by Joe Moag

Created on: September 01, 2009

The best laid plans of mice and men...and of Jim Hendry. I suggest that this last clause be added to this most over-used phrase, not merely to spice it up after so long a time in the culture, but because it brings the phrase reinvigorated meaning here in the 21stcentury.

Young folk might not get what you mean by the "plans of mice and men", but if they follow baseball at all they will surely know what you mean when you throw Jim Hendry in there.

"Ah, I get it!" they'll say. "You mean that all the plans you do to try and succeed can and do just blow up hard in your face! I get it!"

That's what they'll say alright, and they will be spot-on, needing to think no further for reference than the 2009 MLB season, a season where Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry thunk himself right out of a pennant chase and right back to Chicago Cubs futility.

Reason One: Lefty-crazy. After the Cubs struggled mightily - or was it pathetically? - in last year's playoffs (3 and out against the Dodgers), Hendry became convinced that the lack of left-handed power was the ruin of the team. So when winter hit, Hendry made his moves. He brought in Milton Bradley (more on him later), and Aaron Miles (!?!?!?!?), while getting rid of the backbone of the 2008 Cubs lineup and position players: Mark De Rosa (righty).

Well played, Mr. Hendry!

Needless to say, Bradley has had a powerless (and very uncharacteristic year) while Miles just plain old can't hit. Period. Add to this the fact that Hendry was willing to roll the dice on the Miles for de Rosa move because the Cubs had young lefty infielder Mike Fontenot to plug in if Miles struggled, and the Cubs looked loaded from the left going into the 2009 season. Looking and doing, however, are quite different things, and the lefty-crazy Cubs ended up offensively impotent from these moves. Bradley has hit around .250 for most of the year, Miles is hitting around the Mendoza line, and Fontenot, with occasional spurts of power, is hitting just above his weight.

Oops.

Reason Two: Sitting Still at Midseason and Thinking it All Get Better. Perhaps it was the fact that the Cardinals were playing .500 ball for the first half of this season - and thus keeping the Cubs in contention - which led Hendry to convince himself that there was no need to make some midseason moves, despite the team's sub .500 record at the All Star break. Perhaps it was his blind belief that injuries (and the Cubs had a ton of them in the first half) were all going to heal just right

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