For one day, Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry was the smartest man in baseball.
In an offseason where Joaquin Benoit, Matt Guerrier and Jesse Crain get three-year contracts, how the heck did Hendry manage to sign Kerry Wood to just a one-year deal? I am befuddled.
After a three-year absence, the Cubs brought back Wood on a one-year, $1.5 million deal on Thursday. This is quite a hometown discount the Cubs got because it was rumored that Wood turned down multi-year deals with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox just so he could return to the place that made him a household name.
After spending 10 years in Chicago, Wood left as a free agent and signed with the Cleveland Indians. After spending one and a half uneventful years in Cleveland, Wood was traded to the New York Yankees at the July 31 trade deadline.
With the Yankees, it was like Wood was 21-years old again. Mariano Rivera taught him the cutter and down the stretch and into the playoffs, Wood was ridiculously good for the Bronx Bombers.
Wood posted a 0.69 ERA and a 10.7 K/9 ratio in 26 innings. To be honest, I can’t believe the Yankees made such little effort to bring him back.
The signing of Wood allows the Cubs to do a couple of things. First, it gives them a nice one-two punch at the end of the game. Wood will set up Carlos Marmol and the Cubs have to feel very good about that combination at the end of the game.
Second, it allows them to move Andrew Cashner into the starting rotation. Cashner pitched exclusively out of the pen in 2010 and now will be groomed as a starting pitcher.
If Wood would have signed a three-year, $13 million contract with the Cubs, I wouldn’t have even blinked an eye. But at $1.5 million, this is quite a steal for Chicago.
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