Hendry sees good things for Samardzija

Pitcher Jeff Samardzija wasn't among the first wave of call-ups for the Cubs on Tuesday, but that didn't stop general manager Jim Hendry from predicting good things for Samardzija.

When asked if Samardzija's future was that of a starting pitcher, Hendry became expansive.

"I think so, and I think he's going to be a real good one," the GM said. "People can be quite foolish if they think that, 'He was up here and he didn't do well, and, gee, they talked him out of football.' He's going to be really good.

"Sometimes it doesn't take much but a little tinkering here or tinkering there. I think once he gets his feet on the ground and has a little success as a starter, he might take off.

"He's throwing the ball really well now. He pitched 6 great innings the other day. Mark Riggins (minor-league pitching coordinator) was raving about his improvement the other day."

Samardzija, a former football standout at Notre Dame, went to the Cubs in the fifth round of the 2006 draft.

He started earlier this year at Class AAA Iowa before coming up and struggling out of the bullpen. He's back in Iowa's rotation, and the Cubs like the way he has been throwing.

"I'm very optimistic about his future," Hendry said. "You can find a lot of guys who were quality major-league starters that threw hard that didn't happen the first or second time up.

"I think Jeff Samardzija's going to have a real, real good career."

Three up: Infielder-outfielder Micah Hoffpauir, infielder Andres Blanco and pitcher Justin Berg were the players brought up from Iowa on Tuesday.

Technically, Blanco was activated off the disabled list after a minor-league rehab. The Cubs will do the same thing today with pitcher David Patton.

Hoffpauir hit 8 homers and batted .233 with the Cubs after making the opening-day roster. Blanco was up earlier and displayed more range than any other Cubs infielder. Berg, a reliever, was up twice before.

"Just from the standpoint from the role I was in, it's definitely a learning experience to get a little bit of that under your belt, and try to get as comfortable in that role as possible," Hoffpauir said of being a bench player.

"A lot of guys don't do it until the end of their careers, and this isn't the end of my career."

Not as good: Shortstop Ryan Theriot entered Tuesday with 35 walks and 78 strikeouts. That's a far cry from last year, when he had 73 walks and 58 strikeouts for the entire season.

Theriot's on-base percentage is way down, too. It was .343 entering Tuesday. Last season, Theriot had an OBP of .387.

Earlier this year, manager Lou Piniella asked Theriot to "drive" the ball more. He came into Tuesday with career bests in homers (7) and RBI (49). However, his post all-star-break numbers included an OBP of .323 and a slugging percentage of .333.