Ryan Dempster, who was initially supposed to be ready yesterday, and then today, was feeling his strained left oblique even when jogging, was placed on the 15-day disabled list today. To take his spot, the Cubs purchased the contract of their 2002 3rd round draft pick, Billy Petrick, 23, from double-A Tennessee. To make room for Petrick on the 40-man roster, the Cubs placed Wade Miller on the 60-day disabled list.

Petrick was moved to the bullpen this season after spending five years in the minors as a starter. Before the 2005 season, Baseball America's Jim Callis named Petrick the Cubs' 5th best prospect. He ended up injured that year, though, and ended up splitting 2006 between Boise and Daytona, pitching in just 19 total games in 2005 through 2006. This year, he posted a 3.09 ERA in 11.2 innings for Daytona and a 2.37 ERA in 30.1 innings for Tennessee, with 33 K's against just 8 BB's. With Dempster on the disabled list, the Cubs still wanting to get up to 12 pitchers, and Rocky Cherry and Neal Cotts struggling in Iowa, Petrick could have more time than Clay Rapada was given to make his mark.

Meanwhile, Jacque Jones is still on the roster and not playing. Driving home from work today, ESPN Radio reported that the Cubs had traded Jones to the Marlins. My first thought was that the Cubs must have also sent a bunch of money to Miami to make the deal happen. False alarm, reports the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan. "It wasn’t really a good deal for us," Sullivan quotes Jim Hendry as saying. "We got close in one scenario, and talked to some other clubs (Monday), and I’ve got another scenario. At the end of the day, I just felt like I wasn’t going to get rushed into it and make a deal that I didn’t think was good for us, so it didn’t get done." But Jones certainly appears headed somewhere soon, as he continues to sit on the bench as if he is no longer part of the team.

In any event, the Cubs won their fifth in a row tonight, their second such streak of the season.