Lack of trading disappoints Hendry

As a baseball fan, Jim Hendry was disappointed Tuesday's trading deadline passed quietly.

"I would have thought there would have been more second-tier trades made," Hendry said.

As general manager of the Cubs, Hendry had other reasons to be disappointed.

"Probably because I would have liked to make one," he said. "But there wasn't like this massive group of guys that we have to have one of these 10. We were just looking for something that made some sense for us."

As it turned out, nothing made sense for the Cubs at the price other teams were asking, and the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline passed without so much as a whimper.

Hendry cautioned Monday against expecting the Cubs to make a blockbuster trade, and he pointed out Tuesday that Ken Griffey Jr. still was in Cincinnati.

"We would have maybe liked to do one thing that we thought we had a chance to augment the bench in a limited-role type of player," Hendry said. "But I have a lot of faith in the guys we have. Today, the one deal we did pursue didn't get made and that player didn't get moved."

Speculation centered on that player being Washington outfielder Ryan Church, but insiders said they knew going into Tuesday they'd be hard-pressed to get him.

That doesn't mean Hendry was disappointed. He expressed again that he's happy with the team and that it's possible the Cubs could make a waiver deal this month.

"It's OK," Hendry said. "We had a tough club to necessarily fit in some ways. A significant right-hand hitter really wouldn't fit as much as a different kind of player right now. I don't want to take away from (Mark) DeRosa and Cliff Floyd right now. ...

"When you're in the race and you want to make a deal, you've got to realize you're going to be paying 60-40 sometimes on the dollar."

Hendry added he expects a good amount of action on waiver deals this month. In 2003, the Cubs picked up Randall Simon from Pittsburgh, and Simon contributed to a division title. In 1998, they picked up pinch hitter Orlando Merced, and he helped them win the wild card.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella shrugged off the non-trade.

"Am I disappointed? No," Piniella said. "I like our ballclub. We've just got to go out and continue to grind like we have."