asian-kerry-woodSigh…the life of a small-market team in today’s MLB.

Teams with the license to print money, like the Mets, have the luxury to buy whatever they need to fix their team, evident in their signing of a dude who screams like he just won the World Series after closing out a game against the Royals in July with a 3-run cushion when they already had a high-priced closer in the garage getting fixed up.  Hey, not hating, it’s reality, and I’ve come to terms with it.

But the Tribe doesn’t have that luxury.  Rather than a plug-n-play, teams like the Indians work free agency like a glorified Roulette game, spinning the wheels on other team’s outcasts with the hope they turn out halfway decent.

Enter Kerry Wood.

You all know his story by now so I don’t think there’s any need to rehash and go over it again.  I don’t think Kerry Wood is anything more than the vivid memory of that one day when he looked so ridiculously unhittable, striking out 20 and allowing one little BS hit, when he was with the Cubs in, what might have been his rookie year (I’m not looking it up…I don’t care enough to).  He’s been living off of that day for his entire, injury plagued career, and despite the worst intentions of MLJ favorite, Dusty Baker, has actually managed to continue life with his right arm attached to his body.

Really, what else has kept him around?  Certainly not his actual production, because there’s almost nothing there.  The Cubs, for the last half decade, have kept him around in hopes that he could replicate that one half-season where he was white-boy, Texas Doc Gooden, and for various reasons, that’s never happened.

I don’t mean to be a dick to the guy or anything, but really, aside from one season where he saved 34 games, he hasn’t done anything to get my hopes up that he’s the long term answer.  Sure, the Cubs would probably like to keep him around but probably wanted to cut payroll because of the Tribune company going belly up or to free up cash for another big-name pitcher or some other economic reason, but why would they let him go for nothing if they still thought he had anything left?

On the other hand, for the Indians, this has all the makings of Joe Borowski 2.0.  Borowski was the absolute worst closer I have ever seen in my entire life, and even the biggest lead just didn’t seem safe when he was in.  Even against bad teams, he would load the bases and make every fan have a heart-attack just waiting for the implosion that happened far too often.

Is that fair to Wood, to compare him to someone who’s historically disgusting?  Probably not, and we should at least wait and see, but still, National League pitchers going to the American League?  I don’t like it one bit.  And don’t give me that shit about the NL having the last two World Series Champions, especially not the Phillies, that was an AL team in the NL, and we all know it.

Back to Kerry Wood though…best case scenario is he is a reasonably priced, effective closer that fits the mold of a Mark Shapiro Indians player.  Worst case scenario, one which is pretty damn likely, he gets hurt and misses gigantic chunks of time.

Yea, I sound pessimistic as fuck, but I have 4 years of nothing but injury and 1 and a half years of pretty decent pitching as a historical model.  It’s scientific fact that he’s hurt more than he’s healthy, and he has a full Dusty Baker season on his arm which translates into like 10 regular pitching seasons…that’s not good.  Bottom line is that Kerry is a pretty safe bet, high reward, low risk, that could pay off in the end.  He’s the gamble that small-market teams like the Indians have to make.

Good move, I guess, but lets just wait and see if the dude can stay healthy.

(H/T Pic: LOLJocks)

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