The Associated Press

Kerry Wood figures the curse is about to be broken soon, and he wants to help the Chicago Cubs shatter it.

Wood agreed Friday to a $32.5 million, three-year contract, the most lucrative deal for a pitcher in club history. It includes a mutual option for the 2007 that could increase the value to $43 million.

"For me it was pretty simple. This organization gave me the opportunity when I was 18 years old to play professional baseball. That's something I'll never forget," Wood said in Mesa, Ariz.

"It was pretty easy. We are going to be a good team for a long time. And that was the whole determining factor for me. ... The whole reason I play this game is to win, and I think we are going to do that here for a while."

Once lovable losers, the Cubs came within five outs of making the World Series last season, and general manager Jim Hendry has been busy building on that. He signed several veterans, including Greg Maddux, to bolster an already formidable starting rotation that also features Mark Prior.

BRAVES: Closer John Smoltz threw off the mound for the second time this spring with no problems. "He threw everything," manager Bobby Cox said. "He looked really good."

Smoltz has 100 saves over the last two seasons, but missed nearly a month at the end of 2003 with sore elbow. He returned for the playoffs, in noticeable discomfort, and had surgery just days after the season ended.

The Braves aren't concerned about Smoltz being ready for opening day. "Not at all," Cox said. "He's good to roll."

RED SOX: Bronson Arroyo will be on the mound for Boston when it plays the Yankees in an exhibition game on March 7, the first meeting of the teams since New York won last year's AL pennant.

"It's the Yankees," Arroyo said. "It doesn't matter if it's spring or the postseason, it's the Yankees. And if they want to see what I've got, no better team to prove it against than that Yankees."

Jose Contreras or Javier Vazquez is likely to start for New York in the game at Fort Myers.

The last time the Yankees faced the Red Sox, New York rallied from a 5-2, eighth-inning deficit in Game 7 of the AL championship series and won 6-5 on Aaron Boone's 11th-inning homer off Tim Wakefield.

ATHLETICS: Left-hander Mark Mulder had back spasms that caused him to miss two straight spring training workouts with the Athletics. Mulder, 26, woke up Sunday with a sore back, a problem he never before encountered.

"I was concerned Sunday but that was about it," Mulder said Friday. "(Mark) Kotsay said it's happened to him and it usually takes three or four days, and that's what it's been."

Mulder sustained a stress fracture in his right leg near the hip last August and missed the rest of the season.

He went 15-9 with a 3.13 ERA, tying Roy Halladay and Bartolo Colon for the major league lead with nine complete games despite making only 26 starts.

Mulder is scheduled to throw batting practice today.

MARINERS: Outfield prospect Chris Snelling had surgery on a bone in his right hand, sidelining the Australian for the next six weeks.

He was hurt Thursday in batting practice after taking only two or three swings, another in a string of injuries for Snelling.