Come To Think Of It...Not Offering Kerry Wood Arbitration Makes No Sense

Look, I understand that the Cubs think signing Kerry Wood to a multi-year contract is too risky. I get that. But to not offer arbitration to him is just plain stupid.

Yet that's just what Jim Hendry decided, that Woody was too risky to even offer arbitration to. So what's the worst thing that could have happened, that Wood might have accepted the offer and forced the Cubs to bring their closer back for one more year?

And this would be a bad thing because...?

In fact, if Hendry was being honest, a one year deal is exactly what the Cubs should have been not only willing to do with Wood, but something they actually desired.

But once again, what they say and what they mean are often two different things.

And anyway, if Wood and Hendry were such good friends, as almost everyone insists, why couldn't they have made a gentlemen's agreement that if offered, Wood would not take arbitration, thus allowing the Cubs to get the compensatory picks they had coming.

I mean, if Wood cares about the organization, which I believe he does, and is friends with Hendry, why in the world wouldn't he have been willing to do that?

Face it, the whole things stinks like last week's leftover tuna fish. Something is amiss here, because the whole thing just doesn't add up.

Now, the trade for Kevin Gregg looks even worse. By giving up Wood and Jose Ceda, they acquire a closer who blew the most saves of anyone last year. In fact, they don't even plan on using him as a closer, but as a set-up man to Carlos Marmol.

At least acquiring the extra draft picks would have made the deal a lot more palatable to Cubs fans like me. Instead, it looks pretty damn stupid.

Why Hendry is lying and what his real motives are is unknown at this point. Perhaps he knows something about Wood's physical condition that he doesn't want to reveal for fear that it might cost Wood a contract elsewhere.

In any event, this decision to not offer arbitration only pours oil on the fire of losing Kerry Wood. And it makes me angry. A baseball decision, this was not. Are we a large market team or not? Are we trying to win it all or not?

It seems Jim Hendry is living in his own little bubble world anyway, one that doesn't concern itself with having lost nine consecutive playoff games. Just tweak a bit, that's all we need, he must be thinking. After all, we won 97 games last year.

And after all, that will ensure they fill up Wrigley Field. That is the ultimate goal, come to think of it, now isn't it?