So much for that vote of confidence last week, huh?
Jim Hendry has been fired as the Cubs general manager, reports David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com. The termination is effective immediately. Kaplan reports that Hendry is currently meeting with the Cubs in the clubhouse, presumably being thanked by the players for all of those ridiculous contracts he handed out like so much candy. Randy Bush is the interim GM.
Hendry has been on board since 2002. It has been a surprisingly long tenure for someone with such a poor track record. The Cubs under his watch managed a decent season here or there, but they are currently hamstrung by bad contracts and poor roster construction. With $30 million coming off the payroll after this season, it’s a fine time to give someone else a shot. And that’s what Tom Ricketts is doing.
UPDATE: Hendry is currently speaking to the press, which you can see at CSNChicago.com. Some crazy stuff going down. Hendry says that he was actually fired on July 22nd, but that he was held on to get through the trade deadline and the signing of draft picks. If you’ll recall, the Cubs had a profoundly quiet deadline, moving no one of the many players many of us thought they would or at least should move. Hendry just touched on that saying that “those moves are for the next guy.” Certainly explains a lot.
Also worth noting that Hendry is really, really emotional, crying through the presser. Ugh. I know a lot of Cubs fans were waiting for this day, but there isn’t much joy to be had here.
