In case you missed it, the Cleveland Indians traded Eduardo Perez to the Seattle Mariners for SS Asdrubal Cabrera.  This is obviously one of the first out of contention teams trading spare parts for prospects.  Everyone is probably aware of Perez.  Decent hitter vs. LH, can't hit RH, backup 1B.  Nothing special.  

Cabrera is interesting, last season as a 19 y.o., he hit .318(.407 OBP) in A and .284 in high A.  Then for some strange reason Seattle jumped him to AAA where he hit .217.  He was only hitting .236 in AAA this season but with decent power and BB/AB for a 20 y.o. in AAA.  He is also supposed to be an excellent defender.  It will be interesting to see if Cleveland considers moving him back to AA.

While the Cubs didn't have someone meeting Perez' profile, these are the kinds of deals that Hendry needs to be looking for.  This is where he should be earning his salary.  By 2008/2009,  Cleveland could have a starting shortstop for really nothing.  Of course, this doesn't seem to be the kind of player the Cubs acquire.