How would you describe Kerry Wood?
There's all kinds of baseball talent descriptions for him, and alot of them lately include words like "declining" and "older" and stuff like that.
Last year Kerry pitched 51 innings, gave up 45 hits and 21 walks, struck out 57 (ranks 38th in the NL), and opposing hitters averaged .231 against him.
Not genius numbers, but still pretty solid.
Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, I read they upped their ante go get Kerry signed the other day, and I really really hope they get that done.
Because there's a whole lot of other stuff you can say about Mr. Wood, isn't there?
Words like "integrity" and "leader" come to mind.
I don't need to talk about Kerry's past, I think if you're a Cub Fan it's hard to hold any other Cub in much higher esteem.
If you're the guys in charge of re-doing this whole Cub thing, and you've gotten rid of a bunch of older guys and replaced them with a bunch of younger guys, well these "other" traits might become pretty important.
Lots of people think clubhouse chemistry is balderdash (wow, did I just say "balderdash"?), but especially in 2012, when the Cubs seem like they'll be sort of talent-challenged, it just might be a collective team mentality that gets them a couple extra wins, don't you think?
And if I'm a kid on the Cubs, of course I'd want to learn from the guy who struck out 20 Astros in one game.
But you bet I'd also learn alot from the guy who smashed Sammy Sosa's boombox for walking out on the team.
So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Kerry Wood shows up at the Cubs Convention this weekend, and I wanna be there when the crowd goes crazy at the announcement.
