Where's Wood

[badnews]

Absolulty not. We have pissed money away on worse.

 

A ringing endorsement!

[Guest]

Cubs.com[/url]"]What's next? The Cubs have some player-personnel issues to resolve. Hendry said he has had several discussions with Pat Rooney, who is Kerry Wood's agent, about keeping the right-hander in Chicago.

 

"Wood is getting a lot of action around the industry," Hendry said of the free-agent pitcher, who switched to a setup reliever last season and may have a future as a closer. "I believe before we get to the Winter Meetings, that will be brought to a conclusion. We'd certainly like him to be brought back."

[Mephistopheles]

I just can't imagine Woody in another uniform. By the end of 2004 I could imagine Sosa in another uniform....but not Woody. It's like seeing Ryne Sandberg in a Yankees uniform or something. Just not possible. I will go through massive withdrawals if he's not resigned.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

I think $5 mil is a little steep for a reliever who pitched 24 innings last year and has probably never pitched on back to back days in his entire career. $5 million isn't insane for a solid ML closer- I'm fine with that. But I'm not entirely comfortable with the assumption that Kerry will automatically be that just because he's returning and because we're going to let him try his hand at closer.

 

Ultimately, I'm fine for signing him just because it'd be ridiculous to let him leave this organization considering the money we've thrown at complete and utter garbage over the past few years. Not the best logic, but it has at least some relevance here.

[JeffH]

$5 is too high, but defensible under the circumstances.

 

A guaranteed second year with no club protection is not.

[USSoccer]

does anyone else think 2/10 is insane?

 

Not really, given his probable role.

[jersey cubs fan]

does anyone else think 2/10 is insane?

 

Not really, given his probable role.

 

If he's closer, the salary is a lot lower than he might get on the open market. 2/10 might not be insane, but it's really high if it's all guaranteed. I'd actually be fine with giving him the change to earn more than 10, based on incentives, but would much rather prefer a much lower guarantee.

[TruffleShuffle]

if anyone thinks 2/10 is a good idea, try to think of it this way... if he were just some pitcher on another team and had pitched just 100 innings in 3 years due to injuries, and had a long history of getting hurt, would you be happy if hendry signed him to a 2 year, $10M deal?

[Slugger_16]

"Wood is getting a lot of action around the industry,"

 

:lol:

[jersey cubs fan]

if anyone thinks 2/10 is a good idea, try to think of it this way... if he were just some pitcher on another team and had pitched just 100 innings in 3 years due to injuries, and had a long history of getting hurt, would you be happy if hendry signed him to a 2 year, $10M deal?

 

No, I wouldn't be happy.

 

But he's Wood.

[Mephistopheles]

if anyone thinks 2/10 is a good idea, try to think of it this way... if he were just some pitcher on another team and had pitched just 100 innings in 3 years due to injuries, and had a long history of getting hurt, would you be happy if hendry signed him to a 2 year, $10M deal?

 

depends on who the pitcher is. theres little reason to believe that wood wont be healthy as long as hes not starting.

[SAMMYWHO]

if anyone thinks 2/10 is a good idea, try to think of it this way... if he were just some pitcher on another team and had pitched just 100 innings in 3 years due to injuries, and had a long history of getting hurt, would you be happy if hendry signed him to a 2 year, $10M deal?

 

I would just look at it like gambling. If someone gave you $100 to go gamble and you lost it all, you wouldn't feel so inclined to spend more to recoop it back. If it was your own money you try all night to see if there was any way to win it back. Either case is you probably lose. So damn you Hendry in advance for whichever you choose. :twisted:

[Irrelevant Dude]

This doesn't sound real promising...

 

The longer Kerry Wood remains on the free-agent market, the less likely it appears he will return to the Cubs.

 

Several teams have courted Wood, including Boston, which wants him to be the primary right-handed setup man for closer Jonathan Papelbon.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-071120cubsbits,1,1595002.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Edited November 21, 2007 by NCCubFan
Add URL tag so link opens in new window

[badnews]

I don't much care for sappy Kerry Wood nostalgia. I can envision Wood in another uniform easily. I'm surprised there are so many warm and fuzzy feelings for Wood anyway. He makes it sound like he's the best friend to the organization, but for a guy who collected fat checks for doing nothing for a long time, he's not giving this team much of a discount, is he?

 

How much more could Curt Schilling or Mike Lowell have made on the FA market? If Wood has no loyalty to the Cubs, why should anyone else feel anything about him?

 

I get annoyed because people look their heads, their objectivity, and their perspective when talking about Kerry Wood.

 

There's no reason he shouldn't stay healthy? For that matter there's no reason he should stay healthy.

 

He'd make more money on the free agent market as a closer? Okay. Where is there any indication he'd be a good closer or stay healthy, besides wishful thinking? If he's so filthy, why has righthanded hitting pounded him silly the past two years? Not a big enough sample size? Exactly. He hasn't shone as a reliever. Furthermore, why is he demanding more money from the Cubs than other rehab late inning relief arms have, like Dotel or Percival? 0 career saves, but yeah, that B.J. Ryan contract is just out there waiting for him.

 

There's no reason to be nostalgic about Wood.

 

There's no reason to exaggerate the likelihood of what he'll do or overemphasize what he could do.

 

Citing garbage money is not a viable defense. Hey, Soriano is making way less a year than Darren Dreifort and Mo Vaughn did together, excellent contract.

 

What I find odd about most Cubs fans is that just mentioning Mark Prior gets them red in the face, but if Kerry Wood were to come over to their house, sleep with their daughter, eat all the food in their refrigerator, and then take a crap in their bed, they'd thank him for the pleasure of his company and tell him to please come again.

 

I call it "Battered Cub Fan Syndrome" or BCFS. I'm currently working out a full definition for inclusion in DSM-V.

[jersey cubs fan]

As logical as it may be to not pay 2/10 for Kerry Wood, you'd have to imagine that Hendry is going to do something else with the bullpen if he can't keep Wood. That may mean spending 3/15 or higher on some other retread closer, or worse yet, trading assets for another Alfonseca and then handing out the 3/15 on top of everything.

 

Aside from just wanting to see Kerry Wood stay on as a Cub, and believing he can be an excellent reliever for 70 innings a year, want I don't want is Jim Hendry wasting any more resources on outside relievers, perhaps the most overpaid assets in baseball.

[jersey cubs fan]

There's no reason to be nostalgic about Wood.

 

There's no reason to exaggerate the likelihood of what he'll do or overemphasize what he could do.

 

What I find odd about most Cubs fans is that just mentioning Mark Prior gets them red in the face, but if Kerry Wood were to come over to their house, sleep with their daughter, eat all the food in their refrigerator, and then take a crap in their bed, they'd thank him for the pleasure of his company and tell him to please come again. .

 

I think you're wrong. There's nothing wrong with being nostalgic about Kerry Wood. He stands a very good chance of being an excellent relief pitcher for the next two years. And while I like him more than Prior, I feel much the same way about Mark.

[CubColtPacer]

The problem with Wood is that his arm is still mostly untested. He has pitched back to back days all of 1 time in his career in 2005. He has pitched 3 out of 4 days all of once in his career, also in 2005. Both on the second day of the back to back, and the 3rd outing in 3 out of 4 days he was ineffective.

 

Now he did have outings in both halves of a doubleheader once this year, which is important to note but hard to translate being able to do that into being able to pitch back to back days repeatedly.

 

Plus, there is that little issue of that there was that somewhat miracle recovery of his arm in the middle of the year when he was experiencing pain. Who knows when that pain will come back because they didn't do anything to fix it. It randomly went away on its own, and it may come back in the same way next year and have him on the DL most of the year.

 

I hope Kerry comes back. He was always one of my favorite Cubs, and the injuries are not his fault. At the same time, the club has to have protection if they are going to sign him. Signing him for 2/10 guaranteed is way too risky, even if that means Hendry turns to another reliever from the outside.

At least then it will be a big contract for a guy who likely will not have the flexibility and injury issues with Wood combined with a similar upside to Wood.

[swordsman]

"Wood is getting a lot of action around the industry,"

 

:lol:

 

OH be-have!