Kerry Wood May Be A Hot Commodity

I'm a Yankees fan and not a Cubs fan but I admire him for always trying to come back and help out any way he can. Every year he tries his hardest to rehab and try to pitch. Not his fault that Baker just rode him hard for that playoff run in 03 and he broke down.

I wouldn't mind Yankees give him an Octavio Dotel type of contract and take a gamble on him. He still has frontline starter stuff and worst case scenario, he can help out in the bullpen. I imagine there are going to be a lot of teams interested though, will be interesting to see what happens.

I don't see the White Sox taking a gamble on Wood as a starter, and the closer position is set, so he would have to be the "8th inning guy". I'd love to have him, but I have to think some team will offer him more than "8th inning guy" money.

Absolutely no chance Wood gets Burnett kind of money. This is a guy that because of injuries hasn't played a full season since 2003 anything more than 2 years @4 million base is just insane. I could see incentives doubling the base though. But to say he gets a base pay of 6-7 million per is ludicrous

I agree with ozziethesaint ... any sort of gamble that includes a guarantee salary of $2-$3m is silly.

Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, and Bartolo Colon are poster children for incentive laden contracts. Give them the opportunity to make $10-12m/year IF they stay healthy and can perform at a high level.

oops - meant to say - "any sort of gamble that exceeds a guaranteed salary ..."

Sad...

I watched him pitch at AAA Iowa several times, and have followed him through the ebs and flows of his career. I'd really regret seeing him in another uniform.

6 or 7m a year I can definitely see Wood getting if he has upside of being a spot starter. Hey Tim, do you think Wood will be signed as a starter or more of a setup man type?

Wood should go to the South Side, that would really be some great headlines come interleague play

He can be as dominant as anyone when he's healthy, but his arm is held together with duct tape and twine at this point. Starting him just seems like playing with fire. I'd look for him to be most effective in a long relief-type setting, maybe 2-3 innings every couple of days.

Tim, You say Wood is less risky than Mulder? Is that ignorance or just Chicago bias? Wood hasn't pitched a full season since 2003. How is that less of a risk? Don't let your Cubby bias get the best of you!

I think the Cubs will do what they can to keep Woody around considering the amount of time/money they've already invested in him. Same thing with Prior. Bring back Wood for 2-3m and bump it up an extra 2-3m if he can earn a starting spot next season. And Wood showed that he is a respectful team guy by pointing out at the end of the '06 season that he made 10m despite not playing at all. That's why he was so willing to come back to a low base, incentive laden contract for this year. Prior on the other hand asked for more money despite not pitching at all . I think we'll see Kerry pitching for the Cubbies in the regular season before we see Prior.

I have a hard time believing Wood will start any time in the near future. His recovery this past year was a near miracle: one day he was throwing 40mph in pain, and the next he inexplicably felt fine and could throw much faster.

To be sure, he looked great in most of his appearances this year, his fastball regularly clocking in at 98 especially towards the end of the season. Especially memorable was his appearance against Florida at the end of the year. Coming in with the bases loaded and nobody out, he quickly struck out the first batter and then got the next batter to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Anyways, I would not risk the threat of injury by moving him back to the rotation soon, and certainly not next year. He should be a great reliever, possibly as closer, next year and perhaps beyond...hopefully for the Cubs.

Ummm...yeah Ozzie...what Teetz said. At least one has been good for one game in the last year...

I thought Tim said a Mulder contract...which is not Burnett money...

How is he a worthless human being? I know he does a huge charity bowling event that raised tens of thousands for Derrek Lee's campaign to fight his daughter's disease. And you are talking about losing credibility? YOU are the one that went way to far and made it personal...not Tim. Tim is a Cubs fan...he tells you that and you can take it for what it is. But no one is making judgements about the guy being a horrible person but yourself....someone's cardinals bias is whats getting in the way here...

Wood is a rotten waste of human DNA because of the way I have seen him treat people.

When he would come down to Peoria on rehab assignments, he would treat the players here like absolute sh*t. Even including Eric Patterson, and this was when Corey was still a Cub/ You'd think he would at the very least treat the brother of one of his teammates with a little respect.

I've been told that he takes the entire team out for dinner at the best restaurants whenever he was doing rehab assignments and makes sure everyone gets nothing but the best. Sounds like a real piece of sh*t to me...

Ok...so you are telling me that you know that he has NOT taken them out to dinner? Thats wierd...seems like you couldn't possibly know that...

And what do you have to say about the celeb bowling event that raised tens of thousands?? I guess it doesn't matter if he is giving minor leaguers the cold shoulder that he is helping out childeren...

Like I said...you don't know the guy...and you aren't really in a place to call him a piece of sh*t and make judgments about him as a person. If you want to talk baseball, be my guest. But stop making personal attacks on people that you don't know...its ignorant.

Fair enough, and I can respect your experience...but even the few things that you know about him as a person probably don't give you the right to call him a piece of Sh*t of a person. Like I said, those are things to take into account...just think that you shouldn't be making such harsh judgments about people that you don't really know. It is what it is...and this isn't even a baseball discussion, so I'll leave it at that. I will say that I saw him and Prior at an All-Star party when it was in Chicago in 03. Both were very nice and introduced me to their significant others...and were signing balls like crazy for kids there, even when they were just trying to have a night out with their dates. So again...probably a little quick to call him what you did when in all reality, no matter how long you worked for them, you don't really know him as a person. Don't confuse me for saying he is this really amazing person...that would be the counter point of your argument, I'm just saying I don't think either of us can judge for sure either way.

Coke and Heroin?? Wow...where did you hear that?

I heard from a reputable source that ozziethesaint lost Richard Gere's gerbil while sitting down too fast. Rumor also has it that coke was involved. I heard it first hand from somebody that should know.