Thank heavens baseball is around the corner.

Well Kerry Wood is starting another year and the Cubs fans are hopeful this is their year. Kerry is now throwing and Sweet Lou thinks he looks good. It looked as though his chest has healed after the fall in the tub. But with the way this fire-ball thrower has been in his career this could have spelled doom. I can see it now the Cubs fans talking about the curse of the tub.

MESA, Ariz. -- Kerry Wood threw 25 pitches off a mound Monday, his second session in Cubs camp, and impressed new manager Lou Piniella.
"He threw the ball nice and easy," Piniella said of Wood, coming back from a partial tear in his right rotator cuff. "The ball really comes out of his hand real easy. He's got some good life to it."

Wood has been throwing for a few months, but his sessions in camp were delayed when he suffered a bruise on his chest after falling out of a hot tub one week ago. The Cubs have not established any rules regarding jacuzzis.

"It was just a freak thing," Piniella said.

"I've been off the mound longer than most of the guys here," Wood said. "Once we get the chest issue out of the way -- I still feel it a little bit -- I'll be OK."

Man the Cubs were living life on the edge not giving in some what to what Zambrano wanted. Zambrano wants to stay in Chicago and there is no doubt he is their ace and they need to take care of him. If you compare his numbers to Barry Zito, Zambrano's numbers are better. Zito's huge contract shows what Carlos could be getting on the free market. The Cubs spent over $300 million this summer and it looks as though they will be spending over a $150 next year for Zambrano.

MESA, Ariz. -- The Cubs and Carlos Zambrano reached agreement on a one-year, $12.4 million contract Tuesday, avoiding a showdown just a few steps before the scheduled arbitration hearing.
The deal is the largest single-season award ever given to a Cubs pitcher, topping Kerry Wood's 2006 salary of $12 million, and continues the team's large offseason spending spree.

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and Zambrano's agent, Barry Praver, were walking toward the hearing room in the Phoenix Hyatt, and decided they were close enough to skip the session, which was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. MST.