NATIONAL LEAGUE UPDATE: SURGERY CLOUDS WOOD'S FUTURE.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry made the announcement on Monday afternoon, several hours before Kerry Wood actually made what amounted to a farewell appearance by pitching an inning of relief against the Dodgers.

The fireballing right-hander, Hendry said, would undergo season-ending, arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Wednesday morning in Cincinnati, marking the third trip to the disabled list this year for a player whose once-promising career has been more a testament to flameouts than to strikeouts.

Wood's procedure was performed by Reds team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek, a rising star on the orthopedic surgery scene. It was, by all accounts, a success.

``When I spoke to Dr. Kremchek, he was very pleasantly surprised,'' Cubs trainer Mark O'Neal told the Chicago Tribune. ``It's exactly what he was looking for, and it's exactly what we thought it was.''

Kremchek cleaned up and stabilized Wood's labrum, rotator cuff and bursa, and didn't find any significant tears in the shoulder. The question now is how quickly Wood - who missed all of 1999 after reconstructive elbow surgery and pitched a total of just 205 1/3 innings over the past two seasons - can come back. Team officials are hoping he can begin spring training on the same program as the Cubs' other pitchers.

``That's our goal, absolutely,'' O'Neal told the Tribune. ``If everything goes right, yes.''

Wood signed a three-year, $32 million contract extension in spring training 2004, a deal under which the Cubs still owe him $14 million, including a 2006 salary of $11 million and a $3 million buyout of his $13.5 million option for 2007. Since signing the deal, Wood has a 3.90 ERA, although he is just 11-12 and has been on the DL four times, giving him eight stints on the shelf during his seven seasons in the big leagues.

There is no guarantee that Wood, who lately has been pitching out of the bullpen, will return to the Cubs rotation next spring.

``If he can start throwing seven innings like he was throwing one or two (out of the pen) and like he did at the end of 2003, then we have a high-end starter,'' Hendry told the Tribune.

It's not the first time, of course, that Hendry has made such an iffy statement about Wood.

--Debut not important: Wood's roster spot was taken by rookie reliever Jermaine Van Buren, whose first two days in the big leagues weren't exactly giddy. Van Buren, who made his major-league debut with two shutout innings in Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers, still hadn't been able to reach family members in hurricane-ravaged Hattiesburg, Miss., as of that afternoon.

``I haven't been able to contact them all day,'' Van Buren told the Tribune on Tuesday, just after being called up from Triple-A Iowa. ``Right now, I try not to think about it too much. I have faith in them. They will be OK. I'm just praying right now.''

Hurricane Katrina affected Van Buren and the rest of the Iowa Cubs, too. They were in New Orleans on Saturday, about to play a day-night doubleheader with Washington's top affiliate there, when they were told to leave town immediately. The Triple-A players then went back to their low-minors roots, busing the 17 hours back to Des Moines.

--Lucky and unlucky: Reds right-hander Josh Hancock, who like the late Elvis Presley is from Tupelo, Miss., was among the lucky ones. His family's home was undamaged by the storm.

However, Hancock learned through a former teammate at Auburn University that another teammate there, Elliott Brown, had his home destroyed.

``A friend of mine was talking to (Brown) on the phone,'' Hancock told the Cincinnati Enquirer. ``He said everything was OK after the hurricane. Then, 10 minutes later, the levee broke and everything was gone. I know there are worse things to go through that what I have.''

Hancock, who had been on the disabled list all season with groin and elbow injuries, was expected to be activated in time for Thursday's game at Houston. The 26-year-old plans to pitch in the Dominican Winter League to make up for the five months he missed.

--Nice debut: Like Van Buren, Pittsburgh rookie Paul Maholm had the anticipation of his big-league debut tarnished somewhat by Katrina. Maholm recently bought a home in the Biloxi, Miss., suburb of Ocean Springs, and learned at 11 a.m. on Tuesday - eight hours before his first major-league start against Milwaukee - that his home was undamaged.

Without that to distract him, Maholm pitched eight shutout innings in what became a 6-0 win over the Brewers. He fell one inning short of becoming the first Pirates pitcher since Erv Kantlehner in 1914 to throw a shutout in his major-league debut.

``It was game time,'' said Maholm, a former first-round draft pick. ``One of my strengths is I can block a lot of things out and go after it. ... Unfortunately, a lot of other people will be hurting for years.''

--Killer veggies: San Diego's Jake Peavy is to be commended for eating his green vegetables. But the right-hander suffered a severe cut to his left hand last Sunday night when he took out the garbage at his home, pressed down on the cover and felt the top of an empty green bean can slice into his skin.

Peavy received two stitches and pitched two days later, striking out eight batters in a critical win over Arizona.

So far this season, Peavy has suffered from an upper respiratory infection comparable to pneumonia, bruised the middle finger of his pitching hand when it was hit by a ball during batting practice and had two wisdom teeth pulled nine days ago, from which he still is sore.

``Unbelievable, man,'' he said. ``It's the way it goes. It's just one of those things.''

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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