Yet Another Mistake: The Cubs Let Kerry Wood Leave Town

Back in 1998, I was 12 years old.  I had just moved to Barrington Illinois, a suburb to the northwest of Chicago, where I immediately grew attached to the Cubs.  Since then, the Cubs have had their ups and downs and, until this off-season, their was one player still left from that year: Kerry Wood.

Today, as the Cubs traded for the Marlins' Kevin Gregg, and Jim Hendry spoke of letting Wood go, I found myself staring at the wall in a daze as though something horrible has happened.  And, in fact something horrible did just happen.  Kerry Wood will most likely not be part of the Cubs in 2009.

I have gone through a lot as a Cubs fan, though not as much as many of the Cubs followers, but I don't know what to do with myself.  Kerry Wood has always been there for me, much like Mark Grace and Ryan Sandberg were always there for many Cubs fans.  The Cubs deciding to not sign him this winter is just wrong. 

Most of the time, we hear of players having a special loyalty for a team.  And, most of the time, this means the player would give a "home-town discount" to the team because of that loyalty.  Kerry did this last year, when he was offered much more from other teams during the off-season. But he stuck with the Cubs because that was what his heart told him to do. 

Their is such a thing though as a teams loyalty towards a player.  The Cubs have shown this with Wood as they kept him all these years even with the multiple injuries. 

But now that Wood is in-line for a payday, presumably bigger than his others in the last 10 years, the Cubs now decide that they can afford to let him go.  Because the Cubs have kept Kerry for those 10 long years, I thought that they really knew just how talented and important he is.  But now that he is finally healthy and has showed that he can pitch yet again, they let him go.  How in the world does that make sense? 

Let me tell you one thing, the Cubs are seriously wrong with this choice.  He isn't like most players today, he has heart and he cares about his team and the city he plays in.  Hendry says that it is time for him to make the money he deserves.  He deserves respect Hendry, and he deserves to be part of the Cubs in 2009. 

Kerry Wood should have been the number 1 priority this off-season for the Cubs' Front Office.  I don't care about Peavy or Dempster or even that left handed bat that Pinella wants (see here).  Wood needed to be resigned because of what he is to this team and what he means to this city. 

Why don't the Cubs trade away Marquis and open up that salary for Wood?  Dempster, no matter how good he was last year, doesn't mean half as much to Cubs fans as Kerry does. 

If the Cubs do not sign Kerry Wood for 2009, it will take its toll on the team as well as me.  For me, Wood represented what being a Cub fan is all about.  Being a Cubs fan means that no matter what happens and no matter how bad something is, you always have hope.  Losing Kerry feels like my hope and dreams for the Cubs slipping away.