Kudos to Kenny and Jerry!

As a lifelong Cubs fan, it kind of pains me to say this, but I think the White Sox are setup for a far better "run" than the Cubs. The White Sox have built smart using less money and younger players while the Hendry-led Cubs are hand-cuffed with overpriced unproductive "talent" for the next few years. The Cubs seem to have a lot of young talent but given the salaries of Bradley, Soriano, and Fukudome, you just "can't" get these guys on the field.

While the Josh Fields experiment was a total disaster this year, it paved the way for what Ozzie basically called worst-case scenario at the beginning of the year, but could pay HUGE dividends. At the beginning of the season, Ozzie said that if Gordan Beckham was playing for the Sox, they were probably out of the race. Well, BECAUSE Gordan Beckham is up playing for the Sox, the Sox are IN the race. This kid is amazing and reminds me of Evan Longoria of the Rays - solid with EVERYTHING and acts like he's been up in MLB for 10 years rather than as a cocky rookie which he has every right to be. Don't forget the kid is actually a SS playing out of position at 3B after Fields proved he was NOT the guy to replace Joe Crede. This Beckham kid can just flat out play.

OK - but that's not why I am giving kudos to Kenny and Jerry. How about these guys pulling off THE trade of the deadline? To me, this is ANOTHER slap in the face of Cubs GM Jim Hendry as he couldn't pull the trigger on the deal for Jake Peavy as everyone reported as a done deal at the winter meetings. Well, after the Sox were somewhat embarrassed when Peavy turned down a trade to the south side earlier this year, he saw the walls crumbling around him in San Diego and decided to jump ship to a very competitive Sox team in a very winnable AL Central division. OK, so he won't really join the rotation until the end of August, but who cares? Who wouldn't want to add a former Cy Young winner in late August? The guy isn't even your typical "rental player" as he is signed through 2012 with a club option in 2013. AND he's only 28 years old! Ya, the Sox gave up a lot to get him, but do any of those guys project to be Cy Young winners? Don't think so! So kudos to Jerry for opening up the checkbook and kudos to Kenny for getting Jerry to do that AND pull off this trade and adding a #1 starter to the Sox for the next 3-4 years. You just don't see that everyday. The other factor here is what this type of move does to energize the rest of the guys in the dugout. When you see your organization pull off a deal like that, it just has to tell you they are serious about winning NOW so let's play some ball. They are 3-1 against the then hottest team in baseball NY Yankees and the now hottest team in baseball the LA Angels. Ya, they're beating them at home, but they're still beating them.

The Cubs have Sam Fuld who I just LOVE as the future lead-off guy on this team. The kid is hungry and plays hard ALL the time - remember that catch he made running full speed into the ivy to catch a ball in late September last year? Jake Fox has NOT been the horrible defensive liability we have been told he is so that is just an excuse to play these overpaid wastes of money ahead of him. The kid can just plain HIT and for a team struggling to score runs consistently, I don't understand why he isn't in the lineup every day. Randy Wells could give the north and south siders two Rookies of the Year in the same season. This kid has been amazing going 8-4 with a 2.73 ERA and could easily be 12-2 with some early offensive support and upheld leads by the bullpen. And they still have last year's Rookie of the Year in Geo Soto who comes back later this week.

So it's not like the Cubs are dead or anything; they're just stuck with some high-priced non-productive players that will seemingly continue to play ahead of younger, cheaper, and more productive players because of their big contracts. Although maybe the mentality is starting to change a little bit as Bradley was given the day off again yesterday in favor of Jake Fox after also having the day off on Sun. I have harped on Bradley in particular all season as the guy just doesn't drive in any runs - 9 in 24 games in July which was actually triple what he drove in during the month of June. How can your #5 hitter be 9th on your team in RBIs behind two guys (Aramis and Fox) that have played less than half as many games? Seriously! He's behind such non-RBI guys as Theriot, Fukudome, and Fontenot too! Let's get Fox in there more and sprint to the finish as we're no longer in the "it's still early" phase of the season here. It's time to drive to the playoffs.