No news is good news, so these daily Cubs news conferences mean only one thing.
Thursday’s bad news is that Kerry Wood will miss more starts than expected, the Cubs have their two best pitchers (Wood and Mark Prior) and their best hitter (Sammy Sosa) on the disabled list at the same time.
Despite throwing loose and pain-free in an early-morning session at Wrigley Field, Wood was disabled retroactive to May 12. He will be eligible to pitch May 28 in Pittsburgh, which doesn’t mean he will.
But if you believe the Cubs and Wood–both of whom originally insisted his triceps and elbow soreness would cost him only one start–this disablement is only an extra, early-season precaution.
“He really could pitch Sunday. I don’t have any doubt about that,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “But 95 percent on May 20 is not good enough. It’s going to be 100 percent and, hopefully, that’s going to be next week. If this is August or September, it would be a different animal.”
Wood agreed that the 95 percent assessment was “pretty close.”
“I threw all my pitches, I turned it up velocity-wise,” he said. “Everything felt pretty good . . . I didn’t have any pain throwing. We’re being more safe than anything.”
Wood said he wouldn’t always have accepted the better-safe-than-sorry approach.
“Even two years ago, I would have kept pitching, maybe even last year,” he said. “Things are different. We’re not trying to win anything in May. I think it’s a smarter move than I would have made in the past.
“We’re saying why push it and miss two months.”
It was thought Wood might pitch Saturday or Sunday against the Cardinals or, at worst, early next week in Houston. Both are key series against Central Division opponents.
“I think we play Houston a few more times,” he said. “I’m not looking to the next series, I’m looking to the rest of the season.”
Manager Dusty Baker took the news philosophically, as he has with the other injuries that have cost him a starting shortstop and second baseman, plus a left-handed reliever and his top power hitter.
“We still have long way to go,” he said. “We don’t want it to linger.”
Baker said there was no need for a team meeting:
“I told them in spring training there were going to be injuries and we expect whoever is out there to do the job.”
He also said he did not believe a trade was the solution, asking, “Who would you trade without weakening yourself? What would happen when you get the [injured] guys back? We’ll make do with what we have.”
As always, Baker found a reason to be optimistic, citing Florida Marlins ace Josh Beckett’s performance last year after soreness in his elbow sidelined him the first several weeks of the season.
“He came late but he was stronger than anybody in the playoffs and World Series because of that,” Baker said.
In fact, Beckett pitched a complete-game victory in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to keep the Marlins alive. The Cubs had Prior and Wood lined up for Games 6 and 7, but neither could match Beckett, who also relieved in Game 7.
