Building for the Future?

Lets take a ride back in time and see what the Chicago Cubs were planning on doing.....

Damian Miller 12/11/2002
"They made a trade for me and obviously they wanted me to catch," Miller said Wednesday. "Hopefully they can look past 'Pudge' (Rodriguez) and be confident in what they have. I'm not going to put up 'Pudge' type numbers offensively - that's impossible."

This is 4 days before we even talk to Pudges agent. Remember Pudge was quoted as saying once the Cubs traded for Damian Miller it was pretty much over that he would sign to be a Cub. Which means the Cubs slammed the door shut before they even had a chance to talk to Pudge and his agent.
The Cubs were never ever gonna sign Pudge, otherwise Damian Miller wouldnt of said hopefully they can look past Pudge. It just means Hendry has already told Miller they arent going to get Pudge and he is going to be our starting catcher before they even go talk to the 10 time all-star.

12/11/2002
General manager Jim Hendry has been busy already, beginning with the addition of manager Dusty Baker. Baker has a Pied Piper status -- a lot of players want to play for him in Chicago even though the Cubs haven't had back-to-back winning seasons since 1971-72. Baker is unfazed about the Cubs lack of success. "Why not us?" he says. That's the team's new ad campaign.

Lets see all of the players that wanted to play for Dusty Baker. Lenny Harris, Troy O'Leary, Shawn Estes, Dave Veres, Mark Guthrie, Mike Remlinger, Tom Goodwin, Ramon Martinez. Is this the kind of talent Baker attracts?

Dusty Baker while the Cubs were looking over the FA Shawn Estes 12/13/2002....
The Cubs do not have a left-handed starter pencilled in just yet and Estes could fill that role. But Baker said he does not have to have a southpaw in the rotation.

"I'd rather have a quality right-hander than a left-hander just because he's left-handed," Baker said.

Could Baker be lying? Only time will tell.

Hendry being interviewed by MLB.com 2/12/2003
MLB.com: The Cubs ranked next to last in the league in offense last season and the lineup will be basically the same for 2003. Do you think the Cubs have enough offense?

Hendry: No matter what would've happened, we wouldn't have added more than one more bat. We're not going to not play Corey (Patterson), we're not going to not play (Moises) Alou, we're not going to not give Bobby Hill a chance or give (Hee Seop) Choi a chance. Obviously, even if we had gotten somebody to play third, we need Alou to be better, we need Corey to make improvements, we need Hill to do better and we need Choi to hold his own. We're not going to sign Jim Thome for $90 million and tell Choi to take a hike. You can say we have the same lineup but you have two young players who should make monumental progress and a star of your system who is ready to play.

Sooo lets get this straight. Cant get Kent because we wanted to give Hill a chance. Cant get Thome because we wanted to give Choi a chance. Cant get Pudge because Miller is our catcher. Patterson is injured.
Thats essentially why Hendry did nothing to improve the offense. Because he was going to do play the young approach, which never happened.

Cubs come up with excuses every year why they cant sign so and so. It will be interesting to see who the Cubs dont get this off-season. But they cant use we are playing the young guys excuse again. Thats unless Augie Ojeda is gonna be the opening day 2nd baseman since he is the best talent we can call up from the minors.

Dusty Baker 3/12/2003..
Baker wants a left-hander in the rotation. The Cubs haven't had a regular southpaw starter since 1993.

"I value them a lot, especially in our division," Baker said of left-handed starters. "You're playing Milwaukee and they've got (Geoff) Jenkins. With St. Louis, you've got (Fernando) Viña and J.D. Drew and (Jim) Edmonds.

"You've got to have something different," Baker said. "I'll take two lefties if I can get them. I'd prefer not to go all righty."

This is a switch from what Baker said before Estes was signed. I guess he did lie. He doesnt care about who is the better pitcher, he only cares that we have a lefty for the sake of having a lefty. You got to show something diffrent right? 4 good starting pitchers 1 horrible one. Yep your showing something diffrent Baker.

Dusty Baker 3/12/2003.....
"I stick with all guys if they struggle, but I don't anticipate Big Choi struggling," Baker said, using his pet name for the 6-foot-5, 240-pound infielder. "Big Choi's got some skills, not only with the bat but he's a pretty good first baseman, too."

Obviously Baker was really talking about Lenny Harris not Hee Seop Choi.

Sammy Sosa 3/12/2003......
"We have some young kids who can't be thinking about, 'If I don't hit, they're going to send me down to Triple-A,'" Sosa said. "We have to make those kids feel very comfortable and very good around the team and let them play. That's how you get everything out of a young kid.

Did you pass your notes to Baker? Hmmm I guess Baker threw them in the trash.

Dusty Baker on Hill, Patterson, Choi 3/16/2003...
"The No. 1 thing is, I want to go with what's best for the kid, because in the long run, it'll be what's best for both of us," Baker said, meaning the player and the team. "I've seen young kids ruined by pushing them too early and putting them in the wrong spot. I will not have that on my conscience to ruin some kid."

I think Baker is overly protective of prospects and babies them too much. Which if you look at his track record isnt very good with developing minor league talent. He is more likely to stunt the growth of a player than help him improve.

For the most part all of the talk was about developing the talent for the years to come. The plan never lasted long and officially died the day Hee Seop Choi was injured. From that day on it was all veterans all the time. Hill was never recalled, Cruz has never replace Estes, Choi is probably gone with the trade for Randall Simon.
Thier was never any question that this team could pitch but it really needed to strive to get young positional talent. I am very happy that we managed to get back to 1st place, but i dont want to see the Cubs throw out thier plan for building to the future that they hyped all winter simply cuz we are 6 or 7 games over .500.

UPDATE:I revised some sections of this post because i wrote most of it last night when i was tired.