Wood Signs 1 year Deal

The Chicago Cubs locked up Wood to a one-year, $6.1 million contract on Wednesday. Cubs general manager Jim Hendry had talked this offseason about trying to reach a long-term deal with the right-hander, who was eligible for arbitration, and both said that was still a possibility.

"Both sides are very interested in exploring that," Hendry said Wednesday. "We've made it known to 'Woody' that we'd like to look into that. I think it was a case that both sides wanted to get (the contract) done before we had to exchange arbitration numbers."

That was last year. Look similar to........

The Chicago Cubs signed Kerry Wood to a one-year contract worth $9.75 million on Friday, the highest ever for a Cubs pitcher, with the intent of locking him up in a multi-year deal before the start of Spring Training.
"It's not the usual, 'We'll give you a one-year thing' and then keep tabling the negotiations on a multi-year,'" general manager Jim Hendry said Friday in making the announcement at the Cubs Convention.

"We have a one-year deal in place, but we're working toward a multi-year deal," Hendry said. "We feel confident something will be done by the end of the month."

I don't want to cause alarm, but Hendry atleast has been trying for some time to get Wood locked up long term. Though this little blurb makes me feel better that Wood is going to sign.

"Chicago's been great to me, the fans have been great," Wood said. "I love the stadium, I love the team. More importantly, I love the fact that we did what we did last year and we want to make a habit out of it. I'm not going anywhere. We have a winner here and I'm not going anywhere."

I have always said that we needed to win last year in order to keep Wood long term. And in Wood's remarks, last year was extremely important to him, as it most certainly made up his mind to stay with the Chicago Cubs. If we lost last year that probably would of cemented for Wood to move on. Glad to hear he says he isn't going anywhere.