Kerry Wood to the DL, Jeff Samardzija to Replace Him

There are two related stories coming out of Cub-dom today involving two faces that are familiar to fans. Neither story is terribly surprising since they've both been hinted at during the week, but here they are anyways: Kerry Wood's blister is sending him to the disabled list and the Cubbies are calling up Jeff Samardzija to take his place on the roster and make a start on Saturday.

First things first: there's still no reason to panic over Wood's injury. This move is retroactive to when he last pitched, which was July 14th. That means that Wood may be back as early as next Tuesday. It's still just a blister and the Cubs still have more than enough arms in the bullpen to cover for him until early next week. And it's Kerry Wood. If the Cubs didn't think he was going on the DL this year, they need to pay more attention.

As for Samardzija, he started the year off in double-A and really struggled there. None of his AA numbers look any good at all to me and I can't really figure out why he got the call up to AAA in Iowa. Regardless, he's pitched very well in his six starts there and does seem to be steadily improving since his struggles in A-ball early last year. Whether he's ready for the majors is another story (I'm not convinced), but the Cubs seem to think he is and they're the ones that get to make the call.