Cubs Sign Kerry Wood

As unlikely as this headline seemed at the beginning of this offseason, the Cubs have actually gotten Kerry Wood to come back and play with the team he spent 11 years of his career with.  After one and a half less than mediocre seasons in Cleveland and a dominant stretch run with the Yankees, Wood signed a one year, $1.5 million contract to play for the Cubs whom he last played for in 2008.  It may seem like Wood has been in the league for a very long time and this deal is to finish his career where it all started, going 'full circle', but he's only going to be 34 next year and he could stick around for a while.  His famous 20 strikeout game was 12 years ago, the same year he won Rookie of the Year, but he was only 21 that year.  This signing gives the Cubs a piece they needed badly this offseason in a veteran righty reliever.  There probably wasn't any better in that department than Wood, but his price tag was expected to shoo off the Cubs.  Having made $10 million last season (thanks, Indians), it seemed unlikely that he would accept the deep pay cut the Cubs but he did anyway and I personally could not be happier.  In 2008, Wood was huge in the success of that team recording 34 saves and an ERA of just 3.40.  His value even then was underrated because for a guy whose career average SO/BB ratio is 2.40 but in 2008 he held a ridiculous 4.67 SO/BB.  Kerry Wood should not have been let go after 2008, which would have prevented the acquisition of Kevin Gregg, who had plenty of forgettable moments with the Cubs.  From Kid K, Cub fans should expect a lot of strikeouts and plenty of walks, but an effective pitcher.  Wood is very stable as a pitcher and should fit in a perfect role with young and very inexperienced.  Wood is a great guy to have around, a role model for all the young kids on the Cubs these days and in the near future.  So far, the Cubs have picked up two solid gains: Carlos Pena and Kerry Wood.  The Cubs are going straight to their needs this season and aren't trying to do that thing where they pick up little pieces (cough, Joey Gathright and Luiz Vizcaino) in a futile attempt to balance the roster with the different five tool talents.

"Oh, Boy"

"Ronnie will forever be the heart and soul of Cubs fans," said Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts Friday.  The passing of Ron Santo late last week means so much more than the death of a radio broadcaster.  It means so much more than a former Cubs player.  It means more than even his fantastic career and retired jersey flag flying among the retired numbers on the foul pole.  It means the loss of the spirit and character that embodies the franchise unlike any other in sports, the Chicago Cubs.  Ron Santo was, undisputedly, the world's biggest Cub fan.  The legendary Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, doesn't even have that title.  This embodying spirit could be heard on WGN Radio between 1990 and 2010, and while he wasn't going to win any broadcasting excellence awards, this is exactly what made him so popular with Cub fans.  After a big home run or big play late in a game, Ron would often simply call out, "YES!  YES!  Alright!"  These words flowed into the heart of the listening Cub fans, and soon enough Ronnie became their voice as a fan.  After a bad play or important homer for the opposing team, Ronnie might go, "Oh, boy.  Oh, man."  And that would be it, leaving an undeniable signature silence on the air until play-by-play man Pat Hughes broke the silence.  Sometimes, Santo would provide the background fan commentary while Hughes was calling a play.  For example, Hughes would say something like this, "The 2-2.  And there's a high fly ball, at the track is Soriano and this ball is gone, a home run for Albert Pujols and the Cardinals have the lead," and Ronnie would repeat his line at the same time, like a heartbroken kid, "Oh no, Pat.  Oh, boy.  Not good. Not good."  One of Santo's most famous calls, in a crucial game down the 1998 stretch for the playoffs at Milwaukee, Cubs left fielder Brant Brown dropped a routine fly ball that cost the Cubs the game, a game they needed to have which prompted Ronnie to scream, "NO!!! NO!!!" Santo took losses harder than the players.

As time passed, especially in the 2000s, Santo's declining health became a factor in his job, or at least it should have.  Eventually he lost both his legs but didn't want to stop following the Cubs.  Santo never complained to anybody about his injuries, not until a certain announcement from his doctor.  Ron was told, sometime in the late 2000s, that he should not be traveling with the Cubs on each road trip, and that for some he should stay home.  Trying to separate the Cubs and Santo was like trying to separate a positive and negative end of a magnet, possible but very resisting.  Cubs TV play-by-play announcer Len Kasper told the media he was often wondering, with all the traumatic and disabling diseases he suffered over the years, "How does he do it?  How does he do it?"  In 2010, Santo was asked if he planned on returning for radio broadcasting in 2011.  He replied, "What else am I going to do?  Doing the Cubs games is like therapy for me."

Ron Santo wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame.  He is not a member of it, and never will be by the rules of induction to the Hall.  However, he's not taking it too hard.  In his speech in 2003 when his jersey was retired by the Cubs, he made something clear to Cub fans.  I thought you had to be in the Hall of Fame to get that done, Santo explained pointing at his flag on the foul pole.  He went on to explain that he didn't care about the Hall of Fame as much as having his jersey retired by the Cubs and that meant that much more to him.

Unfortunately, Santo wasn't able to see the day when the Cubs will break their well-publicized streak of championship-less seasons come to an end, but who knows when that will be.  It's entirely possible that no one reading this right now will see the Cubs do it.  It's even possible that your grandchildren won't see that day.  But for Santo and Cub fans, that's not what is most important.  The Chicago Cubs, a team like no other, would not be everything that it is today without Ronnie.  Ron Santo, without debate in my mind, is the most important person in the history of the Cubs, the eternal face of the franchise.  Without Santo, there would've been less identity to putting on the Cubbie pinstripes.  Without Santo, the Cubs would be missing a huge, heart-warming peace of their history.  Most importantly, they'd be missing an excellent guy who always put others first, but above all wanted to see nothing more than his beloved team win.  Thanks, Ron.