This is not the way the Kerry Wood era was supposed to end. It wasn’t supposed to end on the eve of free agency with a trade of a rotund prospect to the Marlins for a mediocre closer, signifying the Cubs desire to have somebody else pay Kerry Wood.
No. We know how it was supposed to end. The way it almost did end in June 2006 when Kerry gave up a home run to Lance Berkman, then a double to Morgan Ensberg, his arm hung low and he slowly walked to the dugout.
He thought it was over, actually. He’d had surgery during the 2005 season, but it didn’t really fix anything. His shoulder still hurt, and he couldn’t throw more than 60 pitches on a good day.
We all know the story now about how in the early summer of 2007 his arm wasn’t responding to anything, and he called his agent and told him he was done. It was time to hang it up. A day later he gave it one more shot, and amazingly his arm didn’t hurt anymore. He called his agent and told him not to call the Cubs just yet, maybe he’d give it one more, final, really, this is it, last shot.
By the end of that season he was in the Cubs’ bullpen, and he pitched in the playoffs against Arizona.
The Cubs made him the closer last year and he did a good job, only occasionally making the fans pass out from the anxiety. He missed a month with a mysterious blister that turned into a hole in the skin on a finger on his pitching hand. But he peed on it a few times and finally it healed.
He was on the mound for the last happy day of the 2008 season when Aaron Miles flied out to Lassie and the Cubs headed to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in 100 years.
And now, barring the unforseen, he’s gone for good. Next spring he’ll put on a different uniform for the first time in his pro career. It’ll look weird, wherever he ends up. It might be Texas or Milwaukee or the Mets or who knows. It’ll just look wrong.
Kerry Wood epitomizes the Chicago Cubs. If one player ever reflected a franchise it’s Kerry. Rooting for him was the same as rooting for the Cubs.
Both were full of promise that never quite was reached. Both teased you will brilliance, only to never quite accomplish what we all thought they would.
I always explained the difference in how fans reacted to Mark Prior and Kerry when they were both battling injuries at the same time, this way… When Mark got hurt it was never definitive what was wrong. Something was strained or inflamed, and he seemed annoyed by it all. When Kerry got hurt something ruptured or torn and he always seemed to be agony that he couldn’t pitch, that he couldn’t help the Cubs win.
When Prior couldn’t win game six of the 2003 NLCS he met the media afterwards and was matter of fact about it all. Ahh, that’s too bad. Oh, well.
The next night, Kerry couldn’t win game seven, and before anybody could ask him a question he said, “It’s my fault. I choked. It’s my fault.”
The truth is that Kerry carried the Cubs through the first round of those playoffs. He won game one and game five, getting stronger as the games went along.
It was then that we thought both he, and the Cubs were finally going to make good. That all of the promise was about to pay off.
But he got hurt, again, and the Cubs got bad, again.
The Cubs’ decision to spend their money elsewhere makes perfect sense from a baseball standpoint. Given Wood’s injury history, anything longer than a one-year contract makes no sense. His arm’s held together by a thread. The Cubs have his successor already in place in Carlos Marmol at a fraction of the cost.
But it still sucks. Maybe because we knew, especially the last two seasons, that he was pitching on borrowed time it doesn’t hurt like it would otherwise. Every time he trotted out to close out a game last year you couldn’t help but wonder if it was the last time we’d see him. One day he’d throw a pitch and that would be it. Nobody wanted to see it happen, but everybody knew it was going to.
Now it’s going to happen somewhere else. It won’t make it any less painful, for his arm or for our hearts.
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If you don’t remember who Kevin Gregg is, the guy the Cubs traded Jose Ceda for yesterday, you know him. He was involved in one of 2008’s cooler moments.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200808153315333
Yeah, how could this go wrong?
Yeah, this whole thing pretty much sucks.
When we look at the expensive, backloaded and lengthy contracts offered to the likes of Eyre, Howry, Jones, Marquis and Fukudome, you telling me a fair contract to Wood is out of the question? Who can tell if Marmol is ready to close out games but we knew Wood was.
I’m more concerned with the pen than if the Cubs resign Dempster or trade for Peavy. The starters aren’t going 9 innings and even with the insurance of Gregg, there seems to be a bigger question with the pens effectivenss than the rotations.
Marshall, Wuertz, Gaudin, Samardizja, Marmol, Gregg. That bullpen is solid enough that it doesn’t necessarily need to pay top dollar for arguably the best free agent reliever on the market, especially when we really don’t have anyone to count on for starting in right field. Another arm needed, almost certainly – but not the most expensive one out there.
These are the saddest of possible words…
Houston Astros Closer: Kerry Wood
The Jockey says that Hendry didn’t even offer Wood a one-year contract, he just told him to “go get a long term contract.” Who the fuck is going to give him one?
I hope Hendry chokes on his KFC Big Box meals tonight. Wait, that’s wrong.
On one of his KFC Big Box meals tonight.
I’ll still hold on to the “Dawson contract” hope that somebody mentioned at the board. I don’t know how realistic the scenario is, but feasibility be damned.
It would be even worse if he ended up with the Brewers or Cardinals. Like to see him go to Anaheim or someother contender in the AL and see if he can win it all
#3 Wuertz? Really? I have about as much faith in Rich Hill being good again than Michael Wuertz ever being good.
The point is Hendry lead the fans to believe that Wood wanted a multi-year contract. We know that now to be bullshit. If Hendry would have at least said the Cubs wanted to go in another direction than signing Wood, the fans could have disagreed but Hendry is the GM and that’s that.
I don’t know why I thought us fans should expect a little honesty considering, this is the same organization that holds back season tickets from it’s fans so there own ticket broker, Prime Tickets, can scalp them.
It reminds me of one of the closing statements from John Matuzsak in the movie North Dallas Forty. “When we say it’s a game, you say it’s a business and when we say it’a a business, you say it’s a game. All you guys are nothing but Chickenshit Cocksuckers.”
Just too bad. Wood was the guy who perhaps sacrificed bigger $$ and glory for the privilege of staying with the Cubs. And despite his struggles, he seemed to always give his all for the sake of the team. Our team.
It’s too bad Cubs mgmt couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t find a way to keep him on. But hopefully Kerry knows that the fans will always appreciate everything he’s done for the team and for the fans. Even if he disagrees with the decision (as many fans will), I hope he knows he’ll never have to buy his own beer in this town, and we fans wish him luck anywhere he might end up (except for the games they play against the Cubs- but I’ll bet he understands). Hopefully our paths will cross again and we’ll see him employed at Clark & Addison in the future.
All the best, Kerry!!
Last time I can remember being bummed when a FA left was Dawson. Kerry Wood isn’t a Hall of Famer, and maybe it’s the Cubs fault he wasn’t, but he’s been my favorite player for years now because he’s got enormous guts and seems all to human. The thing is for all we know he might be done two weeks into next season, or he might have 10 years left in him. He’s only 31. It happens.
Some guys should just retire with the team they started with. Kerry Wood is one of those guys.
Will the astros get rid of that batshit douchebag Valverde to get wood? I doubt it. The Cards, Mets and Brewers are bigger threats.
Please go to tampa or Los Angelos/Mexico City/Anaheim Angels of the greater South Jersey area
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Very well written, Andy. This was probably one of the worst feelings I’ve had over the departure of a player… Actually, it is the worst. There’s still that possibility that he could come back….. Not likely.. but possible.
The Astros are looking to trade Valverde for starting pitching.
There is about a 75% chance he does not come back with Houston.
I still can’t believe we gave up Ceda for this clown… The video only makes it worse. *hangs head in Cubs shame*
The Cubs need to resign Dempster because he says hi to strange people that enter his clubhouse.
This one hurts, but not as bad as losing Grace did. That was a kick square in the balls, and then just when you started to recover, you realized his replacement was Matt Stairs, and the pain came flooding back.
Kerry is a Cub for life whatever team he plays for. The effort he showed in his time in Chicago and the commitment to getting back and helping the Cubs win have made him one of the few guys who will always get an ovation when he enters The Friendly Confines. In this day of free agency, I still held out hope that Kerry would remain on the North Side his whole career. He is one of the few players that Cubs fans will actually wish the best for as he heads to another team. Good luck Kerry.