Cubs to stay put?? Samardzija staying put and a little on Rob Drake.

According to Jim Hendry the Cubs are looking to stay put and not make any deals before the deadline on the 31st. I think the Cubs should at least trade Howry for a minor leaguer, then when Wood is activated he can take Howry's spot on the 25 man roster. That is what I would do anyways. Here is what Jim had to say-

"'You have to stay on top of it,' Hendry said. 'We got an extra bullpen guy in the trade with Oakland in Chad Gaudin. What you obviously need is for [Kerry Wood] to come back healthy and then everything else usually falls in line. And Samardzija is going to give us a lift.'"

On offense, Hendry feels Alfonso Soriano's bat is only going to get hotter. He conclusively adds,

"'We aren't hitting since the break like we want to, but we aren't going to go out and replace our star players because they're having a bad week,' Hendry said. 'And the other players, let's give them their due, the Ryan Theriots, Mike Fontenots, Reed Johnsons and Henry Blancos. Those people are doing more than their fair share. You don't upgrade from that.'"

While I absolutely agree with Hendry, one thing I do not understand is why Jim does not upgrade our pen with a guy like Fuentes, Mahay, Arthur Rhodes, or Jack Taschner. Any one of them would be an upgrade to Howry, Cotts, Marshall, etc. You add one of those guys to your relief core, you would be in great shape.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff Samardzija looked great on Friday and it looks like when Woody returns on Tuesday, Jeff won't be the one sent to Iowa. Here is what Lou had to say-

If you see a young man throwing the ball like that, I don't think he'll be the guy leaving, I'll tell you that," manager Lou Piniella said Saturday. "If he continues to throw the ball [well], it's almost like trading for a reliever."

I would actually like to see Jeff start some games in place of Marquis, who is so inconsistent the 2nd half of the year. Either way this kid has staying power with the club and I am glad we finally got another fireball in our pen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

On another note-

Rob Drake needs to be investigated by MLB. He has had issues with Ozzie Guillen( throwing him out last week), Matt Sinatro( throwing him out yesterday), and Sweet Lou ( throwing him out already twice this year. You might remember the first time was when Lou was heading back to the dugout when Drake through him out). He has consistently blown calls at every position on the field and not only against Chicago based teams. This has been going on all season long with Drake and the MLB needs to do something about it.