Mariotti says trade Mark Prior

[98navigator]

Surprisingly, Mariotti isn't as harsh as he normally can be but he still provides some zingers.

 

In the interest of putting Cubdom out of its misery and letting Prior clear his jumbled head of freak injuries, reduced velocity in the 80s, an alarming lack of command, the Chicago media and a Wrigley Field tenure that spookily began to free-fall after Steve Bartman lunged for a foul ball, let me suggest a change of scenery.

 

Anyone worried about another classic ex-Cub resurrection elsewhere should fear not. Even if Prior became a respectable pitcher in another cap, just know it never could have happened here.

 

How did the Hall of Fame train derail? You might say his golden arm was rusted out by the high pitch counts of Dusty Baker. You might say his right elbow never was the same after it was struck by a 117 mph liner off Brad Hawpe's bat. You might say he became gun-shy about his health after the infield collision with Marcus Giles. You might say his father, Jerry, has overfilled Mark's head with thoughts instead of urging him to throw the damn heater past the batter.

 

Baseball is a business, not a nursery school, especially when the franchise in question hasn't won in 98 years. My soft side would love to wait one more season for Mark Prior. My realistic side says he needs a new baseball life far, far away from here.

Edited March 15, 2007 by 98navigator

[Balsa]

For what we'd get in return, a trade isn't worth it.

[abuck1220]

his value is at an all-time high...

[goonys evil twin]

What does Hilton think?

[Tracer Bullet]

Jay is full of great ideas. He could probably net us a crappy middle reliever (which we don't need) or some low non-prospect. Then Prior either never comes close to 2003 again (he's no big loss) or he finds himself again and becomes a HOF pitcher for another team for the next 10+ years (huge loss).

 

And I hate when people say he needs a change of scenery and he'll never become great here. A - how in the world can you possibly know that. And B - I'd say Dusty to Lou is a pretty big change in scenery anyway.

 

Idiot.

[abuck1220]

mariotti's writing headline-grabbing trade prior articles and dropping bartman references while bruce is writing articles that are actually about interesting, important stuff. big difference between those two.

[C.C.]

mariotti's writing headline-grabbing trade prior articles and dropping bartman references while bruce is writing articles that are actually about interesting, important stuff. big difference between those two.

 

None of us needed today articles to tell us that...

[goonys evil twin]

mariotti's writing headline-grabbing trade prior articles and dropping bartman references while bruce is writing articles that are actually about interesting, important stuff. big difference between those two.

 

At the risk of over stepping my bounds here, I'd guess a real big difference might be in their paychecks as well. Because unfortunately, the most financially successful sports writers are the ones making the most asinine statements in an effort to garner the most attention, and thus, income. I'd imagine it's really tempting to go down the Marriotti route whenever possible.

[abuck1220]

mariotti's writing headline-grabbing trade prior articles and dropping bartman references while bruce is writing articles that are actually about interesting, important stuff. big difference between those two.

 

At the risk of over stepping my bounds here, I'd guess a real big difference might be in their paychecks as well. Because unfortunately, the most financially successful sports writers are the ones making the most asinine statements in an effort to garner the most attention, and thus, income. I'd imagine it's really tempting to go down the Marriotti route whenever possible.

 

agreed. mariotti is an attention whore, and he wants to be known nationally (which is why he appears on "who can yell the loudest" every day on espn), and no one outside of nsbb cares about who bats second. plus, mariotti's so busy trying to get famous, it's not like he's in the trenches in mesa trying to get interesting stuff...he just writes about what he thinks someone in LA or NY would care about with regard to the cubs.

[NCCubFan]

What does Hilton think?

Who cares what Paris thinks? I want to know what Sheraton thinks. :lol:

[98navigator]

In other Mark Prior news, I found some harsh statements by CBS Sportsline.com's Larry Dobrow, that are written within a piece about Angel Guzman. I think he's wrong about Mark and I also think he's wrong about Lou's view of Guzman:

 

...Because Lou Piniella views veterans as the wise keepers of the rotation flame, Guzman will likely lose out to Wade Miller for the last spot on the Cubs' staff. Still, it ain't like Miller is Mr. Reliability -- he has spent more days on the DL in recent years than either Kerry Wood or Mark Prior... Guzman, more than a year removed from all sorts of surgical ouchiness, still throws hard and has gargantuan mound cojones (read: he competes out there). Even during his post-recovery year of 2006, he struck out more than a batter per inning.

 

By the way, a random note here on the aforementioned Mr. Prior. Has anybody stopped to consider the possibility that maybe his single good and healthy season (in 2003) was the real fluke, as opposed to the injury-vexed ones that have since followed? I don't know why we're holding out hope for him anymore. Just about every piece of evidence, from his decelerated radar-gun readings to his newly out-of-whack mechanics, points to a single conclusion: that the guy can't pitch. If he were named Dan Smith or Pete Jones or Luke Hudson, he'd have been cut long ago.

[goonys evil twin]

In other Mark Prior news, I found some harsh statements by CBS Sportsline.com's Larry Dobrow, that are written within a piece about Angel Guzman. I think he's wrong about Mark and I also think he's wrong about Lou's view of Guzman:

 

By the way, a random note here on the aforementioned Mr. Prior. Has anybody stopped to consider the possibility that maybe his single good and healthy season (in 2003) was the real fluke, as opposed to the injury-vexed ones that have since followed?

 

That makes no sense. If injuries caused the decline, how can you describe the good year as a fluke? And people who still don't acknowledge the 280+ very solid innings in 2004 and 2005 simply cannot partake in any analysis of Prior. If he's truly done, that doesn't make 2003 a fluke. It simply says 2003 was his best year before injuries (most likely due to severe overuse) damaged his body and ruined his effectiveness. But the guy is 26, not 31. Pitchers battle through all kinds of problems in their 20's quite frequently. The very best HOF types get through this timeframe unscathed, but there are still good pitchers who had up and down results before their late 20's.

[abuck1220]

that's a really idiotic thing to say.

[goonys evil twin]

that's a really idiotic thing to say.

 

Surprising this quote is about something other than Mariott(i) in a thread about him.

[oldstyle81]

funny how woody paige said the exact same thing on around the horn last night

[Fro]

It'd be stupid to trade Prior when he has little value at this point.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Holiday Inn Express says hold on for a little while longer.

[Careless]

In other Mark Prior news, I found some harsh statements by CBS Sportsline.com's Larry Dobrow, that are written within a piece about Angel Guzman. I think he's wrong about Mark and I also think he's wrong about Lou's view of Guzman:

 

By the way, a random note here on the aforementioned Mr. Prior. Has anybody stopped to consider the possibility that maybe his single good and healthy season (in 2003) was the real fluke, as opposed to the injury-vexed ones that have since followed?

 

That makes no sense. If injuries caused the decline, how can you describe the good year as a fluke? And people who still don't acknowledge the 280+ very solid innings in 2004 and 2005 simply cannot partake in any analysis of Prior. If he's truly done, that doesn't make 2003 a fluke. It simply says 2003 was his best year before injuries (most likely due to severe overuse) damaged his body and ruined his effectiveness. But the guy is 26, not 31. Pitchers battle through all kinds of problems in their 20's quite frequently. The very best HOF types get through this timeframe unscathed, but there are still good pitchers who had up and down results before their late 20's.

Predestination

Holiday Inn Express says hold on for a little while longer.

I want to see them actually put holiday express customers, selected completely at random, against baseball "experts" picking games or stat-winners, something like that.

Since the pros are so lousy, they'd come off as being roughly equal to the experts even if they lost. Time for an ad pitch

[Rob]

I'd like to trade Mariotti for a sportswriter to be named later.

[RichHillIsABeast]

How does Mariotti even have a job? Yeah, trade Prior while his value is ridiculously low. Brilliant insight.

 

Nice work as far as completely unnecessary hit jobs go...

[tkenm356]

I like Mariotti because I think he's funny. I don't think he's a good journalist, not in the slightest, I think he's ignorant on a lot of things (okay, most things)... but I think he's humorous. Maybe it's because he's so ignorant that Ithink he's funny.

[goonys evil twin]

I like Mariotti because I think he's funny. I don't think he's a good journalist, not in the slightest, I think he's ignorant on a lot of things (okay, most things)... but I think he's humorous. Maybe it's because he's so ignorant that Ithink he's funny.

 

I don't see the humor. He just insults and complains, and repeats the same stuff over and over. Cubdom, cheap owners, Prior and Wood, Ozzie, blah blah blah. I really don't see the humor.

[Derwood]

comparing Jay to Bruce isn't fair, as they are asked to do different things. I'm not going to say Mariotti is some great journalist or anything, but comparing a beat writer with a editorial columnist is really apples and oranges

[MustangMike]

I like Mariotti because I think he's funny. I don't think he's a good journalist, not in the slightest, I think he's ignorant on a lot of things (okay, most things)... but I think he's humorous. Maybe it's because he's so ignorant that Ithink he's funny.

 

I don't see the humor. He just insults and complains, and repeats the same stuff over and over. Cubdom, cheap owners, Prior and Wood, Ozzie, blah blah blah. I really don't see the humor.

 

Don't forget Bartman, always seems to find a way to say that too.

 

I think we should have a cage match, moronoriti vs. Rome, to the death. I'd pay for that.

[CubinNY]

I like Mariotti because I think he's funny. I don't think he's a good journalist, not in the slightest, I think he's ignorant on a lot of things (okay, most things)... but I think he's humorous. Maybe it's because he's so ignorant that Ithink he's funny.

 

I don't see the humor. He just insults and complains, and repeats the same stuff over and over. Cubdom, cheap owners, Prior and Wood, Ozzie, blah blah blah. I really don't see the humor.

 

Don't forget Bartman, always seems to find a way to say that too.

 

I think we should have a cage match, moronoriti vs. Rome, to the death. I'd pay for that.

If the winner also could never speak or publicly write again too.