Wood Starts Over

Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs, the 1998 National League rookie of the year, made his first start since undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery last April, giving up one hit in one inning of work against a Chicago White Sox split squad Saturday at Mesa, Ariz.

He made 15 pitches, 10 of them strikes, and all but three were fastballs, with his speed ranging from 93-97 mph.

In other Cub news, former Dodger right-hander Ismael Valdes, penciled in as the starter for the team’s opener in Japan against the New York Mets, has a dead arm and might be done for the rest of the spring, Manager Don Baylor said.

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Left-handed reliever Jesse Orosco of the New York Mets, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in a December deal, was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for infielder-outfielder Joe McEwing. Orosco, 42, has pitched in a major league-record 1,090 games. He worked 65 games for the Orioles last season--a total of 32 innings--and was 0-2 with one save and a 5.34 earned-run average. . . . Alex Fernandez and three Florida Marlin teammates--Dan Miceli, Armando Almanza and Brant Brown--were quarantined because of the mumps. . . . Deion Sanders and Mark Wohlers, signed to minor-league contracts by the Cincinnati Reds, will start the season rehabilitating in Cincinnati, then will go to triple A to work their way toward rejoining the major league club. . . . Three workers were fired for walking across the grass and onto the pitcher’s mound at the Detroit Tiger’s new stadium, Comerica Park. Several others had been fired earlier for stepping on the grass, planted in November. The Tigers are trying to protect the Kentucky bluegrass while it gets established, the head groundskeeper said.