… and it appears Wood would have taken less money and less years to stay.

He did a good job closing, and Marmol did a fine job setting up. Why they’d want to screw with that, and get rid of the face of the franchise at the same time, is completely beyond my understanding.

I don’t understand at all. Kerry says he would have done anything to stay but that the Cubs basically told him he wasn’t wanted? If that’s true, I’m shocked.

Give the man a two year deal and let’s move on.

Face of the franchise – check

Leader and Competitor – check

Affordable – check (for two years)

WTF is this about best for the family if it wasn’t said or thought by Kerry?

SCREW YOU HENDRY! He says that he is welcome to stay with us if he pleased, but didn’t want to sign him for 3-4 years. But Wood would have accepted ONE year?? What kind of horseshit is that?

Does Hendry care about him so much that he wants him to gain more money instead of helping out the Cubs? Thats absurd!

“How can the Cubs justify keeping Jason Marquis and Kosuke Fukudome for $10 million a year and let a true Cub go elsewhere. Give me a freaking break. I’m starting to hate baseball more and more. I hope Wood goes to the Cardinals or Brewers and "Bites the hand that once fed him” in the immortal words of a drunken stumble bum."

And I actually thought it was a class move. But in light of Wood’s comments I have a much lesser opinion of the Cubs organization

But it seems Hendry has far too much respect for Wood to let him settle for less money in Chicago. This seems to be two very bizare characteristics clashing here. One guy who will take far less to stay, and another not wanting the other guy to do it

“in the end, having a little bit of knowledge about the organization, and what’s going on with the team and who was up for free agency and the contracts,”

I think there’s a lot in that quote right there. What does he mean by “little bit of knowledge about the organization and what’s going on with the team”? I think there’s more than what meets the eye.

There is more to this than meets the eye. I honestly believed Wood wanted to stay with the Cubs and would have done most anything to do so.

I used to back Hendry… but I dont anymore. Especially after some of these crappy big money signings like Fukudome and Marguis. It reminds me of the Mark Grace thing some years back. I know that Grace rubbed a lot of Cub fans wrong… but I think when he dissed the organization, it was more management and not the fans. Every quote I have ever read seemed as such.

This just makes me sick and really hurts.

as a business decision anymore. If he knew it was coming it must have been very hard for him the last few weeks of the season. I thought by now nothing the Cubs could do would surprise me but this does not compute.

JH is trying to make it look like he has Wood’s best interest at heart and is on the side of the angels. Woody will take care of himself; that’s not Jim’s job. This just sucks. I guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Shock and Awe and now I’m starting to get pissed. This is bullass. What the hell is Hendry doing?

It’s negotiation people. I’ll believe Kerry is gone when I see him in another uni.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081114&content_id=3679980&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Completely leaves out his desire to stay for a one year contract. Typical Muskat bending of news

Stupid Cubs. There better be a good reason for this, and we have a right to know what that reason is.

Kerry seems to be taking the news better than any Cub fan. This is the way the system works and Wood seems fine with it. He was paid well and treated well. I like Kerry and would like him to stay but maybe there is a better plan.

I know this isn’t going to amount to much, but I am not going to spend any money on the Chicago Cubs next season. My decision is based upon how they are just letting Wood go. I have loved the Chicago Cubs for over 20 years. The only time I can remember ever being so mad at the organization was when Himes let Dawson and Maddux go.

I know the Cubs are an organization which wants to make money… but there are right ways and wrong ways about going about it. If this is how the management is going to treat somebody who has dedicated his life to being a Chicago Cub… and a good one at that, then I have to do something to show that I do not approve of this.

I wish the Cubs the best next season. I will follow the team, and I still want them to win it all… but, I will not give them a dime of my money during the 2009 season.

As Al said, why, if one year was a possibility, would you bring in Gregg, who sucked hard last season IMO, to replace a solid Woody. (That was funny)

He’ll take one year deal? Are you *%&! kidding me!? you then proceed to trade a rocket arm for some bum who spells his name with three G’s

This is inexcusable, bad enough he got fleeced by the Marlins again, now we know he wouldve taken a one year deal

Wish I was going.

The entire situation is bizarre.

Hendry said: He felt like Wood wanted a 3-4 year deal, which the Cubs weren’t willing to give him, therefore it was a good business decision. He also stated that the door is still open for Wood to return if he wanted to and that he was always a Cub

Wood said: He’d definitely take a one year deal because he loves this city and wouldn’t mind returning??

What the hell is going on? Did something happen that we weren’t aware of??

This also makes the Gregg deal look like shit. We basically gave up Ceda and Wood for Gregg, which we didn’t have to do in the first place if Hendry had heeded Wood’s words.

Seriously, is Hendry drunk??

He said he’d consider a one year deal not that he’d accept it. Big difference. When all would be said and done I doubt it would have happened that way.

The union would have crucified him if he did it too.

In another thread I wrote this was not at all the same because the Cubs had dicked with Maddux ( sorry Al but like all us except MBNIU I am a BAD mood) and pulled back contracts etc. While not the same this is sounding to sound similar. I can never boycott the Cubs but this is a day that will live in infamy as bad as Maddux not so much in that Wood is going to go out and win 3 straight Cy Young awards but in treating our most loyal player like DIRT.

There just HAS to be more to this and like DGU I smell a Lou rat.

But the reaction to this is ridiculous. First this is his side of the story and saying he’d accept a one year deal is easy when it didn’t happen.

Before we shoot Hendry this is November 14th and let’s see how this all plays OUT before we say it was a bad decision.

Who would ever think I was about the only reasonable person on a Wood thread?

,,,,that is saying if he even has a next move. Now not only with a need for a LF bat and a starting pitcher, we need someone to set up Marmol. That is if Marmol is your closer, if Gregg closes then Marmol can still set up but i doubt that will happen. Now let see what happens next. Dempster sign? Trade for a LF bat? Hendry needs to make up for this huge error of letting (excuse me, MAKING) Kerry Wood walk away from the Cubs.

Either he is going to be traded this winter, or he is going to be boo’d out of the ballpark next year. I know it’s not his fault, and that this statement isn’t true, but he’s going to be remembered as the guy who took Wood’s spot on the roster. He’s already got some strikes against him for that and he can’t help it.

I think you can thank the media for that though.

Gregg falls flat on his face, forcing the team to give up more prospects to get a more reliable reliever sometime in July

Just got this email from Crane at 3:51pm today

You said you would like a separate area within the Cubs.com Web site to converse with each other,
coordinate events and ticket exchanges, obtain updates from Cubs management, provide feedback on a
more regular basis and celebrate Cubs baseball. Today we launched the beta version of that Web site,
which can be accessed at www.cubs.com\sth.

Wood was paid 4.5m last year, Gregg is arbitration eliglble and will most likely get the same if not more. Wood would of taken a deal in the 6 million range I am sure.
 This is 48 hours of stupidity that reeks of 2004 all over again.
Where is Blue mike and all the others who wanted Wood out and this being a good baseball move. Lets here from you.

This is Horse $%^&

ill keep ya posted if they get a hold of him.

shit, I guess loyalty doesn’t matter to Hendry now

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8795106/Braves-out-of-Peavy-sweepstakes?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49

So could this whole damn Wood thing be a ploy?? Wood resigns after Peavy is traded to Cubs??

Neither Wood or Hendry have said publicly that Wood definitively won’t be back. Lots of open doors.

Is Hendry feeling the pressure from the longer term deals that he has signed (pressure from above) to cut costs? The latter makes no sense to me if it’s the case because Wood would take less and shorter, and it’s not the right way way to go about dumping a “bad contract” of another player.

Maybe the ownership wants to get lower on salary despite claims otherwise? Maybe Hendry just made a big mistake?

Who knows? But if this were a “doghouse” issue then the ownership has to start asking What is so important about this doghouse?

No question that Wood’s age and injury history makes him a higher risk player. If they are afraid that Marmol is hindered if Wood remains then they should think again. Marmol has not shown the mental maturity of a closer—yet.

In the Sullivan article Wood remains a total class act and a great Cub. Marmol better get hotter than “!@#$%&_S*&”, to borrow from Lee Elia and get his head together for closing because if he struggles he is going to be booed in to OBLIVION! And supposedly he’s sensitive….

but it could be very interesting when I get back late tonight..

get the two wonderboys back together!!

anger is justified given Kerry’s remarks, but there’s still clearly much more to this story and it hasn’t played itself out yet. I’m going to wait and see before jumping to conclusions or speculating various scenarios.

Hendry has overspent and now has to cut corners and downgrade in certain areas to improve his team in other areas.

I share many of the sentiments already expressed. I was saddened and disappointed when Hendry made the announcement, now I’m angry. Kerry has been my favorite Cub since Ryno retired, a great pitcher and a great human. It’s awful that he’s leaving because of Hendry.

The Cubs will be inundated with e-mails and calls demanding Kerry be re-signed, and millions can not be ignored. I feel better hearing Kerry saying I would take a one year deal, I would do anything to stay; than hearing that he wasn’t going to take any deal under 4 yrs. and a ton of money… This isn’t over. Book it.

How far does Wood move up an the 100 Greatest Cubs list? I mean, look how many people love this guy.

my wife kept bad-mouthing my life-long best friend. I don’t miss her a bit.

First the playoffs, then Gregg-for-Ceda, now ditching Kid K?!

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!?!”

Sorry for yelling. I hardly ever get angry over baseball stuff…

… but if Kerry wanted to stay for ONE FREAKIN’ year — couldn’t Hendry have done that???

What can we fans do to make our voices heard?

We have an @ss like Sori playing for the next hundred years, and Woody can’t play for one more year????

But hope against hope this was a miscommunication and Jim is now talking to Kerry or Kerry’s agent.

But I think I might see where this is going,

Jim looked at the situation.’

Has some constraints on payroll.

Looked at Wood.,

Looked at Dempster

Looked at need for RF.

Figured the backup plan to keeping Wood (Marmol or Greg to close other to set up) that they had in hand was better than backup plan for RF or losing Dempster.

I keed!

not to be devil’s advocate or anything. OK, so I AM being devil’s advocate. What if Kerry re-signs with the Cubs for next year and blows out his elbow in the second week. Everybody is on Hendry’s ass for re-signing a guy that clearly has a history of injury problems. Hendry clearly thought Gregg was a safer bet and frankly, I can’t disagree, considering Wood’s history of injuries that people seem to quickly forget. The dude (Gregg) had one bad month, and really, only three bad games in that month, one of which was thanks to our good ol’ Cubbies. Now, sure I wish we could have had Wood back, and yes, he SAYS that he would’ve accepted less. But he can say whatever he wants now, and it doesn’t really matter. If he comes out and says, “yeah, the Cubs couldn’t afford me” then HE looks like the asshole. But by leaving like this, Cubs fans still love him and his reputation remains intact and people go back to thinking the man that’s put together two division winning teams in a row, clearly doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing.

WHY?

WHY Hendry?

You’ve made good decisions since you’ve been here (aside from giving people a little more $$ than they deserve).

I want answers!

Hendry better make up for it by signing CC, getting Peavy, trading for Pujols, etc.

^^ Yeah, he can’t make up for it.

If Wood will sign a one year deal, then why wouldn’t he accept arbritration? If Jim didn’t offer arb and we lost Wood AND two picks, bring on the pitchfork mobs.

that suggests Wood knew for the past year this could be his last year.

Knowing all the time that it could be his last season as a Cub allowed him to better soak it in, he said.

Also, there’s finality in this article. Wood’s tone suggests Jimmyeatworld is wrong. This is not a negotiating ploy. Wood is gone.

Before our collective panties get bunched up and you storm the Tower with pitchforks — why not wait and see what the FA’s are actually offered? Outside of the Yankees and CC — because of the financial problems that might befront certain MLB teams — I don’t think you will see a lot of $$$$’s thrown around this year.

K-Rod might be hitting FA at the wrong time. It’s very possible FA’s will be low-balled this off-season. Hendry may be taking a calculated gamble. It’s possible that players will be available at lower cost — and this process may take all winter.

Besides, we haven’t won a damn thing with Kerry Wood on the roster, anyway. You all are still too hung up on individuals. The front of the uniform — to me, anyway — is more important than the name on the back. Wood’s 31…and as I have said time and time again — with his history, his next pitch could be his last pitch.

I don’t see anybody how anybody can challenge that assertion.