While Wrigley Field continues its winter makeover, the Cubs brass and scouting department convenes Tuesday in Mesa, Ariz., to consider a little cosmetic surgery on the current roster.
There won’t be any major alterations like last winter, when Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, Mark DeRosa and Cliff Floyd arrived as part of general manager Jim Hendry’s $300 million shopping spree.
And there won’t be any drop-ins by agent Scott Boras, who is seeking a new soul mate for superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez and knows his No. 1 client still adores his favorite “Uncle Lou.”
But there will be plenty of topics to debate at this week’s organizational meetings, from what to do about Felix Pie and Jacque Jones, to leaving Ryan Dempster as closer or moving him into the rotation, to figuring out whether Soriano should continue to bat leadoff, to the age-old dilemma: What about Woody?
Adding to the degree of difficulty, Hendry and his top adviser, assistant general manager Randy Bush, head into the annual meetings without knowing who will be paying the salaries of the players they hope to acquire or sign this off-season. Tribune Co. is selling the team, and the long-term future of almost everyone in the front office, including Hendry and Bush, is unknown.
But for now, everything is status quo, and Hendry plans to operate as though the ownership question is irrelevant.
“I deal with (President) John McDonough every day,” Hendry said. “And I talk all the time with (Tribune Co. CEO) Dennis FitzSimons and (senior vice president/general counsel) Crane Kenney too.
“It’s up to the baseball side to do the job. It doesn’t look like we’ll have a new owner between now and Dec. 31, but I don’t expect that to affect the baseball decisions, and I’m sure we’ll get a fair budget.”
Kenney is expected to have a larger say in the team’s operations as Tribune Co. searches for a new owner. Curiously, in the Cubs’ postseason media guide and on the team’s Web site, Kenney’s name is listed before FitzSimons’ under the heading of Cubs Board of Directors, a reversal from the 2007 media guide.
But even if Hendry sat on his hands this winter, the Cubs’ payroll will certainly go up because many of the megadeals were back-loaded to give him more maneuverability in ’07. Signing Rodriguez for $30 million a year is not in the cards. The Cubs are satisfied with their current third baseman, Aramis Ramirez, and most scouts insist Rodriguez can no longer play shortstop. In addition, the idea of joining another Boras-created bidding war can’t be appealing to Hendry, who briefly pursued Boras free agents Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Beltran in recent years.
Hendry can’t discuss Rodriguez, who remains property of the New York Yankees. But when asked whether he expected a busy off-season, Hendry replied: “We don’t think we need to do as much volume as last year, but we do believe it’s just as important a winter. We had a good season that ended with a disappointing playoff loss to Arizona, but we don’t feel we’re going backward by any means. We’ll approach this with the same intensity as we did last winter.”
Perhaps a little less intensity might be in order for Hendry, who was hospitalized at the last winter meetings in Orlando after suffering chest pains and, as legend has it, signed Lilly to a $40 million deal while hooked up to an EKG machine. It turned out to be the best of several successful off-season moves by Hendry.
But, like Jason Marquis, who posted a 5.61 ERA after June 1, Hendry didn’t finish the season strong. He whiffed on all three of his second-half acquisitions: Jason Kendall, Craig Monroe and Steve Trachsel.
Hendry must aim higher this winter. If a young star like Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford becomes available and the Cubs can trade Jones, he’d be crazy not to jump in. A .351 hitter in the second spot in ’07, Crawford is the kind of athletic outfielder Lou Piniella craves. Piniella managed Crawford as a youngster in Tampa Bay.
Outside of right and center fields, the other big area of concern is the rotation, where Marquis’ hefty contract has put Hendry in a bind. If rumors that Wood wants to return to a starting role are true, Hendry may make the impending free agent an offer he can’t refuse and let Marquis compete with Kevin Hart for the No. 5 spot.
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psullivan@tribune.com
