On May 27th my attitude toward the Cubs' hopes for the playoffs were markedly different than they are now. A line drive had just ricocheted off of Mark Prior's arm with such force that Aramis Ramirez caught it without moving more than few steps from third, and the Franchise writhed in pain just in front of the mound.

The subsequent days revealed that the injury wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, and the following weeks showed that inexplicably, it wasn't that bad at all. Prior had no timetable for return until he started playing catch, which turned into simulated games that had more favorable results than anyone would have guessed. The line drive that stopped the collective heart of Cub Nation was vanishing from memory and on June 26th, Prior made his return to the majors.

I had my concerns that Prior's arm would detach at the elbow and travel to home plate along with the ball, or that he simply would not be as sharp as he was before the DL, but everything actually worked out. Instead of more anxiety, Prior delivered six scoreless innings, a reasonable 71 pitches, and a victory over the South Siders/best team in the majors to split the season series at 3-3.

While I wonder if ignoring the Cubs, if only for a brief moment, made them suck me back in, I'll ignore superstition for now and bask in this series win. There's also a few other items to address on this off day:

• The bullpen: Prior and Wood's return to the starting rotation equals Glendon Rusch and Sergio Mitre's return to the bullpen. Jerome Williams did pitch 2 innings in relief on Sunday, which might mean he'll go instead of Rusch or Mitre, but Williams was scheduled to start Sunday and he won't get his chance to start until Saturday.

  Who gets sent down then? I'd like to see Joe Borowski out of the bullpen for now because, well, he just hasn't performed so far this season and there are too many other guys better than him. Michael Wuertz has been struggling lately, but I doubt his spot in the bullpen is in serious jeopardy.

• Kerry Wood: Wood is scheduled to return on Wednesday, but how long will he stay this time? Has he changed his mechanics in such a manner that injury will be avoided in the future? Probably not:
  

  "I'm not going to talk about my delivery and my mechanics," he said. "I went down there (Triple-A Iowa) to do what I had to do to get ready. I feel great. I'm back and I'm ready to pitch."

  Not like one can just up and change their mechanics, though: an adjustment big enough to reduce Wood's chance of injury would likely come during the offseason if it comes at all. Let's just hope he's back for the remainder of the season.

• Trade Rumors: Given the injuries the Cubs have dealt with so far, a 38-36 record is about all you can really ask for. Does that mean they'll be buyers in July, though? I would like to think so, but if you're Jim Hendry, where do you start?

  There's more or less two places that need fixin': the bullpen and the outfield. While a reliever might still come to the Cubs this year, I'm not sure a move will be made if Mitre and Rusch vastly improve the bullpen's performance. That leaves the outfield, where Todd Hollandsworth has taken the job back from a not-looking-so-ready-now Jason Dubois, a struggling Corey Patterson, and a stable Jeromy Burnitz. I've heard all sorts of rumors, most of which I suspect to be idle speculation, ranging from Gary Sheffield to a Moises Alou return to the newest one, Mark Kotsay.

  Why Sheff or Alou? I suspect that if the Cubs did make a move that didn't involve trading Patterson, they'd be looking to rent someone to make a run at the playoffs. In that case, getting an aging star is a good place to look, but not exactly something I'd advocate. It'd involve giving up prospects and a better shot at the playoffs in years to come in exchange for an improved shot this year, and I'm not sold on the Cubs' chances this year anyway.

  That's why the Kotsay trade raises an eyebrow. If it were to happen, the Cubs could end up keeping the 29-year-old for some time. He's doing well lately in the leadoff spot for the Athletics and is a good fielder, and on some level I'm sure the deal makes sense. Looking at his career numbers, though, I'm not convinced. His career OBP is .343, which is good but not great and has good but not great power with a .467 SLG. Both are still an improvement over Patterson's numbers, but what would the Cubs have to give up to get Kotsay? The Athletics will certainly want prospects--the good ones, too--and I don't know if it'd be worth it. If the Cubs end up being one piece away from becoming a contending team, though, it's hard to argue with making a move.

This has gone on a bit longer than I expected, so I'll stop here for now. Brewers again tomorrow, Wood Wednesday, and hopefully an extended return to winning ways is just around the corner.

(Originally posted at Old Style Cubs. Please read responsibly.)