in the organization. Wilken was also responsible for acquiring current Cub shortstop Starlin Castro as a free agent. Castro is doing a lot of learning on the job. But at the tender age of 20, he appears to be another at least quality-level major league player. So already in 4 years, the Cubs are seeing players drafted or acquired by Wilken climb up the ranks to the major league level. Compare these select players to the highly touted draft picks of the Cubs as directed by Jim Hendry from 2002-2006: Bobby Brownlie, Ryan Harvey, Grant Johson, and Mark Pawlek. These guys are no where to be found at the Cubs' major league level 5 to 8 years after being drafted.
At heart, Wilken is a baseball lifer, an old scout--a guy who has a proven history of drafting and developing players at the major league level. Some critics look at his short time in Tampa and suggest that he is not ready nor will ever be ready to take on a role as general manager of a major league team. But Wilken's profile might be the perfect match for running the Cubs as a general manager given the economic dynamics of major league baseball (and the Chicago Cubs) in 2010 and years to come. It's clear that owner Tom Ricketts is focusing much of his efforts in his first year on squeezing out as much revenue for the team as possible. Nothing hurts the Cubs' payroll and revenue more than Jim Hendry consistently fouling up some horrible free agent contracts (i.e. Milton Bradley). Ricketts knows fundamentally and economically that the development of talent from within the organization is a vital component of eventual success. Look at current small market teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins and even big payroll teams like the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. The next general manager of the Cubs will need to think like a small market team even if there is some money to throw around on free agents.
Jim Hendry has had his time in Chicago as Cubs general manager. The team got 5 outs away from a world series in 2003 during his regime. They won 3 NL central division championships in 6 seasons. But now it's time for new owner Tom Ricketts to blow this team up and build it the right way without spending/wasting a fortune. Tim Wilken, the old crusty baseball life scout with a proven history of major league player evaluation and development going back to the late 70's, may be the perfect fit.
The following sources contributed to this post:
http://www.toweldrills.com/2008/06/tim-wilken-director-of-scouting.html
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/messages/chrono/21009161
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/2361674,CST-SPT-cub07.article
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