Jim Hendry Interview, Cliff's Notes Edition

While doing my daily search for baseball information, I came across an MLB.com interview with Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry. And rather than having readers have to read the whole thing and try to figure out what is or is not important, I've decided to highlight four things from that interview that I deem interesting.

***Note: All quotes attributed to Hendry***

1. "You want to improve and you want to change things. Even if you're the World Champions, I think you come into camp next year with four or five different guys on your roster. That's the way the game is now."
• It looks like the Cubs poor playoff performance isn't likely to affect the 25-man roster. However, this quote makes me believe that Hendry has his eye on some new blood in an attempt to better an 85-win division championship team. This year's free agent pool is quite shallow, but there are several quality players that can be had for the right price. It will take another smart off-season by the Cubs front office to bring improvements to this team. I'm interested in what players Hendry will target this winter.
2. "You can't predict somebody wants to come to your place. We've had a good track record -- people want to play here."
• I thought that this quote was important, specifically the part I put in italics. This was in response to a question asking if the Cubs were more likely to make roster changes through minor league call ups, free agency or through the trade market. I feel that Hendry's statement "people want to play here" is a good sign. I remember that under the Dusty Baker and Don Baylor eras that both of those managers were supposed to bring stars. They didn't. We'll see if the combination of Hendry's recruiting ability and Lou Piniella's managerial star power can bring in some impact players to the Northside.
3. "I'm happy with [Geovany] Soto. I think Soto has a great chance to be the catcher on Opening Day."
• For the record, I like Geo, but I'm not quite ready to give him the majority of the playing time behind the plate quite yet. Yes, he hit .389 in limited big league action this year. Yes, he hit the only home run for the Cubs this post season. Yes, he posted a .353 average with a 1.076 OPS in 110 Triple-A games in 2007. I realize all of that, but I don't want to put a lot of faith in a catcher with such a small sample size, though you have to think some of those Triple-A numbers would have to translate to the big league level. Also, I'm concerned about the health of Henry Blanco, who didn't play much in the second half and was left off of the post season roster. Free agent catchers include Jason Kendall (Cubs), Paul Lo Duca (Mets), Jorge Posada (Yankees) and Yorvit Torrealba (Rockies).
4. "I believe our payroll will go up [in 2008]. I don't know how much. If it stayed the same or close to the same, I wouldn't complain about it."
• According to Hendry, the impending sale of the Tribune Company shouldn't interfere with baseball opertations, and that's coming from the guys above him and John McDonough (e.g.Tribune executives Dennis FitzSimons and Crane Kenney.) That's a good sign, because this team needs to make improvements if they want to make the playoffs again, next year.

By posting this, I've saved the reader roughly 600-700 words. With that time, you can help Jim Hendry by outlining what the Cubs need for next year.