Rich Harden and Aaron Heilman combined to produce this stat line on Monday night: 7 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 7 BB, 11 K.

Not good (especially in Harden's case, since he gave up all the runs) but not exactly horrible either. In the grand scope of things, the numbers don't really mean much at all, except when you consider that the men compiled that line while still wearing a Cubs uniform. Much was made over the past few days about how both men were claimed off waivers, giving Cubs general manager Jim Hendry 72 hours to work out a deal with the claiming team (Minnesota Twins for Harden, San Francisco Giants for Heilman). The deadline came and went on Monday afternoon and Hendry didn't budge.

I just can't figure out why.

He told reporters before the game that the Cubs were never really "close" and didn't even give the prospect of trading Harden much thought.

"It was the biggest non-story of that big of magnitude," Hendry told the Chicago Tribune. "We always run everyone through what we call 'trade waivers.' Everyone in Major League Baseball usually runs their whole team through in August. We had 12 people claimed over the course of the month, and for whatever reason, two names were made public."

The only person who knows for sure how close any deal came is Hendry, but if 12 of the players on this roster were actually claimed why wouldn't he have made a couple deals, especially when it comes to Harden and Heilman? What's the point in keeping them?

Yes, Harden can be one of the top pitchers in the game when he's on, and yes, the Cubs would get two compensatory picks in next year's draft if they offer him arbitration and he still signs with another team, but there is also a strong possibility every year that he'll spend at least a month on the disabled list because his arm is as fragile as fine china. He needs at least five-to-seven days of rest in between starts to be truly effective.

Is it really worth investing at least $10-12 million to sign him next year, when there are so many other bad contracts on the team? Even if the prospect(s) the Cubs got in return didn't pan out, at least they wouldn't have to deal with another constant question mark on their roster with an ERA over 4.00.

As for Heilman, aside from a solid stretch in July, the only thing that he's proven during his year with the Cubs is that he is a mediocre reliever -- a replaceable part. The type of pitcher you can find littered across bullpens all over baseball. Like most of the other players on the roster, Cubs fans don't have any confidence in him. They probably would have let him go for a bag of baseballs. So why would the Cubs' GM feel the need to hang on to him?

Hendry put the Cubs' roster into the current state of disarray it's in now. The least he could have done was trade away some of the pieces that other teams actually had interest in and start reconstructing everything all over again.

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