No Craig Monroe or Steve Trachsel on the Cubs' NLDS Roster

The Cubs did a bunch of tinkering and trading in late July and August and it looks like almost none of it is going to affect the outcome of their five game series against the Diamondbacks. Waiver wire acquisitions Craig Monroe and Steve Trachsel, who have bombed as Cubs, were both left off the Division Series roster by Lou Piniella, while trade deadline pick-up Jason Kendall appears to be mostly relegated to backing up the emerging Geovany Soto (at least if the Sun-Times guess at the starting lineup is to be believed).

It's worth noting that while Jason Marquis isn't going to be a part of the post-season rotation (as of now, at least) he did make the roster over Sean Marshall. This choice was made because, umm, I don't know why. I'd rather have Marshall make a spot start than Marquis if the Big Z can't go on three days rest (which, frankly, is something I'm surprised Piniella is banking on). I guess Marquis is a bit older and has more experience in big games, plus the Cubs haven't used Marshall much in the past couple weeks. Still, Marshall scores high on the "Not Jason Marquis Scale," which is a completely pretend method created by me to determine how much a pitcher sucks.

One final note on the Cubbie roster: Kerry Wood will be in the bullpen. Kerry Wood on the mound in the late innings of a close playoff game. That doesn't make Cub fans shudder at all, does it?