Prior's Prior Health Always An Issue

[ThomasTomasz]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- Mark Prior needs a quick start and a healthy one. He's opened the last two seasons on the disabled list, a place he doesn't want to visit again.

That's why Prior said he is taking a deliberate approach to getting ready for another season.

Nearly a week into spring training, he still hadn't thrown off the mound when the Chicago Cubs held their first full-squad workout Tuesday.

Slowed by a two-week throat infection this winter -- one that sent him to the emergency room -- his early regimen has been limited to throwing off flat ground and working on endurance.

"I've been on throwing programs before, but this one is a little more structured, trying to build up arm strength," Prior said Tuesday. "I'm doing extended amounts of sets, throwing 20-25 at a certain distance and then taking a little break and going back a little bit farther. I think I'm responding to it well. We talked about it last year, that's how it would be -- take it a little bit slower or a little bit more methodical."

Prior has pitched in just one regular spring training game the last two years. In 2004 he was hampered by Achilles tendinitis, and last year had a sore elbow.

"I know what my history's been," he said.

Prior said his arm is fine. After recovering from his elbow soreness last season, he took a line drive off the elbow, rebounded from that trip to the DL and finished 11-6 in 27 starts with a 3.67 ERA.

With Kerry Wood recovering from shoulder surgery, the Cubs need Prior ready to pitch.

In 2003 when Chicago made a run for the World Series in Prior's first full major league season, the 6-5 right-hander went 18-6, including 10-1 in the final two months.

Hampered by the injuries, he's just 17-11 in the ensuing two seasons.

"I feel good. I felt good out there yesterday, and I expect to be on the mound here in a couple of days," he said. "My body feels good. I'm getting closer. It's a process to get ready for the season. It's not just show up and go to work. I don't feel sick and weak."

Cubs manager Dusty Baker is satisfied with where Prior is at this point in the spring.

"I mean the guy, he's progressing like we said," Baker said. "Mark's going good. I asked him. I get tired of asking how he's doing, actually. And I'm sure he's tired of answering the questions himself."

Notes:@ A slimmed-down Aramis Ramirez, the Cubs' cleanup hitter and third baseman, said he still hasn't decided whether he will play for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. But he's leaning toward staying with the Cubs all spring. Ramirez batted .302 with 31 homers and 92 RBIs a year ago despite missing the final month with a strained left quadriceps. "I want to play but, you know, we got to see what my health is first. I want to check with the doctors. I want to do some running and then decide whether I will go or not," Ramirez said. ... RHP Carlos Zambrano and C Henry Blanco will play for Venezuela and 1B Derrek Lee and C Michael Barrett for the U.S. team. INF Neifi Perez also is on the Dominican Republic's roster but said he hasn't made a decision, either. ... The Cubs have two new relievers in Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry and won't have their top two catchers, Barrett and Blanco, around long to work with them. "Our biggest challenge probably is just probably being without both of our catchers from the beginning," Baker said. "That's probably the No. 1 challenge, them not knowing Eyre and some of the new guys, Eyre and Bobby Howry and some of those guys, and being on a crash course as far as learning each other."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

[rockin500]

nothing to be worried about.

[Fishercat]

There shouldn't be much to be worried about with Mark. A lot of fluky injuries that hopefully he can avoid and be the stalwart of my fantasy pitching staff. Please, please don't get hurt...please...

[rockin500]

There shouldn't be much to be worried about with Mark. A lot of fluky injuries that hopefully he can avoid and be the stalwart of my fantasy pitching staff. Please, please don't get hurt...please...

and this slowness this spring is due to a resounding illness in the latter half of december.

[love_that_reefer]

Mark Prior will have his right shoulder examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum after complaining of soreness before a bullpen session on Tuesday.
Score one for Baseball Prospectus. The Cubs are currently calling Prior's injury posterior rotator cuff irritation, but they can never be trusted about these things. Of course, they're saying that he's had absolutely no problems with the shoulder until today. "It's unfortunate," Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. "The first time he's ever complained of discomfort since we got here [in spring camp] is today. It will be perceived any way people want to perceive it. There's no advantage to us holding back until March 14 and then discussing a problem that we knew about earlier." Sure there is. Ticket sales and better publicity headed into the season. It looks like the Cubs will be opening the season with a rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux, Glendon Rusch, Jerome Williams and maybe Rich Hill, and if Cubs fans knew that back when there were decent free agents available, they would have been throwing fits.

Wood has knee surgery and now Prior's shoulder is hurting. Are these guys ever going to be healthy enough for a full season? Answer is no and that's why Wood should have been traded along with a chunk of that $10 milllion salary. Its too late now and the Cubs will have another fourth place finish in the NL Central.

[rockin500]

Wood has knee surgery and now Prior's shoulder is hurting. Are these guys ever going to be healthy enough for a full season? Answer is no and that's why Wood should have been traded along with a chunk of that $10 milllion salary. Its too late now and the Cubs will have another fourth place finish in the NL Central.

as they say, shit happens.

BTW, there werent any good free agent starting pitching available. burnett doesnt qualify since he is the same damned thing. hurt all the time. prior just needs to man up.

oh and as for ticket sales, season tix account for well over 2 million. those have to be paid for by January 15 (and decision to buy back in december). the only thing that i guess it could have helped was single game tickets. (which admittedly they sold over 600K, but you could throw little leaguers out there and they'd probably still sell 300K on the first day)

[DirtyKash]

So when the heck is Prior supposed to be back anyways? Or am I going to get a lie for an answer as usual? Damn Cubs, I hate their injury reports.

[love_that_reefer]

BTW, there werent any good free agent starting pitching available. burnett doesnt qualify since he is the same damned thing. hurt all the time. prior just needs to man up.

There were plenty of pitchers on the market that could have filled Wood's spot in the rotation especially innings wise. Millwood, Byrd, Weaver and Morris were all capable of out pitching Wood. They could have packaged a deal with Wood, Walker and cash to someone just to get these guys off the books.

[rockin500]

There were plenty of pitchers on the market that could have filled Wood's spot in the rotation especially innings wise. Millwood, Byrd, Weaver and Morris were all capable of out pitching Wood. They could have packaged a deal with Wood, Walker and cash to someone just to get these guys off the books.

one problem, wood has a NTC. you cant trade him. plus he has no value since he is coming back from shoulder surgery. Weaver? bad idea to put a fly ball pitcher into wrigley field. Millwood wanted 10 mil a year and he isnt very good either. he certainly wasnt worth that. Byrd? isnt he always hurt too? and Morris was/is only one year removed from the same surgery Wood had.

[DirtyKash]

Word is that Prior has "just a strain". MRI later today.

This whole soap opera is really starting to bug me.

[love_that_reefer]

I cannot find one reason why Wood would not want to be traded. The Cubs don't get in the playoffs and he needs a new start. I am sure Wood would have agreed to a trade. As for Millwood, Weaver, Byrd, and Morris, they all do things wood can't. They throw 200 innings. Wood has barely reached 200 innings the past two seasons combined. As for Millwood not being good, his ERA is slightly above Wood's and has actually won more than 14 games in a season.

[redsrbetter]

A little more on Prior

March 17, 2006

BY MIKE KILEY Staff Reporter Advertisement

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Cubs have become fairly adept at rating the severity of physical setbacks.

So when Dr. Lewis Yocum's examination of pitcher Mark Prior on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., found a posterior strain in Prior's right shoulder, that raised hopes that the injury isn't as serious as it might have been.

"For us, it's pretty good news,'' Cubs trainer Mark O'Neal said Thursday. "I'm very pleased. There's extremely bad news that could come out of it. Right now, we're going to deal with it like you would a hamstring strain. Unfortunately, it's in the shoulder.''

O'Neal gave the same optimistic assessment after an MRI taken Thursday morning showed a moderate strain in Prior's subscapularis, a muscle in the rotator cuff. Prior will be shut down for seven to 10 days, O'Neal said, but surgery isn't being contemplated.

TAKING THE FIFTH
With injuries to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, the pitching rotation is unsettled. So who will join Carlos Zambrano, Glendon Rusch, Greg Maddux and Jerome Williams? The candidates:

O'Neal added that Prior underwent an arthrogram, an X-ray to view bone structures by injecting a contrast fluid into the joint area. If fluid leaks into areas it doesn't belong in, it can detect ligament tears or cartilage abnormalities.

Prior will meet with O'Neal, Yocum and Cubs orthopedist Stephen Gryzlo on Saturday in Mesa to determine when he will resume a throwing program.

"We need three or four days to put everything together and see where we are at,'' O'Neal said.

The Cubs have ruled out Prior being ready to start the season. Manager Dusty Baker announced that left-hander Glendon Rusch will replace Prior for an April 5 start in Cincinnati, the second game of the season.

Baker said Carlos Zambrano will start Opening Day on April 3 in Cincinnati, with Greg Maddux pitching the home opener April 7 against the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by Jerome Williams.

The Cubs plan to go with a four-man rotation until April 15, the first time a fifth starter is required. Baker named left-handers Sean Marshall and Rich Hill and right-handers Angel Guzman and Jae Kuk Ryu as candidates for that slot.

All four are likely to open the season in the minor leagues, with one of them recalled just before April 15 to make the start. That should permit the Cubs to open the season with an 11-man pitching staff, then reassign a position player to the minors when a fifth starter is needed.

"We've got guys who are going to get an opportunity to get stretched out down here in spring training,'' Baker said. "They'll get a couple of starts where they are going, and we'll decide at that time whom we'll call up.''

Zambrano knows that not having Prior or Kerry Wood on the Opening Day roster is a downer. Wood is rehabilitating from shoulder surgery last August, as well as knee surgery last week, and might not make his season debut until May. Wade Miller (shoulder rehab) also might return in May.

"It's going to be hard to win without Wood and Prior,'' Zambrano said. "We have to do the best possible.''

Baker didn't agree that the temporary loss of Prior might be a blow to his teammates emotionally.

"I'd say no,'' Baker said. "The guys have been seeing the whole scenario the whole time. Everybody else has to pick it up, and we have to find a way.''

Despite reports that Prior came into spring training with shoulder problems, team officials insist he never had complained about any shoulder pain until he was throwing in the bullpen Tuesday.

"I can't answer why it started the other day and hadn't prior,'' O'Neal said. "There's not a pitcher out there we don't treat for soreness whenever they are throwing.

"But Mark was describing this as a pain. That's when you make a change in the way you approach it. We have never really dealt with any shoulder issues with him. We monitored him all offseason. This has nothing to do with anything he has done this offseason.''

O'Neal was asked about a timetable for Prior's comeback.

"We'll try to push him as much as we can without jeopardizing any setbacks,'' he said. "To get to this level, you have to be able to distinguish between soreness and pain that is going to cause injury. Mark felt uncomfortable enough not to push it beyond that.''

Zambrano said critics who have blamed the injury problems of Prior and Wood on Baker allowing them to throw too many pitches are misguided.

"It's up to you as a pitcher if you want to keep going,'' Zambrano said. "You are a grown man. You have the decision.

"It's the same thing that everybody said about [former Cubs manager] Don Baylor, that he pitches us too much. I don't think it's up to the manager.''

Baker said he expects to get blamed.

"That's how it has been, so it doesn't surprise me,'' he said with resignation.

[Saber]

Per Will Carroll:

The Cubs may think I’m psychic, but if I could predict injuries, the THRs would be more accurate than they currently are. What I do is listen to the right sources and pass that info along. That said, the Cubs aren’t lying when they say that Mark Prior hadn’t reported pain and that this is a new injury. Prior hadn’t reported pain; he had reported continued soreness and tightness, part of the reason he was being treated gingerly. When the subscapularis muscle finally gave way, it was new. Prior has a grade two tear of the muscle, one of the four muscles of the rotator cuff and the one that's most involved in internal rotation. After seven to ten days of rest, Prior will start in on an aggressive rotator cuff and shoulder-strengthening program, then get back into his throwing program. He’ll likely start the season on the DL, though the Cubs don’t need a fifth starter until later in April. Prior’s mechanics likely kept him together this long, but overuse is both cumulative and insidious. The only real comp for this injury is Jose Contreras, who missed much of the season in 2003 with a similar--but not identical--problem. It wouldn’t surprise me if Prior needs surgery in the medium-term to clear some of the scar tissue that has built up in the muscle.

[DirtyKash]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-csep04.html

Another setback for Prior!

[rockin500]

he needs to stop eating bad food!