Throughout the coming year, we'll take stock of how Chicago's teams are doing, heaping them with both praise and "encouragement." We'll also look at the performances of the players, allowing our collective emotional roller coaster to peak and plummet with every performance.
But there's a group of men in Chicago that do as much to determine a team's success and any one player or coach, and yet they never wear a uniform. The General Managers make the major decisions: who to trade, when to trade, what free agents should come and go, and whether or not coaches are doing their jobs. These guys have their finger on the trigger all day, every day, and yet many fans probably wouldn't recognize them walking down Michigan Ave.
This is a goofy group of two front office veterans, Jerry Angelo Jim Hendry, a former player, Kenny Williams, and two prodigies, Stan Bowman and Gar Forman. Each has a different background, but the task is the same: build a champion. Only Williams has jewelry on his resume, but the others are certainly going to try this year.
So as we begin 2010, let's put Chicago's group into perspective, and rank the GM's of Chicago's teams.
Hard to measure the effectiveness of a GM without counting those pesky division, league and world championships. It's been a while for the Cubs; and, the Hawks too.
The Cubs GM certainly has done a good job outspending everyone else in Chicago. To be fair the Cubs are "sold out" every game, every season so that is a sign of success - even if the denizens of Wrigleyville have created the largest market for resold tickets for any MLB team. I am sure their "season ticket holders" love the Cubs even if they don't actually go to the games all that much. It is a profitable relationship, which no other team in Chicago can claim. However, there is not a whole lot to like about the actual team, even though Hendry has overspent by @ $50 million. Milwaukee and St. Louis will dominate that division as usual. Hendry pretty much fits in with the Cubs.
I agree that Hendry has overspent by a ton of money, but I wouldn't necessarily say that "fits with the Cubs." Remember, this is the franchise that was too cheap to retain Greg Maddux less than 20 years ago... the Yankee-model Cubs are a creation of the post-strike marketing -driven organizational philosophy that has filled Wrigley Field's seats but has left the championship cases empty. I wish the Ricketts family good luck in trying to change that philosophy, especially w/ Hendry still pulling the strings in the front office.