After the 2008 division title and a decline in 2009, Jim Hendry tried to keep the Cubs in contention in 2010. They muddled around .500 early in the year, then fell out of contention and a 16-5 loss to the Braves was Lou Piniella’s last game as manager. The Cubs had a dead-cat bounce of 24-13 under Mike Quade, getting him renewed as manager for 2011, but all in all this was not a good year.
And Hendry was not busy on the trade market. No player-for-player deals were made until the trade deadline.
July 31: Acquired Blake DeWitt, Brett Wallach and Kyle Smit from the Dodgers for Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot
The dismantling of the 2008 team began with this deal, dumping what was left of Lilly’s deal and Theriot.