11:04pm: The Cubs and Wood can't agree on the money or the length of a contract, writes Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago. Wood seeks around $4MM, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. The big righty told NBC-5 Chicago he'll make a decision by Friday, which also marks the start of the Cubs Convention.
6:08pm: The Cubs and Phillies have expressed the strongest interest in signing Wood, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com.
1:50pm: Late last week Kerry Wood appeared to be working toward a one-year deal to return to the Cubs, but we soon heard that it was far from done and that Wood is still in talks with several teams about a 2012 contract. The Phillies could be one of those teams based on these two tweets from ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, who reports that Philadelphia has Wood on their radar but their interest could be contingent on the health of Jose Contreras.
The 40-year-old Contreras had season-ending elbow surgery in August after appearing in just 17 games (14 innings of work) for the Phils last season. He compiled a 3.86 ERA and 8.4 K/9 but struggled with his control, walking eight and hitting a batter in those 14 innings. Wood, on the other hand, whiffed 10.1 per nine over 51 innings of 3.35 ERA ball with the Cubs, with a more reasonable 3.7 BB/9.
The Phillies lost Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge both to free agency this winter. They pounced early to replace Madson by signing Jonathan Papelbon. Wood would represent an affordable option to set-up for Papelbon. As Crasnick notes in a final tweet, the allure of playing for a contender may have more appeal than the Cubs' rebuilding philosophy under the new front office headed by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer.
I thought Kerry Wood said that he would either play for the cubs, or retire? :O
That is what I thought as well, though that is not a very good negotiating position.
He’s going to stay with the Cubs and end up taking whatever their final offer is. His Agent is probably using other teams to leverage a more competitive price.
Too bad the feeling isn’t mutual; given his stance on the Cubs, it’s evident Wood couldn’t care less about winning.
or money
I feel like I’ve seen you make this comment more than once. Don’t you have something more valuable to contribute than low blows at a team that is rebuilding?
as long as he comes back to the organization when he is done playing, i will be happy as a cubs fan. wood and dempster are very active pillars of the community and will be great ambassadors the cubs and chicago in the future.
When you’re asked by a true contender to play for a year and possibly finally get that ring, I think its hard to say no.
He could have re-signed with the Yankees last year but chose the Cubs instead. I don’t think championship or money matters to Kerry Wood. It’s Cubs or retirement.
Please let there be no truth to this…
I thought he said he was staying In Chicago
as bad as thay are going to be the next five years i would not want to be there either
….just because the phillies have interest doesn’t mean its mutual.
umm who wouldnt want to be the set up man for the Phillies?
Ryan Madson.
Thats only because he thinks 1/2 a season as a fill in closer makes him the most valuable closer on the market, which is why he hasnt gotten picked up and likely will be the LOSER of the offseason.
not true. The offseason isn’t over. He’ll get a decent contract, just not a Papelbon contract (because it was an overpay, not as bad as everyone makes it sound, but no doubt an overpay).
He’ll get 8-10 million per for 2-3 years, I’d hardly call that being a “loser.” It will take me my entire life to earn 25% of what he makes in a year.
Which team is going to throw him that right now? I don’t see any team currently needing a closer to give 10m for 3 years.
Boras inflated his ego so much that now he cannot think of himself as anything besides.
No one is going to throw around that money for basically a setup guy. You cant call him a closer after 30 saves.
Ryan Madson is a closer. Every team knows this along with every baseball analyst. I think the Rangers, Angels, Cardinals, and Rays could use him. Now, will he get 10 million? I don’t know. But He won’t get like 5 million. He’ll get an average of 8 million. Or, he could take a one year deal from the Rays of $9 million and try again next year if the Yankees, Dodgers, or Red Sox need a closer…
I don’t think it has to do with Boras either. I think it was just a bad situation for Ryan to be in. He is a very nice guy and I wish him the best.
He wants to close. He’s been arguably the best relief pitcher (once again, I said arguably) since 2010 and finally proved he could close.
His monetary aspirations have nothing to do with him not wanting to be the Phillies set up man. He feels he’s ready to be a full time closer.
I don’t see why he’d be the loser of the offseason though… because he didn’t accept a contract that was never offered to him?
Ryan Madson doesn’t want to be anybody’s setup man though.
Wood would be crazy not to take Phillies offer, the cubs are in a no compete mode, he might as well compete one last time in his career.
Doc already has 34 … maybe he can dust off the now vacant 44
He wore 39 with the Yankees. Schwimer’s wearing that now but shouldn’t be an issue.
When your about to retire, I would think that last goal would be for that ring. Why go to the cubs for a pointless year. He can still be part of the Cubs after retirement.
Wood turned down much higher offers last year to play for the Cubs on a very inexpensive contract. If the Cubs, for whatever reason, aren’t serious about re-signing him, and he wants to play, it’s not wrong to look at other, higher offers.
Cub fans cry in three, two, one…..
You must not have read the comments before posting this…. they started crying at least 15 minutes before your post.
I thought Cubs fans have been crying since 2003.
*1908
If I was a Cubs fan, I would actually want Woods to sign with the Phillies. From what I’ve heard, he’s a class act, and he took significantly less money to play for them. At this point in his career, it’s only right that he be given a legit shot at the title, and every move the Cubs have made this offseason suggests that they not going to even try to be a contender. After the work Wood has put in for the Cubs, he deserves to be at least given a chance to get a ring.
So the Angels maybe? 🙂 just kidding.
Considering how little he took last year to play for the Cubs when he presumably had much better offers from much better teams, I’d assume the only reason he isn’t a Cub right now is because the Cubs are either offering him even less or nothing at all.
Its the classic you dont pay me ill look else where. He wants to be a Cub, hes just using this oprotunity as leverage so the Cubs can pay him more.
Epstein has gone on record saying that if they don’t get the Wood deal done, shame on them. The reason it has taken a while may have to do with the Cubs telling Wood to establish a market value out there and then they will talk. Wood lives in and loves the Chicago area, but wants closer to MV than he got last year.
Didn’t he block a trade to Philadelphia last year at the deadline? I think he goes back to the cubs and the Phillies end up with Brad Lidge.
I really don’t understand a contender wanting a pitcher who essentially has stated he would rather stay comfy on a losing team than step onto a contender. I realize that Chicago is his home, but this guys isn’t getting any younger and if he signs with the Cubs, he’s wasting pretty much the rest of his career on a losing team. On top of that, I’m pretty sure he is baiting the Phillies to up the offer with the Cubs.
I get it if he’s getting the best offer from the Cubs. You go where the money is. But the Phillies could easily match the Cubs offer, and he’d go back to Chicago regardless. I wouldn’t want a player like that on a winning team anyways.
Gosh, I sure hate players who have a loyalty to a city, team and organization instead of just going where the money is!
this would be a great move 4 the phils
Wood just finished an interview a few seconds ago. It was mostly to promote his charity event on Friday, but they got some good questions in. He said he has a couple of options, Chicago being one of them. I got the impression that if his buddy Hendry was still around, he would be back already. I think Theo doesn’t want to give him the money Hendry probably would have. He said he plans to have a contract done by this next weekend.
Cubs convention next weekend.
yeah. they mentioned how nice it would be to have him signed by the convention.