This business with Prior raises even more questions about Hendry's competence. Remember, last winter he could have gotten perennial offensive powerhouse Miguel Tejada in a straight one for one trade. Hendry nixed that by overreaching to get Erik Bedard as well. By Prior's standards of 2004 & 2005, a trade for Tejada would have been a net plus for the Cubs as it was. Trying to get Bedard as well was just plain idiotic and overreaching. The only way that a Bedard/Tejada trade would have worked for Baltimore would have been if Prior's 2006 season would be even better than in 2003 and there was no reason for the Orioles to believe that such would be the case.

Hendry seems to have actually believed his pre-season spin that Wood & Prior would combine for 68 starts in 2006 when the best that they ever combined for previously was 62 starts in 2003. You would think that a MLB club would be better informed as to the medical condition of its players than that.

As to whether or not a Prior/Tejada trade would have worked for the team, does anyone really believe that a Cubs offense with Tejada in the lineup would have been so lifeless during the 2-week skid? Its amazing that anyone could ever think that Hendry's performance warranted a renewal. Even more amazing is the fact that a lot of Cub fans of this writer's acquaintance don't hold anything against Hendry for failing to get Tejada for Prior. Its just another sign of the low standards that Cub fans have for team mgmt.

Of course Tejada is a better player than Cedano, and of course Cedeno will never play on Tejada's level, but the botching of a possible Prior/Tejada trade is as least enabling Cedeno to develop into a solid MLB shortstop. He'll be in the Don Kessinger category of shortstops, and that isn't bad. What I can't figure out is that during the trade talk, why wasn't Cedano part of the package, i.e. make it a Prior/Cedano trade for Tejada and Bedard. Cedano wasn't going to have a chance with the Cubs if Tejada arrived, so why not send him off to get Bedard, too? This is all water over the bridge and/or under the dam now, but it is a little unfair to Hendry to think of the trade as only based on Hendry's misjudgement of Prior and his worth--Cedano figured heavily into to this matter.

The reason for Cedeno not figuring in Hendry's trade negotiations is the trade that saw pitching prospect phenom Dontrelle Willis sent to Florida for the consistently inconsistent Matt Clement and Alfonseca whose performance went south upon arriving in Chicago.

The end result of that trade has made Hendry gun-shy on trading prospects other than the likes of Koronka who clearly was not going to make it with the Cubs. Remember, Hendry has said that he will never trade Felix Pie. Meanwhile, Pie is held down in the minors. Even if Pie was brought up, he would likely receive the Restovich/Theriot treatment. What is the sense of having Pie in the Cubs system when the organization can't profit from his presence?

Chances are that if someone in the Cubs Front Office suggested to Hendry that he offer Cedeno, Hendry likely would have spurned it for fear that such a trade would have blown up in his face.