The column is filled with different theories/reasons for his injuries. The standout to me is this:

“The universal consensus is that Cubs manager Dusty Baker abused Prior at the end of the 2003 season simply because he knew no better. In Prior’s last nine games, including three in the playoffs, he logged the following pitch counts: 131, 129, 109, 124, 131, 133, 132, 115, 119. House believes the overuse by Baker doomed Prior. 8 pitchers this decade have thrown 109 or more pitches in nine straight games, and half of them needed reconstructive arm surgery. The only other pitchers this decade to throw at least four 130-plus-pitch games in a season, let alone in two months, are Livan Hernandez and Randy Johnson.”

I think one of my biggest regrets as a fan is that I did not get to see Prior become the next Tom Seaver. That 2003 season was simply electric, and we all looked forward to great things beyond that year.

It looked like he was truly on his way back in 2005, then 2006 it all fell apart. He hasn’t pitched in a big league game since then. And he has no idea when he might again. While everyone else is on a schedule in Padres camp, Prior is on his own.

The column finishes up: “He knows time is running out. This is Prior’s last chance. He re-signed with San Diego on a minor-league contract. Unless he returns, he will be just another shoulda-been, a sad reminder that not even modern medicine can save some pitchers.”

Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. But Mop Up Duty has an interesting conversation on whether or not their favorite club should sign him. This comes after the news that Prior will supposedly be ready to roll–towel in hand, I’m sure–for the start of the 2009 season.

Prior has not pitched since 2006, when he was 1-6 with a 7.21 ERA with the Cubs. But he is still only 28.

Prior ranks near the top on my long list of Cubs disappointments. But his 2003 season ranks among the best seasons I’ve ever seen a pitcher have in this town.

Might Dusty want to have another go with the former ace of his Cubs teams? Don’t the White Sox need an arm? Wherever he ends up, I’ll be rooting for him–believe it or not.

Chicago White Sox GM Ken Williams tied for 10th along with Padres GM Kevin Towers. I got a kick out of what Heyman perceives as a plus for Towers:

“Another very good trader and master of the bargain-basement pickup, he and his scouts have been especially good at acquiring pitching help (see this offseason’s addition of ex-phenom Mark Prior).” Yeah, we’ll see how that works out for him. And if you take a look at their lineup and had to describe it in one word, that word would have to be “Yikes”. Bard, Kouzmanoff and Gonzalez are decent offensive players, and Khalil Greene hit 27 homers last year. But then you have Edmonds, Giles, Scott Hairston, and Tad Iguchi. Their lineup is average at best. So Towers can being viewed as one of the top 10 GMs doesn’t fly with me. He went out and got Jim Edmonds when he should have been going for a younger, huge bat.

Their pitching is great, no doubt. But will they allow the least runs in the NL again?

Padres right-hander Mark Prior is expected to throw off a mound
within the next week, and club officials believe he might start a
minor-league rehabilitation assignment in April and return in early May.

Prior’s agent, John Boggs, advocates a more cautious approach.”I
would hope we wouldn’t try to expedite things,” Boggs says. “As far as
I’m concerned, we didn’t want to be in a position where he’d be rushed
into duty.”

Prior, 27, missed all of last season after undergoing
surgery on his right shoulder April 24. He could be major-league ready
by mid to late May, according to the timetable outlined by his surgeon,
Dr. James Andrews.”To do it before that starts to cross boundaries of being prudent,” Boggs said. “I’d like to see him by the end of May, June 1. I don’t want to see it before then. Then I think you’re trying to hurry
something that shouldn’t be hurried.”We looked at different
clubs and the Padres assured us they weren’t going to rush the process.
Mark has got to get to the point where his confidence is at a zenith,
where he’s not thinking about his arm, but thinking about getting outs.”

The last paragraph is the most telling. The perception here in Chicago is that Prior became a head case, concerned about every little discomfort with his arm and afraid to pitch through pain. Prior’s agent wants him to be at his ‘zenith’ of confidence, but that can never happen until he starts compiling major league innings and starts. It probably won’t ever happen for Prior because he has had so many injuries.

We’ll look for him doing the towel drill and once again leading the league in simulated games.

CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs this afternoon issued the following update on right-handed pitcher Mark Prior:

Mark Prior yesterday underwent successful right shoulder arthroscopy performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, AL. During the arthroscopy, Dr. Andrews performed a debridement of Mark’s right rotator cuff as well as repair of labral and capsular injuries in his right shoulder.

Mark today began a comprehensive rehabilitation program in Birmingham overseen by Dr. Andrews and the Cubs medical staff.

Mark will not pitch in 2007 and will continue his rehabilitation program into the offseason.

Good. Good that perhaps there really was something wrong with his shoulder that was previously undetected, and good that we won’t have the up/down is he healthy or not conversations. At least until next year. Has anyone ever heard of a ‘debridement’ before?

[tags]Cubs, Mark Prior[/tags]

“He obviously didn’t have the same strength or throw the ball as well, and he had some discomfort after the game,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “[Monday] he had more stiffness than normal, more than he’s had earlier in camp, which had gone smoothly except for his triceps [injury].”

And the hot tub fall. And all the runs given up. Right now I’m thinking the best possible news for Cubs fans would be that both Prior and Wood are out for the entire 2007 season. We’ve been stuck in this cycle of waiting, hope, disgust and madness for too long. We need a clean break. Sure, we all told ourselves that we’re not counting on them for anything, but they still dominate news stories. And they were still around. Maybe now we can all break free.

At least until the next article about towel drills and simulated games and quotes about how they were happy with their stuff after giving up 5 runs in 2 innings.

[tags]Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Cubs, MLB[/tags]

“I didn’t like the way I threw but there were some positive things out of it,” Prior said. “I was a little better out of the windup. [Pitching from the] stretch is still an issue. I’ve got some issues. Now I have to work on my curveball a little. I really haven’t thrown a whole lot of them on the side.”

Hey!! Our number one draft pick, the guy compared to Tom Seaver is getting a “little better out of the windup”. That is so awesome. And by awesome I mean pathetic. The towel drill doesn’t help get the windup in order?

Prior is sporting a plump 18.90 ERA and most disturbing is this note from the Chicago Tribune: “of the 34 swings taken against him in his two outings, only three have missed, an alarming ratio. Prior threw more breaking balls than usual Saturday but couldn’t throw them for strikes.”

I’m pretty sure if you gave me 34 pitches I could get 3 misses from batters. He’s allowed 5 BBs and has 0 Ks. 8 hits allowed in 3.1 IP. So that’s where we’re at with Prior.

The quotes from Prior and Wood irritate me because I don’t expect them to take it in stride when they pitch poorly. But they often find the “good” in lousy outings.

On the flipside of that is [tag]White Sox[/tag] rookie [tag]John Danks[/tag]. Danks threw 3 innings on Friday and faced the minimum 9 batters. He needed only 23 pitches and 16 of them were strikes. He was certainly buoyed by outstanding defense and some DPs, but I liked his quote after the game. Danks said his outing was “a little iffy. It wasn’t as sharp as I’d have liked it to be.”

And that’s the difference. As a fan, that’s what I want to hear. Prior will make a minor-league start to try and regain confidence.

“I feel like I made some strides in some things, baby steps, nothing grandiose,” he said. “Those are things you can build on. It’s going to take me some time to get back to throwing the ball effectively. How much time? That’s what you work for. You just keep taking little steps and trying to move in the right direction. One outing you feel it, and you’re like, ‘Darn, let’s duplicate that.’ That hasn’t happened yet.

That hasn’t happened yet. And maybe never again.

[tags]Cubs, MLB[/tags]

I know you’ll be coming by Zoner Sports quite a bit to get your fill of snark, banality and managerial tips, so I’ll keep it short for now.

Welcome. We’re so excited you are here. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I read this today about Mark Prior’s readiness for spring training, which is 4 months away:

“That’s to be determined,” said O’Neal, who also got a two-year contract extension Tuesday.The Cubs revealed Tuesday that Mark Prior was sent to orthopedic specialist James Andrews on Monday to get a second opinion on his chronically ailing right shoulder.

Andrews found Prior has some “looseness” in his shoulder joints that trainer Mark O’Neal said was genetic.

Hmmm. Sounds kind of fishy.

One other thing that I think caught most of us by surprise was your ringing endorsement of Larry Rothschild. I’m just checking to make sure you didn’t err. Maybe you thought they asked about Morgan Fairchild, or all those lights were too bright (you were having a Broadcast News moment there), or you had a bad flashback of Jeanne Zelasko’s terrible on-set flatulence.

Reading that Rothschild will be the one working with Prior on his mechanics is kind of like having George Bush pen a new Bill of Rights–I don’t think we want that.

But for now, you have our utmost trust and support. I was pleased that you mentioned yesterday that it’s important for hitters to get ahead in the count and work the count so they are getting strikes to hit. That’s a striking difference in philosophy from the last guy. As a good friend of mine once said: “A walk is not an out”.

Sincerely,

The Zoner

Technorati tags: Mark Prior / Lou Piniella / Cubs / Larry Rothschild