Kerry Wood to the mound

Before I start on Kerry Wood, let me apologize to both of my regular readers for the fact that I have not posted anything in a week and a half. I've been so very busy lately. Doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, or that I don't love you.

My good friend Jeff Brown had this to say about the Wood signing, which as you may recall is two years, $20.5 million, with a club option for a third year at $11 million that kicks in automatically if he finishes a certain number of games in either '09 or '10:

Does Mark Shapiro know what he's doing?

They just gave over $20 million to a pitcher who has spent more time in the hospital getting surgeries and doing rehab than he has pitched over the past 8 years.

He'll go on the DL in early May, after missing most of Spring Training, then be on and off the DL all year (mostly on) and finish with 6 saves, a 5.97 ERA, and a record of 0-6.

Jeff could be right, of course, but I do not share his pessimism. There's some degree of gamble involved, just as there is some degree of gamble in signing any player, especially a pitcher. But Wood's is not a young arm anymore. He'll turn 32 on June 16. A lot of pitchers have been injury-prone during their 20s and then come around to be healthy through their 30s. In fact, I think such a pitcher might be slightly better off because all those years when he could have been putting strain on his developing arm by throwing 100 pitches every five days, he was sipping piña coladas and waiting for his arm to be ready to pitch again. The throwing arm isn't fully developed until it's been around for nigh on 30 years.

And Wood managed to stay healthy last year while pitching only the ninth, sometimes as many as three days in a row. I think his arm can handle that on an ongoing basis, and apparently Mark Shapiro does too. There's no guarantee he'll stay healthy, just as there is no guarantee CC Sabathia will stay healthy for the Yankees. But I think it's a good bet.

Anyway, the Indians introduced their new closer yesterday at Jaco ... er, Progressive Field, and Shapiro talked about what else the Indians are planning this offseason. He talked about wanting a second or third baseman to fill the hole created by the Casey Blake trade, and about how the starting pitchers who are out there are out of his price range. So we may or may not see another signing before the season starts, with Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta possibly each shifting one position to the left. Peralta's been working at third base in winter ball, and of course, Cabrera is a natural shortstop. So that could certainly work.

If there is no signing, we will see Jamey Carroll, Josh Barfield or Luis Valbuena playing whatever infield position is left over. I'd hate to see Carroll playing every day unless he's been hiding some hitting skills from us, and of course Barfield has been a flop the last couple of years but has actually been a good major-league hitter before. Valbuena, who came over in the three-team trade in which we gave up Franklin Gutierrez, is only 23, and his major-league experience consists of 18 games after the rosters were expanded on Sept. 1. But he hit .303 between AA and AAA last year, with 11 home runs in 452 at-bats. I don't know how his glove is, but he's got some talent with his bat.