Results tagged “markprior”

Mark Prior last appeared in a major league game almost three years ago -- on August 10, 2006, for the Cubs. That may end up being the last time the former phenom ever toes the mound in the big leagues. After days of speculation, the San Diego Padres officially released Prior, who has been rehabbing in the minor leagues following multiple surgeries. Will any other team take a flier on the once future superstar? With a lifetime record of 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA before the injury bug derailed his career, somebody will likely sign him to another minor league deal in the hopes he can return to "the show." However, we're in the camp who think he's finished.

We figured that, with Mark Prior gone and Kerry Wood relegated to the bullpen, we'd be without the bizarre and frustrating injuries with which to taunt the Cubs fans in our lives. We should have known better.

Sure, it's still damn cold out. And the snow keeps coming. And coming. But spring is just around the corner. How do we know? Because Spring Training is finally upon us.

The Mark Prior Era is over in Chicago. The Cubs finally gave up on the one-time budding superstar on Wednesday -- the deadline for offering salary arbitration to eligible players--making Prior officially a free agent. Unable to reach an incentive-laden, one-year contract or to find a trading partner, the Cubs chose to non-tender Prior rather than risk overpaying for an injured pitcher. Are we surprised? Chicagoist did predict back in April that we'd never see...

Two Cubs pitchers, linked by their unfulfilled promise due to injuries, may finally become uncoupled. While Kerry Wood will have an opportunity to resurrect his career with the Cubs, Mark Prior's time in Cubby blue may be finished. Wood inked a one-year deal worth $4.2 million, while becoming the front runner to become the Cubs closer -- Ryan Dempster, after three years in that role, will return to the starting rotation in 2008. Wood pitched...

Bridgeport's treated us well. As we've written numerous times both here and elsewhere, the neighborhood grew on us. When we first moved out south eight years ago we never would have thought that we'd have lived here as long as we have; we just thought of Bridgeport as a stop-gap to moving back to the north side. Now it seems like others are clued in to what we knew long ago: this neighborhood rocks....

When we saw Mike Brown leave the game with an injury, Chicagoist feared the worst. Once again, one of the Bears' best defensive players and leaders on the field has a great game going and then has to leave the game prematurely. And the tears in the locker room after the game certainly didn't make us any less worried. Monday evening, our fears were confirmed when the Bears announced that Mike Brown had blown out...

Chicagoist can be lazy sometimes. We feel like we just keep writing, and writing, and writing about injury woes and the Cubs. So we recently decided that it'd be well worth our while to write a fill-in-the-blank post we can simply re-use each time somebody else goes down. How fitting that Mark Prior gives us the first opportunity to utilize our new time saving bit of prefab journalism: Cubs former pitching phenom Mark Prior, who...

In his first start after coming off the minor league disabled list, Mark Prior left the extended spring training game after only two innings on Thursday after supposedly experiencing shoulder discomfort. His shoulder will be examined by orthopedic specialist Lewis Yocum in the next few days. But will Yocum find anything wrong with Prior's shoulder? All spring, Prior and the Cubs have maintained he was healthy in spite of has reduced velocity following stints on...

2006's baseball season brought disappointment to both sides of Chicago. Coming off their 2005 World Series title, the White Sox won 90 games but missed the playoffs — in spite of a number of roster upgrades during the offseason. Did Kenny Williams tinker too much with the chemistry that won them a title in '05? Last year's team never seemed to find its rhythm. On the North Side, the Cubs climbed ever closer to that...

Wade Miller is in, and Mark Prior is on his way to Iowa. Spike Lee is spending time with about 300 CPS students. Someone broke into the Deatrick family's Bolingbrook home and stole a computer, jewelry and a pug named Pixie, but all they really care about is getting their dog back, especially for their kid. Thanks to the Bolingbrook Crime Stoppers, family and friends of the victims, and B96 radio hosts Eddie and...

Chicagoist remembers writing nearly the same post about a year ago — sadly it looks like once again the Cubs will open the season without Kerry Wood. The oft-injured pitcher landed on the disabled list on Monday, meaning that once again he will not break camp with the Cubs. Wood begins the season where he ended last year, with a torn rotator cuff. Opting against surgery, Wood hoped off-season rehab, losing 30 pounds and making...

With Mark Prior scheduled to make his next Spring Training appearance at the Cubs minor league camp, Chicago media are piling on the "he's done" bandwagon. The Sun-Times' Chris de Luca adds Prior to the list of top draft picks who, in spite of incredible talent and notoriaty, never panned out -- Todd Van Poppel, Brien Taylor and Shawn Abner. We certainly remember the inflated prices for those guys' "future star" baseball cards back in...

With all due respect to Punxsutawney Phil, there seems to be an even more reliable sign that spring is near -- the first Kerry Wood injury of the year. The Cubs' pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training in Mesa, AZ last Wednesday and, much of the news coming out of camp surrounded Wood's trimmed down physique and move to the bullpen for the 2007 season. Was this the beginning of a new phase in...

While things are turning around on the South Side, things seem to be coming full circle for the Cubs. It looks like the Cubs are going to finish their 2006 campaign just like they started it, with both Kerry Wood and Mark Prior on the disabled list. It was only two weeks ago that Kerry Wood, already on the DL, decided against surgery -- choosing rehab and a likely move to the bullpen for next...

After last week's successful rehab start for the Iowa Cubs, we predicted Cubs pitcher Mark Prior would be returning to the Cubs rotation very soon. In fact, the Cubs did activate him over the weekend, and Prior made his season debut Sunday. After that outting, he may have wished he'd stayed in the minors a bit longer. In his first start of the season, Prior lasted just 3 2/3 innings, giving up 8 runs. He...

Will Cubs fans soon see Mark Prior back on the mound at Wrigley Field? Could it actually be true? Prior's return to the Cubs roster seems to be near following last night's rehab start with the AAA Iowa Cubs. Prior threw 90 pitches in his 6 2/3 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 1 unearned run while striking out 10. He certainly seems about ready. His fastball topped out in the 91-92 range, but he...

Chicagoist knows a thing or two about coming back, with a lot of pressure to better the situation. We stepped off a 15-hour flight and headed into the office just yesterday, after 10 days away. Will the Cubs' Kerry Wood encounter similar looks of relief from his teammates and fans tonight, returning to the mound for the first time since his August '05 surgery. Having gone from 4 games above .500 to 5 games under...

Former state Senator Bob Madigan died on Thursday at the age of 63. He served in the state Senate from 1987 to 2001. The Sun-Times and WMAQ/NBC5 are like BFF now. They're gonna share information and resources. Sun-Times stories will be previewed on NBC while NBC TV station promos will appear daily in the Sun-Times. Under legislation approved on Thursday, 4 of the state's 9 riverboats (the ones that make more than $200 million/year)...

Throughout Spring Training, the discussions concerning our two baseball teams' pitching staffs took decidedly differing tones. While Sox fans relished a rotation that was likely the best in baseball with 5 pitchers capable of winning 15 games, Cubs fans worried themselves with the health of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, and a rotation anchored by a rapidly fading legend. Things haven't gone exactly as most expected. Sure, the White Sox rotation has been extremely...

What a difference a year makes! Last year, as we embarked on a new baseball season, we discussed the eternal optimism of Chicago baseball fans in light of decades of futility. But in 2005 something most unexpected and most wonderful happened. Chicago won a World Series! And it wasn't even the Chicago team that many thought had a shot at the title. While the Cubs entered the season picked by many to reach the postseason,...

Man, we hate it when, on rare occasions, we actually agree with Jay Mariotti. But he's right about the Cubs -- they're in big trouble this year. With the season starting in just a few days and their two supposed studs on the DL (what's this, the third straight year?) the Cubs don't look like legitimate playoff contenders. All spring, Cubs management continued to claim that there was nothing wrong with Kerry Wood and Mark...

Seems that Bears management has finally realized that they might want to have a capable veteran QB on the roster, especially since Rex Grossman seems to be running neck-and-nexk with Mark Prior in the "who can get injured more" contest the two seem to be having. The past two seasons have forced Bears fans to witness a parade of overwhelmed rookies and career third-string QBs take the field. While last year's team went 11-5, in...

Remember a few weeks back, when the Baseball Prospectus ran an article quoting an anonymous source who reported that the Cubs' Mark Prior looked to be suffering from shoulder problems? And remember how Cubs GM Jim Hendry strongly denied that there was anything wrong with Prior? If you're like Chicagoist, you figured then it could be a while before we saw Mark Prior pitch in an actual game. Either Baseball Prospectus's anonymous tipster is psychic,...

It's just not offically Spring Training until Kerry Wood gets hurt. So it should come as a shock to nobody when the Cubs announced today that Kerry Wood will have knee surgery on Tuesday. He'll undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair damage to the medial meniscus in his right knee. This is yet another setback for Wood, who's already rehabbing from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder that was performed last August. Wood informed the Cubs...

We all know Spring Training is officially under way for the Cubs when the first denials about Mark Prior's injuries start coming from the Cubs brass. Yesterday, Cubs GM Jim Hendry issued a strong denial to reports in Baseball Prospectus from an anonymous source that Prior looked to be experiencing shoulder problems and looked "weak and sick.'' While one could try to belittle info from an anonymous source, it's supposedly the same one who first...

The off season remains a busy period for Chicago's two baseball teams as they continue to lock in their rosters for 2006 and beyond. The Cubs officially said goodbye this week to Nomar Garciaparra, who agreed to a 1-year deal with the L.A. Dodgers. With the Dodgers, Nomar will move over to first base. Nomar's injury-plagued season and a half were nothing like Cubs fans expected from the former All Star shortstop. He played just...

While the White Sox won two of three from the Cubs at Wrigley a few weeks ago, the Cubs returned the favor by winning two of three at U.S. Cellular this weekend. The weekend started out with a bang for the Sox, with a 12-2 thumping of the Cubs on Friday. Greg Maddux pitched six strong innings in leading the Cubs to a 6-2 win (and notice that Maddux, with a 7-4 record through 74...

Almost every night of the week it's possible live out the rock-n-roll fantasy with Live Band Karaoke. Taking regular karaoke up a notch by allowing the singer to actually front the band of their choice. Given just the lyrics on a sheet, it can be a little more daunting than following the bouncing ball, but the adrenaline rush is definitely worth it. There are 3 bands in the Chicago area that play back up...

Just as the Cubs are starting to rebound from their poor start, they lose Mark Prior again -- this time for two months with a hairline fracture in the elbow after being hit by a Brad Hawpe line drive. The ball was traveling at 117 mph when it hit! Where do the Cubs go from here? They've moved over .500 for the first time since very early in the season, but their pitching staff...