Cubs Fans Offically Waiting for "Next Year"

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Aug 30, 2005 6:18PM

Chicagoist has been waiting and wondering when to declare the Cubs post-season chances officially dead. We didn't have to because Cubs management pulled the plug on the teams playoff hopes yesterday.

The team annouced the end of Kerry Woods' bullpen experiment, shutting him down for the year and scheduling arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder for Wednesday. Barring some unforseen major damage to his shoulder, the Cubs expect Wood to be healthy in time to reinjure his arm during spring training. Should he somehow avoid that, he'll likely rejoin the rotation next year.

In addition to shutting down Wood, the Cubs also moved out Todd Hollandsworth. The Cubs traded him to Atlanta in return for two Class A pitchers, Todd Blackford and Angelo Burrows.

Of course, even without these moves the Cubs eulogy was about ready to deliver. Last night's loss dropped the team into 5th place in the NL Central for the first time since 2002, when the team went 67-95. While they've only got to win 5 of their remaining 31 to ensure they're better than the 2002 squad there's no way they'll see the kind of success Cubs fans have dreamed about since their 2003 playoff run. Boston was finally able to shake their curse, but looks like the goat's going to haunt the Cubs for yet another year.