With Hendry gone, I can follow the Cubs again

I neglected to note this a couple of days ago, when it became public. But it's worth mentioning.

My condition has been met. Tom Ricketts and the Cubs have signaled that they care by firing GM Jim Hendry. As of now, I"m following the Cubs again.

I was a Hendry defender for years. He was, after all, the most successful Cubs general manager of my lifetime, presiding over three division championships and coming within five outs in 2003 of presiding over our first pennant winner since 1945. I'll never forget how he turned the essentially worthless Todd Hundley (and minor league outfielder Chad Hermanson) into gold- or more precisely, Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek- two fine players who were key parts of that 2003 team.

But the hangup over the Trib's sale of the Cubs got in the way, spiking a trade which would have brought Jake Peavy- and perhaps another championship- to the North Side. And Hendry shot himself in the foot, tying up the team's resources with a number of long-term free agent contracts for players like Alfonso Soriano and Koske Fukudome, who never produced results in keeping with their paychecks. For me, the last straw came  when he traded second baseman Mark DeRosa- an invaluable utility man in addition to being a key regular and an important element in the chemistry of the team- for essentially nothing, simply because he hit from the wrong side of the plate. That season, third baseman Aramis Ramierez- for whom DeRosa had subbed so well in the past that Ramierez's absense was barely missed- was injured for almost precisely the same number of games the Cubs finished out of first. But DeRosa wasn't around to pick up the slack. As soon as I heard that DeRosa had been traded, I made up my mind to stop  following the Cubs until such time as Hendry was let go.

When two consecutive division champions were swept out of the first round of the playoffs in as many years, Hendry's only moves weakened the team rather than strengthening it. The Cubs- who suddenly turned into the Bad News Bears as soon as October rolled around- were broken, and instead of fixing them Hendry made a bad situation worse. Many Cub fans- including long-time Hendry defenders such as myself- became convinced that the Cubs would remain mediocre at best until Hendry was replaced by somebody who would aggressively- and intelligently- go about cleaning up the mess that had been made on Hendry's watch.

Long-time Cubs exec Randy Bush has taken over as acting GM. Greg Maddux has been suggested as Hendry's permanent replacement. But whoever gets the job, he'll be treading on thin ice. Expensive long-term deals with potential stars who simply didn't live up to their billing was, in large measure, Hendry's downfall, and it seems inevitable that the Cubs will go after either Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols during the off-season. The new guy won't get much of a honeymoon before he's on the spot, too.