For those of you pining for the return of Kerry Wood (and his $10 million salary), this real-time trip down memory lane may be helpful:

PHOENIX -- It could be something, it could be nothing. But the plans for Indians closer Kerry Wood, scratched from his scheduled appearance in a Cactus League game Saturday because of soreness in his right lat muscle, to go back to work have changed.

Wood was expected to throw a bullpen session Monday and appear against the Reds on Wednesday. That was the word from Wood himself, anyway.

But on Monday, manager Manny Acta announced that Wood did not throw that bullpen, and Acta did not offer a timetable for Wood's return to exhibition action.

"We're going to take it easy with Kerry," Acta said. "The medical staff will put together a plan for him. We want to be careful. He's our closer. He has plenty of time to get ready, and there's no reason to rush him back out there."

Even if Wood is perfectly fine and ready for Opening Day - or any other day - is he (and his $10 million salary) really the answer?

No.

Apparently it isn't a new thing for the Chicago Tribune to go after an athlete it deems unacceptably acceptable:

The Chicago Tribune waged a choleric campaign against holding the next Clay fight in Chicago; the newspaper's attitude seemed to be that thousands of impressionable young Chicagoans would go over to the Viet Cong if Cassius were to be allowed to engage in fisticuffs in that sensitive city. Amplified by the newspaper (on one day it ran eleven items about Clay), the noise became a din, the drumbeats of a holy war. TV and radio commentators, little old ladies from Champaign-Urbana, bookmakers and parish priests, military strategists at the Pentagon and brave dogfeet wading across the ricefields of Vietnam, all joined in a get-Cassius clamor.

Sounds like a recent day or two at Tribune Tower.

The City of Mesa has put a proposal before the state legislature in Arizona that would provide the Cubs with a new spring training facility. Part of the financing for the new facility has been questioned by owners of other Cactus league teams who oppose a "Cubs' Tax."

Tom Haudricourt reports that Bud Selig has turned his attention to finding a way to keep the Cubs in the Cactus League without taxing tickets league wide.

"I've gotten involved in that, too, because I don't want the owners handling it," said Selig. "We just have to find a way to do it. I know how (other club officials) feel about it."

Sounds like Bud's way of saying the other owners aren't happy and he's going to find a way to make the situation worse beneficial to all. I wonder if the Cubs are the only team that Bud is interested in "helping" complete a deal for their spring time digs.

The Brewers aren't looking for a new facility but they would like improvements at Maryvale Baseball Park. Their lease expires in 2012, so they have the leverage of being courted elsewhere, including communities in Florida.

From the mind (and Twitter account) of Peter Gammons:

Best sports song ever is Eddie Vedder's "All the Way" Cubs tribute (check Youtube). Sweet Caroline may remain the worst

Does Gammons really believe "Sweet Caroline" is a sports song, simply because they play it at Red Sox games? Lyrics here. You decide.

As for the front end of his argument, I like Eddie as much as the next guy, but the "best sports song ever"? Really? It's a throwaway ditty at best.

Better than "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"? Harry disagrees:

(click "read more" for full article)

What is the protocol for a baseball player when something like this happens, via Morgan Ensberg's blog:

I was in right field shagging balls during BP in 2007. I loved talking to the fans in the bleachers. In fact, I felt so comfortable with them that a guy asked to see my glove so I tossed it to him. He looked at it and threw it back down, no problem. Back to the story…

I was talking to a group of 7 and they started ragging me, but I got them to laugh and the conversation quickly turned into a Q & A session. After 15 min I told them I had to hit. When I turned my back I heard a guy spit and felt phlegm hit my left temple.

As I jogged into the dugout my eyes were watering up. I took 3 or 4 deep breaths and regained my composure. It took me over an hour to stop feeling humiliated. Someone just spit on me because he thought it would be funny and instead it burned a memory into my heart that I will never forget.

(click "read more" for full article)

Crane Kenney said the Cubs are backing off the league-wide ticket tax to pay for their new spring training facility - which is curious, since they had previously said this was all a state plan:

The Chicago Cubs have ditched plans for an 8 percent tax on all Cactus League tickets to help pay for a new $80 million spring training ballpark in Mesa.

The Cubs have threatened to move their spring training from Mesa to Naples, Fla., unless they get a new stadium. The Cubs are the biggest attendance draw in the Cactus League.

But Cubs President Crane Kenney said Thursday that the team does not need the tax to help finance the new stadium. Kenney said the team could finance the stadium through a $1 increase to Maricopa County’s rental car tax, bonding and spending increases to be voted on by Mesa voters.

(click "read more" for full article)

David Haugh weighs in on the issue of Playing While Black at Wrigley and gives Milton Bradley some helpful advice:

If Bradley heard one racial taunt or read a single racist letter as former Cubs LaTroy Hawkins and Jacque Jones also claimed, that's one too many. But as more than one African-American Cubs player has pointed out after past suggestions of Wrigley racism, those hateful fans represent the exception more than the rule.

Instead of following the example of Jackie Robinson and others by using whatever racial tension he felt as motivation, Bradley decided to use it as an excuse. Success would have shut up any idiots making Bradley's life the prison he said it was. He failed. Enough already.

While there is plenty of room to doubt Milton Bradley and to say there isn't widespread racism at Wrigley (or more than at certain other ballparks), it is amusing to read someone who looks like this give minorities advice on how to deal with "racial tension."

I wonder if Haugh learned such things on the mean streets of Muncie or South Bend?

Also note that Haugh uses the more skeptical "claimed" over the more neutral "said" when discussing the experiences of Hawkins and Jones (not to mention Dusty Baker).

(click "read more" for full article)

Update: Meanwhile, Morgan Ensberg says he believes Bradley - and shares a Wrigley experience of his own (via ACB).

What in the world is going on with the Chicago Cubs and their personnel moves?

Lou Piniella said today that Xavier Nady - the Cubs 4th outfielder signed for $3.3 million - won't be able to fully play baseball until June. He can pinch hit. He can be pitchers helper. But he can't play the outfield because he's still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

So. The Chicago Cubs spent $3.3 million on a pinch hitter, right? Lou doesn't seem worried.

"Look, Nady can hit," Piniella said. "We've got to get him out on the field and get his at-bats. If we can get him on the field, Nady is going to do some damage with the bat."

But Nady is going to be a DH only for at least another week, before he gets some playing time in the outfield in the second half of the Cactus League games. Piniella was not concerned about Nady's arm in right or left.

"We don't care about throwing," he said. "He can throw the ball to the second baseman or throw the ball to the shortstop."

(click "read more" for full article)

Update: The headline on the cubs.com story on the latest Milton Bradley blowup?

"Cubs putting Bradley in the past"

Really? Read on...

Original post: Who in the hell is handling media relations for the Cubs these days?

They deserve to be fired if they haven't told Jim Hendry, Ryan Dempster and company to stop answering questions about Milton Bradley.

Here's what Hendry had to say today, after Bradley's latest comments on the difficulty of PWB (playing while black) at Wrigley Field:

"We're all brought up in life to accept responsibility when we fail, and to judge people by how they act and how they carry themselves when things don't go well," Hendry said. ...

(click "read more" for full article)

The Milwaukee Brewers are understandably upset that their fans may be asked by the state - and not the Cubs, as a point of order - to help pay for the Cubs' new spring training facility:

"My point, and I've talked to other GMs about this, is why should we pay for another team?" Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said.

"I don't care if it's the Cubs or not. That's a competitive edge."

Excellent point, Doug. Why should the Brewers - or any other team - help "pay for another team"?

(click "read more" for full article)