Philadelphia Phillies pursuing relief pitcher Kerry Wood – MLB News
Some inside Major League sources are speculating in the media that the Philadelphia Phillies are seeking to sign free agent relief pitcher Kerry Wood for next season.
Though it is not confirmed by any side but reports are stating that the Phillies have recently succeeded in their efforts to set up a viable meeting plan with Wood's agent in the next few days.
Currently, the Phillies are not alone in their desire to sign Wood but Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds are also showing interest to sign him.
However, the Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. thinks his franchise needs to take some serious financial issues under control before anything worse comes up as the team cannot afford Wood’s expensive free agency at the moment.
Last week, he clearly told the media saying, “Our payroll is well past where we want to be after signing Jimmy [Rollins] -- that’s a fact. It’s going to be right around or about where we finished last year. We’re in a dangerous area.”
For some it might carry little weight but majority of Major League experts believe if any team does exceed from their payroll limit, it can create many problems for the franchise in the long run to afford high salary caps.
A former Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees player, Wood certainly is an experienced individual having 12 years of playing in Major League Baseball.
His level of talent has been proven in the League where he achieved a 3.64 ERA along with 63 saves, 1576 strike-outs and 1.26 WHIP. While his last season’s performance was also tremendous, as playing in the Cubs franchise, Wood had a 3.35 ERA along with a single save, 57 strike-outs and 1.29 WHIP.
In the meanwhile, all these tremendous stats are very provoking for any team to sign Kerry Wood but eventually he and his agent are the sole authority to decide wherever they want to go.
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