Just as the Windy City Series is set to get underway, where the Cubs and White Sox will renew acquaintances, pitcher Kerry Wood is set to announce his retirement.
Wood has had a difficult start to the 2012 campaign, going 0-2 with a monstrous 8+ ERA. Added to that, he has experienced nagging soreness and fatigue in his throwing shoulder. Wood has had many injuries through his fine 14-year career, including the dreaded Tommy John surgery (though it isn’t quite as devastating as it once was) back in 2000. His career was spent almost equally as a starter in the rotation, where he good success, and later as a reliever and closer.
From 1998 through 2006 he was an important part of the rotation before a disastrous injury kept him out of lineup for much of 2006. When he returned the next year, he assumed his position now as a middle reliever, and was made the Cubs’ closer in 08. Having excellent success as a closer gave Kerry the bargaining power to test free agency, and he eventually settled on the Indians. Doing well in Cleveland prompted the Yankees to come knocking, and the closer was traded to New York, helping them to the ALCS Championship in 2010.
Kerry Wood was, and still is, enamored with the Cubbies, and re-joined his old team last season.
Kerry Wood had a very promising early part of his career, even winning the 1998 NL Rookie of the Year Honours. Combined with Prior, the Cubs were supposed to finally be serious competitors in the early 2000’s. In fact, in 2003, the team was only five outs from earning a trip to the World Series, but the Curse of the Billy Goat, or in this case the Bartman Foul Ball (I’m not even going to entertain that debacle) was back with a vengeance.
Whether the Cubbies used him a bit too much early in his career, which some argue attributed to his litany of injuries, is debatable. He had a nasty curveball, and a dynamic arm in general. He will be sorely missed by Cubs fans the world ’round, but in my opinion, it is the right time for him to hang up the glove.
…and that is the last word.
