Your turn, Jim

"I'm gone, I won't be back. Somebody's got to take the blame, and it might as well be me."

Thank you, Dusty Baker. Throughout all the hardship, all the blame, you took it with class. You were a man, stood up to the critics, and basically said, "Yeah, I know we're losing, and I know I'm going to get blamed for it. Well, if they're gonna fire me, they're gonna fire me. At least I tried."

Yes, Dusty Baker did try. And he was fired. I can't see any reason why Jim Hendry wouldn't have fired him. Someone has to take the blame off of Hendry...

It won't be Cubs Team President Andy MacPhail either. He also took it like a man, accepted that things weren't going well, and stepped aside to let someone else give it a shot. MacPhail was equally blunt in his assessment of the Cubs' situation: "It's not just that we had a terrible season," he said. "I've been here 12 seasons and only two postseason [appearances] and to me that's not what I came here to do. Obviously, I've not been as effective as I wanted to be."

Thank you, Andy MacPhail. You acknowledged that you tried, that you had a goal to succeed, and that you failed. You did the right thing by stepping aside. And hey, even two playoff seasons is better than some of your Chicago predecessors could do.

So MacPhail is gone, Baker is gone...

I guess the only question to ask is, will GM Jim Hendry at least do the right thing and step aside as well?

I have a vision of Hendry, sitting in his office, watching the resignations unfold in front of him, thinking to himself, "Well, they're shouldering the blame. I guess everything's golden in my world!" Yeah, for the moment Jim, everything is "golden" in your world.

And why the hell is that?

It's always been easy to blame Dusty for the Cubs' woes. Hell, it would even be easy to blame Jim Hendry for not firing Dusty. The problem remains though, that neither Dusty Baker nor any other manager, should be expected to win with a complete crap team. No motivator could take this current team and get them anywhere beyond a third place finish.

And the only man left to blame for the construction of this team is Hendry.

Hendry stood by Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, though he knew, HAD to have known, that they would get injured again. He brought in players who weren't good beyond a supporting role: Jacque Jones and Juan Pierre. He thought he had all the pieces, and when he saw that he was wrong, Hendry signed known rejects like Phil Nevin. This was following the terrible signing of Jeromy Burnitz last year. Hendry also created a terrible farm system that was called up too early to save a team that was beyond saving. He relied on sub-par pitchers, and refused to go after a competent pitching coach to try to ameliorate the situation (Leo Mazzone himself was available last year).

Perhaps the worst sin Hendry committed this year: backing Derrek Lee with nothing, no power bat, no consistent substitute. When Lee went injured, the Cubs went down.

That's where Nevin was supposed to come in. Why again?

Instead, Hendry sat back and let Dusty take the blame. He distracted the team by leaving Baker's status open at the All-Star Break. He let Baker dangling in the wind with no life support, while he, for the most part, dodged criticism. Sure, the Chicago media and fans were hard on Hendry from time to time, but they were hard on Baker ALL the time.

And every time, Dusty's team came to his defense. When he was under pressure the most, they won for him. They showed Chicago that they would play for Dusty Baker. They even stood up for him again in the article on Baker that you can link to above.

But injuries crippled the team, and the overall lack of skill players ground the team to a halt. They might have played for Dusty, but they didn't play very well.

So the team sucked. So Baker sucked. So the Bleacher fans littered the field with trash in frustration. All the while, Hendry sat comfortably in his seat, last year when the Sox won the Series, and this year, as the Cubs were almost the worst team in baseball.

Enough. It's time for Hendry to get out of that seat. If MacPhail and Baker are out, Hendry should be out too. Cubs fans have been through 98 years without a World Series now, and they should not (and indeed Baker even said that they should not) be made to sit through another year without one. I think I speak for many Cubs fans when I say that I don't want Hendry to be given this off-season to try to put together a winner. I think it's a proven fact by now that he CAN'T put together a winner.

Proof: just look at this season. The free agent market was bubbling over with possible talent, but Hendry didn't get any of it. He either can't negotiate with other teams or he doesn't want to. The Cubs had a very good chance to make the playoffs in what was one of the weakest years for the National League yet, and they couldn't do it. They couldn't even make a run at it. For that reason, MacPhail rightly stepped aside. If I were Baker, I'd have resigned before Hendry got the opportunity to fire me. Why get gunned down by the man who can't shoot straight?

But I must digress. I could go on about the Cubs' problems all day. I can't even begin to address the problems with Tribune Company continuing to own the team (which will only serve to damage the team more. Tribune Company is so stingy with money and management that their cable company, Comcast, won't even put ESPN on basic cable, though many other national cable outlets have already done so. You get "local channels," some of which are in Spanish, instead. Thank you SO MUCH, Tribune Company).

The point is: The Cubs have many, many problems. The players took the blame. The manager took the blame. The Team President took the blame. Everyone, it seems, has shouldered some of the blame except Hendry. All Hendry can say after today?

"Maybe if I'd done a lot better, it wouldn't be this way."

At least you got that right, Jim.

Hendry's arrogance and cowardice should not be rewarded. I've said it before, and I will say it again: Kick Jim Hendry to the curb.