Please Leave Mr. Hendry.

As of today, Dusty Baker and team president Andy McPhail are no longer Chicago Cubs. That's two of the top three orchestrators of this Cubs debacle. The only one left is GM Jim Hendry. Apparently, he's staying.

Even though he left Baker hanging for over a month in the infamous Chicago wind, while trying to decide to fire Baker or not. Hendry eventually decided to let Baker stay through the rest of the year. I'm sure Baker is so thankful right now. I'm sure these last few months have been blissful for Baker. Baker has taken the brunt of the fan and media criticism. He does deserve some of it. He can handle players egos, but he can't count pitches. He thinks walks are overrated. Walks overrated? In this day and age? He loves giving washed up veterans like Nefi Perez everyday jobs. There are numerous other things he does wrong. Still, it's not all his fault.

Hendry's the one that has given multi-year contracts to these mediocre veterans with the hope of catching lightning in a bottle. He's the one that kept assuming Wood and Prior would be back. 10 year old Cub fans knew better than that. He's the one involved with stocking our farm season. So, who should get the blame that there was not a single first basemen to call up when Derek Lee went down with an injury? Hendry. The Cubs were left with putting a 2nd basemen at first, then a pinch hitter, and finally our second string catcher. Hendry is the one that keeps rolling the dice to try to when one year, rather than plan out an extensive plan in which the Cubs could contend for years. Hendry is the one that has given Baker the players. Andy McPhail fell on his sword after twelve years with the organization. Baker is going to go somewhere and probably win. Mr. Hendry please follow suit, and stop screwing up this organization while you try to save your job. Please leave.

I'd also like to point out that the new team president is the former head of marketing. Marketing! Here's one of the quotes from his introduction:

"Realistically, you want to go into every season thinking you're going to win the World Series," McDonough said. "Our goal is to win the World Series next year and the year after that."

Sigh. How about a five year plan to build from the ground up? How about we build a team rather than the bunch of forced together puzzle pieces? Here's to another 98 years.

Can I say how awful I feel as a Cubs fan right now? I would say I feel even worse now than after Gamer 6. Sure, the 2003 NL Championship series tore my heart out, but it still gave you hope for next year. Now? We just lost 96 games to have the worst record in the National League. Our only reliable pitcher is Zambrano, who's been worked so hard it's only a matter of time till he breaks down. When Pierre leaves, we will once again have no lead-off man. We have no closer. We have a third basemen who only plays well once the games don't matter anymore. Now it seems the Cubs are looking at Lou Pinella for our new manager. Lou Pinella?! Finally, Wrigley Field showcased the wave this year. Ugh. I think I'm going to call in sick.