Cubs Lose Wood for Season

The Chicago Cubs’ hopes of returning to the National League playoffs were dealt a severe setback Tuesday when pitching sensation Kerry Wood was diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament and will miss the season. Wood will seek a second opinion but is expected to have ligament-replacement surgery within two weeks, team officials said.

“He’s one guy who is irreplaceable,” first baseman Mark Grace said in a stunned Cubs’ clubhouse, “but the opportunity is there for somebody else to step up.”

Wood, 21, won the NL rookie-of-the-year award in 1998, when the right-hander was 13-6 with 233 strikeouts in 166 2/3 innings, delivering a fastball often clocked in the high 90s. He gained national attention and became an architect of baseball’s summer renaissance when he struck out 20 Houston Astros in a 1-0 victory May 6 to tie Roger Clemens’ major league record for a nine-inning game. He was rewarded this spring with a $690,000 salary, a record for a player with less than one year of major league service.

Wood missed last September because of a sore right elbow and pitched only five innings of the third and final game of the division series against the Atlanta Braves, which the Braves swept.

The elbow condition flared again after only one inning of his spring debut Saturday against the Angels.

“We were very, very conservative with Kerry,” General Manager Ed Lynch said. “Whether this was bound to happen, I can’t answer.

“We saw what he did for the city and the Cubs last year, and we’re optimistic he can come back and be productive.

“Every organization in baseball is out there looking for another quality pitcher, but you just don’t add a No. 1 starter. We think we have people we can put in the rotation.”

Scott Sanders and Kurt Miller are the leading candidates to join Kevin Tapani, Steve Trachsel, Jon Lieber and Terry Mulholland.

Wood’s injury--”thankfully we live in a day and age when they can put us back together like an erector set,” said Mulholland--is the latest blow in what has been a star-crossed spring for baseball.

Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died after a long illness, the Braves have lost first baseman Andres Galarraga (bone cancer) and closer Kerry Ligtenberg (torn elbow ligament) for the season, Yankee Manager Joe Torre has left the team indefinitely and will have surgery for prostate cancer, Houston left fielder Moises Alou is out for the year because of a torn knee ligament, and Florida Marlin third baseman Mike Lowell has been undergoing treatment for testicular cancer.

“You look at the people the Braves and Astros have lost . . . well, nobody is going to feel any sympathy for them or for us,” Chicago Manager Jim Riggleman said. “Kerry Wood is obviously a big loss. Somebody will have to step up.”