Bruce Allardice’s “Best money can buy” letter (“Other Views, Feb. 28) was a bombastic and inaccurate take on the Cubs and their general manager.
One has to look no further than the pitching staff to find the effects of Jim Hendry’s scouting system. Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, Juan Cruz, Kyle Farnsworth and even Greg Maddux (originally) were developed through the farm system. Also, the Cubs are generally considered to have one of the elite stables of minor-league arms in baseball.
While Corey Patterson is the only position player to come through the system, Allardice conveniently neglects to mention that the Cubs have done something all good teams do: trade prospects for proven commodities. Hee Sop Choi was traded for Derrek Lee, Bobby Hill was traded for Aramis Ramirez and Dontrelle Willis was traded for Matt Clement. All three of them are now vital starters.
Furthermore, the front office has also used shrewd trades to help build the team. Felix Heredia was swapped for Alex Gonzalez, Todd Hundley for Mark Grudzielanek and even George Bell for Sammy Sosa. Clearly, Hendry has done a good job building the team through the farm system and trades, and then adding free agents around the nucleus. So please, put away the tissue and save the finanical sob story.
