Yankees hire former Cubs GM Jim Hendry to assist Cashman

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FILE - This May 12, 2011, file photo shows Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, center, talking with reporters before a baseball game between the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, in Chicago. The Cubs have fired Hendry after another disappointing season. The Cubs announced the move Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, before a game with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Updated: March 2, 2012 8:21AM

Less than two weeks ago, Jim Hendry revealed in a phone conversation that he was weighing his options on a couple of different job fronts.

The New York Yankees obviously carry a lot of weight.

According to reports Tuesday night, the former Cubs general manager has been hired to be the special assistant to Yankees GM Brain Cashman.

That’s no real surprise, considering how Cashman was talking about Hendry during the winter meetings in Dallas in early December.

‘‘I thought Jim Hendry did a good job in Chicago with the Cubs,’’ Cashman said. ‘‘I mean, he might go about climbing that same mountain differently than [new Cubs president Theo Epstein] because they’re not the same, but I think Jim Hendry did a hell of a job when he was with the Cubs, and I think Theo Epstein’s going to do a hell of a job, too. I really do. They’re just going to do it differently.’’

Hendry is the only Cubs GM to oversee three playoff teams (2003, 2007 and 2008) and the first to enjoy consecutive postseason berths since the 1930s.

During his last several years, however — fair or unfair — his reputation changed from that of a GM who built the franchise through trades and the farm system early in his career to a GM who left a lot of bad contracts on the table.

Hendry’s migration to New York is a reunion of sorts, as he will join former Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who’s in the same job with the Yankees, and former Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who is joining the YES Network as a broadcaster.