Signed RHP Kerry Wood to a Two Year, $20.5M Contract ($11M 2011 Option)

The 2011 Option will vest if Wood completes 55 games in 2009 or 2010. If he doesn't, the Indians can still pick up the option. Meeting the vesting option certainly isn't a given; 10 closers topped that mark in the majors last season, including Wood (with 56). Finishing games isn't the same as making 30 starts; teams can be playing either too or well or too poorly to use their closer that often. And if Wood would happen to miss as little as a week due to injury, he might not be able to make that milestone; he barely made it last year as the closer for the best team in the National League.

Paying $10M to a pitcher who probably won't throw more than 65 innings in a season looks like overkill if you figure that Wood is going to be worth about 1.5 wins to the Indians. Of course, consider the contributions that Joe Borowski and company made in the ninth inning last year, your perspective changes a bit. On a marginal basis, the improvement should be substantial.

Wood's 2008 peripherals (66.3 IP, 54 H, 84 SO, 18 BB, 3 HR) were among the best in baseball. His average fastball last season was 95 mph, and his slider sat around 83 mph. In other words, he can blow his fastball by a hitter even if he's looking for it, and if he throws his slider to a hitter expecting his fastball, that ball isn't going to be hit. The Indians usually don't have an opportunity to sign these types of players.

The elephant in the room is, of course, Kerry's extensive injury history. Shoulder problems derailed his promising career as a starter, and he's going to be pitching the rest of his career, however long that is, with a torn rotator cuff. The last two players the Indians have given quasi-market contracts to (Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner) have sustained major injuries soon after signing, so although this contract isn't a long-term risk, the team doesn't have the financial wherewithal to shrug off another 10 million dollars' worth of non-productive talent during the middle of a season.

All indications are the the Indians are on the verge of announcing a two- or three-year deal with Kerry Wood, who no doubt would be anointed the closer immediately.  Paul Hoynes reported this morning that the Indians met twice with Wood's agent on the first day of Winter Meetings, while both the AP's Tom Withers and MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince have both reported in the last hour that the deal is almost done.

John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus reports that the Indians have already signed off on Wood's medical report — a critical milestone for a cautious organization signing a pitcher with a significant injury history.  (Hat-tip: xrickx.)  Sweetening the deal, the Tigers were reportedly interested in Wood, too.

Most relievers, even very good ones and closers, are failed starters — that is, they didn't have good enough stuff or enough effective pitches to succeed as a starting pitcher.  Not so with Wood, a truly dominating pitcher who is tied with Roger Clemens for the one-game nine-inning strikeout record, with 20.

Wood switched the bullpen after failing for years to stay healthy while pitching out of the rotation.  Last season, he had a rocky start on Opening Day but went on to post a 2.89 ERA over the rest of the season, while stranding 10 of 12 inherited runners.  He collected 34 saves in 38 opportunities, and even more important, he struck out a staggering 84 batters in just 66 innings, while walking only 18.

Wood has the second-highest career strikeout rate of all time, behind only Randy Johnson.  No, seriously, he does.  That mark is mostly based on his 10.25 K/9 as a starter, but over 100-odd innings as a reliever over the past four seasons, it's an even better 10.96 K/9, and last season it was 11.40 K/9.

Wood stands to become the Indians' most significant free agent signing since Chuck Finley in 2000.  Granted, that isn't saying a hell of a lot, but still.

Baseball's free agency has in past years been a hierarchical process, with money frozen up until the premium players sign. Thus we wait for CC Sabathia to choose the Yankees or a West Coast team; that decision will trigger concrete offers for the next tier of top free agents, as the principals in the Sabathia sweepstakes obviously can't spend on Mark Teixeira or Francisco Rodriguez and hope to sign Sabathia at the same time. Well, except for the Yankees.  

As far as the Indians are concerned, their first major action is probably in the closer market, which in a welcome change from offseasons' past seems to have more closers than serious suitors. That's a good thing, for the Indians need to improve several other areas on their club, particularly the infield. The Indians should get a pretty good closer, and they should be able to get one through free agency, not normally an avenue the Indians have used to get their major contributors.

So who's available? There are four free-agent closers that I consider good bets to be effective next season (in no particular order):

Rodriguez and Fuentes are probably the best long-term bets, but the Indians have no chance at Rodriguez (asking for a 5/$75M contract), and signing Fuentes at his asking price of 3/$30M would fill a large portion of their offseason budget. That leaves Wood and Hoffman as the two options left that would allow the Indians to also make major improvements elsewhere on their roster. Signing Hoffman to a one-year contract, for instance, wouldn't affect their ability to sign Orlando Hudson.

The trade market is also out there (Street, Valverde, Putz, etc), but again, if you can sign Wood or Hoffman to a decent short-term deal, why bother trading your prospects for at best marginal improvement? In this instance, the trade route should only be a backup plan.