You're up, Jim!

Love him or hate him, you're stuck with him.

Chicago Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry received a four-year extension through the year 2012.

Good for him, now it's time to get to work.

It's up to Hendry and his rag tag team of assistants to turn a two-time division winner into a World Series champion.

Am I asking too much? No. Hendry's job is to put a World Series contender out there on a year-in, year-out basis and as good as this year's team was they were a few pieces short.

Is he deserving of an extension. Yes and no.

Why yes? Because he brought in Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee and Rich Harden via trades in which the Cubs didn't lose any major prospects.

Why no? Because he traded three warm bodies for one season of Juan Pierre (who really didn't show up until June anyway).

Ricky Nolasco, Sergio Mitre and Reynel Pinto sure would look good in Cub uniforms right now.

If Jim really wants to get into the "no" category, he'll refuse to re-sign Kerry Wood to a long-term contract. It would be the kind of move that would be reminiscent of when Andy MacFail let Mark Grace walk after the 2000 season.

Sure, there's a great alternative named Carlos Marmol sitting and he's waiting to grab the role by the ball-sack and use that devastating slider for one inning at a time. But then you have to replace Marmol and then the guy who replaced Marmol and the guy who replaced the guy that replaced Marmol...

It's called a domino effect.

Jim, I could make this post really long but I've got things to do. So take this advice right now.

Bring me Jake Peavy and nobody gets hurt!

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