It Is Alive

Jim Hendry made an appearance on WGN Radio's Sports Central show this evening. He covered multiple topics including:

- Jim is alive. He's feeling better. And, contrary to Tom Waddle's suggesting that the heart problems were brought on by the short term stress of contract negotiations and the Late Fall Winter Meetings, this problem was in the works for a long time.

- Mark Prior is alive. His ability to pitch is a question less easily answered than is that of the future of the US Military in Iraq.

- No major acquisition is planned to fill center field. And Felix Pie is ready, defensively, right now, to play any outfield position.

- Jason Marquis sucked in September. Yes, Jim admitted that. But at age 28, it's worth it to take a flyer on a 28 year old guy with over 40 wins and 600 innings over the last three years.

It's wonderful to hear that Jim is feeling better. The proof that he's back to his old self is the emphasis of "wins" as one of the key issues for pitcher quality.

One of these days, the Cubs front office will make that great leap into the 21st Century.

Clearly, 2006 did not include that day.