Everyone knows Kerry Wood’s story. (If you’d like another quick primer, check out the Swisher-Wood postmortem I just wrote at NBC Chicago. In other news, look at me, read me, love me.) Everyone knows about the precocious start, the 2003 and 2004 disasters, the injuries, and the disappointment. But before Kerry Wood left Chicago for good, he got his ultimate vindication. Once a febrile, injury-prone “choker,” Wood left Chicago a durable, reliable, and popular elder statesman.

On the Boers and Bernstein show on 670 The Score today, Jim Hendry discussed the trade, saying, in effect, that he was sad to have Wood leave, that he and Kerry were like brothers, but that it was a smart baseball move, which Kerry understood. All good things. He also said something more important: Wood deserves to make his paper. The Cubs can’t give him the Eric Gagne-but-actually-good contract he deserves, so he has to go elsewhere. By sticking with the Cubs and signing short-term deals instead of whining about the “pressure” *cough Mark Prior cough* Wood earned it.

Because of 2008, because he earned it, Kerry will become an even richer man, and the Cubs will move forward with Kevin Gregg. It’s an ending. All endings are sad, unless you’re watching Daddy Day Care. So it’s sad. But it compared to a few years ago, this ain’t nothin’. This is the ending Kerry Wood deserves. This is a good thing.