In a move that surprised even the Cubs, former staff ace and closer Kerry Wood agreed to return to his baseball roots and sign with his original team for one year, $1.5 million, according to a source.
… As recently as last week, team officials expected Wood to take a more lucrative, multi-year offer from either the New York Yankees, where he finished last season, or the Boston Red Sox.
Wood also considered a one-year, $3.5 million offer from the White Sox before following his heart back to the North Side, where he maintains strong relationships with Cubs‚ front office personnel, as well as several former teammates still with the club.
Damn, Kenny will push the 2011 payroll to $130 million!
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is he still Persuing a bullpen free agent?
Comment by Anonymous — December 16, 2010 @ December 16, 2010 9:42 pm |
I’m not sure. I think the Wood pursue was made prior to the Crain signing, but will Kenny pursue another bullpen arm? I tend to think not but who knows for sure?
Comment by The Wizard — December 17, 2010 @ December 17, 2010 11:16 am |
look to me like crain will take over putz’s role
Comment by The Wizard — December 17, 2010 @ December 17, 2010 2:17 pm |
who is the closer? matt? and will chris sale take his spot?
Comment by Anonymous — December 17, 2010 @ December 17, 2010 3:57 pm |
either thornton or by committee so thornton can be used on the 8th if the situation calls for it.
and I’d like sale to be groomed for a starting role. if he fails as a starter, than try him as a closer. but have him try to develop as a starter first.
Comment by The Wizard — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 12:36 pm |
are we looking to trade floyd or Jackson then?
Comment by Anonymous — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 2:54 pm |
that depends on the payroll number santa jerry gave to trader kenny!
Comment by The Wizard — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 5:57 pm |
I would rather have them than take a chance on sale unless we really need him. I think it’s jacksons last year anyways.
Comment by Anonymous — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 6:12 pm |
I don’t want to see floyd traded; he has a nice contract (2011:$5M, 2012:$7M, 2013:$9.5M club option).
it would be nice if we can sign edwin to a 2-3 year extension too. now is the time!
Comment by The Wizard — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 8:24 pm |
I agree, we could use them both. floyd when hes good is almost unstopable and Jackson was looking pretty good when he came over. I guess the only debate is whether or not we sign buerle after this year or see if sale can start. personally, I think the rotation should be (pending on peavys injury) buerle, peavy, danks, floyd, Jackson and sale as emergency starter. 2012 season probably will be his season to start because they might not bring buerle back.
Comment by Anonymous — December 18, 2010 @ December 18, 2010 8:52 pm |
agree on sale starting in 2012. question is where do you have him in 2011? I’d prefer him going to the minors and working with jr perdew this year.
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 1:30 pm |
I would also love to sign Jackson to an extension ASAP but that’s not going to happen. His agent – Scott Boras – likes to take his players through the free agent process. Plus Boras is not exactly high on the Sox Christmas list.
As for Floyd, he was shut down late last year with shoulder stiffness, but he received a clean bill of health. You gave Floyd’s favorable contract as a reason not to trade him, but that thought only works if you believe that his shoulder stiffness is not a precursor of something worse.
So you have two options: (1) roll the dice and hope that Floyd remains injury-free for the remainder of his contract or (2) trade him now while his value is extremely high (age-28, great contract, and 2010 WAR of 4.3 placed him 21st among all ML pitchers) and in return you receive a good package of players which includes a young starting pitcher. Since “pitcher” and “shoulder” in the same sentence always bother me, I choose door #2.
And if Danks doesn’t sign an extension relatively soon, you have to trade him before he reaches free agency after the 2012 season. You can’t let Danks walk without getting similar value in return. And 2 draft choices aren’t similar value.
No one likes to look down the road at a worst case scenario, but here it is: Jackson and Danks both leave via free agency, Buehrle retires after this year, and Peavy and Floyd spend more time in the training room than on the field which reduces their trade value to zilch. And Chris Sale’s funny delivery can, in fact, cause arm problems. So your future rotation is …
Merry Christmas
Comment by Buford — December 19, 2010 @ December 19, 2010 1:55 am |
oh boy, that feature rotation part is ugly. but also real.
your points make a lot of sense. if the return is good than kenny may have to pull the trigger.
and merry christmas wishes from me too!
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 1:34 pm |
Wouldn’t it be ironic if John Danks were traded back to Texas (for LHP Derek Holland plus more) ?
Texas is looking for a SP after losing Cliff Lee. What the heck, we could include Jordan Danks just to keep the family together.
Comment by Buford — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 2:29 pm |
ironic? oh yes!
the yankees are looking for pitching too. imagine if petitte rerires. they’d be desperate. maybe we could get montero if he could catch.
but I don’t see kenny trading any guys from the 2011 rotation now that he wants to win this year.
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 2:41 pm |
If we trade SP, then we need a SP in return who can start this year.
I never read anything positive about Montero’s catching ability to date. And if he could catch, NY wouldn’t have signed Russell Martin. Plus his hitting numbers at AAA last year weren’t good. He might be another over-hyped NYY prospect or a DH at most.
Comment by Buford — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 8:08 pm |
And if he could catch, NY wouldn’t have signed Russell Martin.
right
He might be another over-hyped NYY prospect or a DH at most.
my positive opinion of montero was shaped mostly by john sickels’ reviews:
2010:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2009/12/31/1228281/new-york-yankees-top-20-prospects
2011:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/12/15/1878701/new-york-yankees-top-20-prospects-for-2011
but now with 3 years of konerko @ 1B and 4 yeas of dunn @ DH, it doesn’t seem like there’s a position for him
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 10:19 pm |
maybe we can trade floyd and potentially cq for a new starter. buehrle isn’t going to retire after this year either.
Comment by Anonymous — December 19, 2010 @ December 19, 2010 12:48 pm |
I don’t think he’s going to retire too. question is where will he be in 2012? he will be 33 in 2012.
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 1:38 pm |
sox should sign carl pavano and trade peavy and quintin for cash and prospects to whoever will take them
Comment by Anonymous — December 19, 2010 @ December 19, 2010 3:24 pm |
doesn’t pavano have a big injury history? why give him the multi-year deal he’d want?
Comment by The Wizard — December 20, 2010 @ December 20, 2010 1:40 pm |
or lucus harrell, viciedo, edwin Jackson, and carlos quinton to Indians for sp fausto carmona and rf shin shoo choo
Comment by Anonymous — December 19, 2010 @ December 19, 2010 5:48 pm |