We’ve heard the ridiculous talk, for two years now, about how the Cubs should hire Ozzie Guillen as their manager, first to replace Lou Piniella and now to replace Mike Quade. It is a ludicrious suggestion, that has no basis in reality, whether or not Ozzie leaves the Sox this fall.

This summer, the press has been hot to trot out Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn as the next GM of the Cubs. Unlike the Guillen chatter, that very well may be a possibility this offseason, but here’s a little turnabout:

The White Sox should hire recently-dismissed Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

Yes, Jim Hendry, the architect of the current $134 million disaster that plays at Wrigley Field. The guy who paid Alfonso Soriano $136 million over eight years to not be a DH. The guy who was fired this summer after his horrible contracts caught up to him and destroyed the Cubs.

Why in the world would the Sox want him?

Because he is an excellent talent evaluator with a nose for players’ value and the Sox would be lucky to have him as part of their organization’s decision-making process. And because his talent has been obscured by the raw deal he got at Clark and Addison.

Cubs fans were practically throwing parades when the news of Hendry’s dismissal broke. (In fairness, the Cubs don’t have many other reasons to throw parades.) It was quick and easy to label Hendry as a horrible GM in the wake of a hopeless season, to scapegoat him for all of the Cubs problems. But an objective look at the Cubs mess reveals a different story: Hendry was a victim of circumstance.

I’ve felt this way for some time: that former Cubs higher-ups, specifically owner Sam Zell and president John McDonough, played with fire and left Hendry there to get burned. And it’s amazing to me that most of the fans are blind to that and happy to blame Hendry.

Gordon Wittenmyer lays out this point of view in an excellent, revealing and overdue article at the Sun Times.

First of all, it’s time to let Hendry off the hook for the mother of all bad moves, the Soriano signing. When Zell and McDonough took over the Cubs, they had their own agenda. Looking to pump up the value of the franchise, Cubs brass dictated to Hendry that they wanted a winner, no matter cost. Salaries down the line? That would be someone else’s problem.

Wittenmyer:

And Alfonso Soriano? That was then-president John McDonough’s signing, not Hendry’s — all the way up to making Soriano the only player on the team guaranteed a suite on the road.

Hendry definitely made some mistakes, like all GMs do. The Milton Bradley signing was an unmitigated disaster, right from the outset. But Hendry had the magic touch around 2003, making great moves for Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Eric Karros, Mark Grudzielanek, Kenny Lofton, Randall Simon, Derrek Lee and Nomar Garciaparra. Hendry led the Cubs to three division championships- one more than Ken Williams has brought to the Sox.

At that point, Hendry was looking like one of the better GMs in all of baseball, able to obtain very valuable pieces without selling the farm of giving up much of anything. But his ever-changing bosses dictated a different story a few years later: Win now so we can sell high. Jayson Stark made this point a few weeks ago as well.

Ultimately, Wittenmyer asks:

Would the third-longest-tenured GM in Cubs history — and the only one to produce three playoff teams — have kept the Cubs’ competitive window open longer without the unprecedented burden of three owners in barely three years, each with a different agenda?

As it concerns the Sox, that question, and the circumstance of Hendry’s firing, are irrelevant. The Sox have their own problems with spending, personalities and under-performance- problems that may lead to the dismissal of their GM this offseason.

I am not advocating giving Hendry the head GM role at 35th and Shields. I am advocating giving him an assistant GM, or adviser to the GM role, especially if the Sox new head GM is Hahn. (Whether or not Williams should stay or go is a subject for a different article.)

Hendry is, admittedly, not a numbers guy. He’s not a top notch contract negotiator. While he shouldn’t be blamed for all of the Cubs’ bad contracts, he is certainly somewhat responsible. But that’s the beauty part: if the Sox retain Hahn as their GM next year, the two would complement each other. Hendry would handle the bulk of the scout work/talent evaluation while Hahn would handle the nuts and bolts of advanced statistics and contracts. Old school and new school, together. Williams could be kicked upstairs to a president role if he remains in the organization.

The Sox need all the help they can get in their own evaluation process. Promoting Hahn from within may turn out to be great. Hiring Hendry from outside will only help.