At least Ed Wade isn't Jim Hendry

Here's a little tidbit to make your Monday morning more pleasant. As I slogged through the Astros/Cubs series this weekend, I couldn't help but notice the sorry state of both franchises as they "battled" to get out of the cellar in the NL Central. Scanning the players on the Chicago side, however, I came up with a profound conclusion.

Ed Wade is no Jim Hendry.

To prove my hypothesis, I decided to look up Hendry's most prominent acquisitions. Here they are, in no particular order:

• 2002- Dealt Julian Tavarez and Dontrelle Willis to Florida for Matt Clement and Antonio Alfonseca
• 2004- Signed a really old Greg Maddux
• 2005- Signed a really bad Jeromy Burnitz
• 2006- Traded Ricky Nolasco, Sergio Mitre, and Renyel Pinto to Florida for Juan Pierre
• 2006- Re-signed Glendon Rusch (does anyone even know who that is?) and Neifi Perez to big deals
• 2006- Signed Ted Lilly to a 4-year, $40 million deal
• 2006- Traded Rule 5 pick Josh Hamilton to Cincinnati Reds for cash considerations
• 2007- Signed Alfonso Soriano for 8 years and $136 million
• 2007- Flipped David Aardsma and Carlos Vasquez to the White Sox for Neal Cotts
• 2007- Signed Daryle Ward AND Cliff Floyd
• 2007- Signed Carlos Zambrano to a 5-year, $91.5 million extension
• 2008- Signed Kosuke Fukudome for 4 years, $48 million
• 2008- Signed Ryan Dempster for 4 years, $52 million
• 2009- Signed Milton Bradley for 3 years, $30 million

So Astros fans, when you think there's no tomorrow, when you think that the team is terrible, when you think that we just might lose more games next season...you're right. But, remember, you could have Jim Hendry at the helm instead.