REQUIEM FOR AN ORGANIZATION

as the season grows darker and darker on the north side and thousands of fans are disguising themselves as empty seats, i can't help but wonder where the blame should lie for this funeral dirge.

it makes no sense to rag about the players or their manager because it is what it is on the field: a half-crazy senile manager who has lost control of his ball club and openly admits "i don't know what to do."

so if you move away from the participants on the field, you have no choice but to point the finger of blame at general manager jim hendry, who after making a splash early in his eight year tenure, has decimated this once proud franchise with stupefying trades, bizarre free agent signings and contracts that defy logic.

to wit: alfonso soriano, koske fukedome and carlos zambrano are paid a collective 49 million dollars a year and this will continue thru 2011 when fukedome will disappear but the one dimensional soriano will be here THRU 2014 at 18 million per year and zambrano will collect another 54 million thru 2012. those contracts are almost criminal and have financially handcuffed the cubs because no one wants hendry's overpaid garbage. oh yeah, hendry is also signed thru 2012 so he has almost three more years at the helm of the titanic.

hendry has also allowed this team to grow old while winning nothing. fifteen players on the current roster are over 30 and three of the 'stars' are in obvious decline. tom ricketts paid almost a billion dollars for this mess and i guarantee that he will be swallowing hard this off-season when no less than FOURTEEN of the current roster become free agents, including derrek lee, ted lilly, carlos silva, xavier nady, ryan theriot, geovany soto, carlos marmol and on and on. if those names look familiar, it's because most of them are players from the everyday starting lineup. ALL of them will be free agents and aramis ramirez also has the option of cancelling his contract after this year and moving on but that would be a stupid move on his part because hendry guarantees him 15 million a year for two more years.

bottom line: this franchise is heading into the oblivion they lived thru during the 50's, 60's and 70's and they wil be financially strapped with a roster full of minor leaguers and an owner who is a businessman and not about to throw good money after bad.

i've seen more empty seats at wrigley this season than i have in the past five years and a perfect example was a 75 degree night at the end of may, tickets were available at game time against the dodgers, which is unbelievable.

so don't boo lou or the players...save it for jim hendry but be prepared for huge roster changes in 2011and the disappearance of pennant fever for a long time.