DeKALB | I didn’t think Jim Hendry had it in him.

Naturally, I thought the Chicago Cubs general manager would play the sourpuss card and not eat Carlos Silva’s $11.5 million contract for 2011.

Boy was I wrong.

Hendry and Cubs ownership finally took out the trash that had been rotting in the organization since Silva was swapped for knucklehead Milton Bradley one season ago.

There wasn’t one plausible reason to put Silva on the 25-man opening day roster.

He’d fallen off since his out-of-nowhere, first-half performance last season.

Andrew Cashner as the fifth was a no-brainer move, regardless if he’s still on his expedition to find an out pitch.

But most of all, Silva’s a bad apple.

Four games into spring training, he decided to go medieval on third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the Cubs dugout after making an error at the hot corner.

At the Cubs Convention in January, the Dominican Republic native chuckled at the idea of battling for a spot in the starting rotation.

He made it clear that he wanted no part in kicking it with Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol and all the other Cubs relievers.

But Hendry did drop the ball on this one in a way.

Silva’s existence on the North Side was a predicament that needed to be take care of long ago, not less than a week before opening day.

It became clearly evident that this team wasn’t going anywhere last season.

Silva’s name floated to the surface of MLB hot stove trade rumors, but nothing developed.

For whatever reason, the Cubs were content with keeping him on the roster, rather than trade him off for some modest prospects.

Maybe it was because Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and his families were still recovering from dropping $845 million they used to purchase the team in 2009.

Or perhaps they needed a veteran arm so bad on their staff last season they were willing to live with him being on the team. Though many would argue he had a better chance of being a contestant on “The Biggest Loser” than touching a Major League rosin bag.

But, Hendry did surprise me in a good way, and I’ll tip my hat to him for it.

Now only if they could dump that skipping idiot out in left field.