Angry Prior returns or Iowa awaits

[UMFan83]

Prior problem is that he has no confidence in his stuff. He has no mean streak, he timid on the mound. He is thinking to much and not the same pitcher he was at USC or in 03. Being angry is what dominate pitchers do. Intimidation and supreme confidence in your abilities to dominate any hitter is the key capitalizing on God given talents(Rocket Arm, Crazy movement), Randy Johnson figured this out(took him 5 plus years), Curt Schilling(took him just as long), even someone as weak as Kenny Rogers. Prior has the stuff and the ability it just comes down to if he wants it.

 

I don't see how a mean streak or 'wanting it' will give back the 4-5 MPH he has lost on his fastball.

[Allroy]

I kind of saw this coming . Lou is known as a motivational master, and I think he is trying to get Prior to break out of his rut. I'm looking for some improvement every day he pitches. I think most of this is mental for him. I hope so anyway, or that might be it for mAAArk Prioria.

[mordecaibrown]

It is not about how hard Prior throws, I don't understand peoples obsession with how hard pitchers throw, its about command, location and deception. Prior has the ability to harness all of these things. Velocity is necessary but only to a point, Prior would be a more consistent pitcher if he topped out around 90 to 92 because he would have to rely on pitching rather then just trying to blow everyone away with heat(Wood, Prior and DL Stints), If you want hard throwers go to double A ball, because throwing hard only gets you so far.

 

Strikeout are fascist..........Bull Durham

 

And yes command and location are two different things......

[rawaction]

Man, nobody jumped on the "icy hot on privates" part of the original post. Nobody made the joke that Prior couldn't rub icy hot on his privates because he would get a yeast infection.

 

I'm disappointed.

[Allroy]

Man, nobody jumped on the "icy hot on privates" part of the original post. Nobody made the joke that Prior couldn't rub icy hot on his privates because he would get a yeast infection.

 

I'm disappointed.

 

Or an intrascrotal irritation.

[soapy]

I still don't understand how Prior getting "mean" is going to help his control.

[Vinestal]

Doesnt he have to pass through revocable waivers for them to option him to Iowa, I dont see how he would get through waivers with the need for pitching by so many teams. I tend to think he'll be in extended spring training but I would think they would have to come up with an injury excuse for that. It should be interesting to see how exactly all this plays out.

[3Dog]

I still don't understand how Prior getting "mean" is going to help his control.

 

Controlled anger? :lol:

[radarluv1]

Doesnt he have to pass through revocable waivers for them to option him to Iowa, I dont see how he would get through waivers with the need for pitching by so many teams. I tend to think he'll be in extended spring training but I would think they would have to come up with an injury excuse for that. It should be interesting to see how exactly all this plays out.

 

this has been hashed and re-hashed. since it is obvious we would pull prior back if claimed, there is no point for any gm do that. all it could do is create some animosity between clubs. it could still happen, though, and then i guess they'll have to put him on the DL.

[98navigator]

Doesnt he have to pass through revocable waivers for them to option him to Iowa, I dont see how he would get through waivers with the need for pitching by so many teams. I tend to think he'll be in extended spring training but I would think they would have to come up with an injury excuse for that. It should be interesting to see how exactly all this plays out.

 

Bruce Miles / Daily Herald

 

Prior pitches today against the Colorado Rockies. If he says he’s healthy, the Cubs will be hard-pressed to put him on the disabled list and keep him in Arizona for extended spring training.

 

The only other answer appears to be optioning Prior to Iowa. The 26-year-old right-hander still has minor-league options with four years and 131 days of major-league service time.

[Vinestal]

Doesnt he have to pass through revocable waivers for them to option him to Iowa, I dont see how he would get through waivers with the need for pitching by so many teams. I tend to think he'll be in extended spring training but I would think they would have to come up with an injury excuse for that. It should be interesting to see how exactly all this plays out.

 

Bruce Miles / Daily Herald

 

Prior pitches today against the Colorado Rockies. If he says he’s healthy, the Cubs will be hard-pressed to put him on the disabled list and keep him in Arizona for extended spring training.

 

The only other answer appears to be optioning Prior to Iowa. The 26-year-old right-hander still has minor-league options with four years and 131 days of major-league service time.

 

Thanks for posting that I had not heard that he had options.

[CubColtPacer]

Doesnt he have to pass through revocable waivers for them to option him to Iowa, I dont see how he would get through waivers with the need for pitching by so many teams. I tend to think he'll be in extended spring training but I would think they would have to come up with an injury excuse for that. It should be interesting to see how exactly all this plays out.

 

Bruce Miles / Daily Herald

 

Prior pitches today against the Colorado Rockies. If he says he’s healthy, the Cubs will be hard-pressed to put him on the disabled list and keep him in Arizona for extended spring training.

 

The only other answer appears to be optioning Prior to Iowa. The 26-year-old right-hander still has minor-league options with four years and 131 days of major-league service time.

 

Thanks for posting that I had not heard that he had options.

 

That's the only way the waivers are revocable-if he didn't have options, he would have to be put on irrevocable waivers and the Cubs wouldn't be able to pull him back if somebody claimed him. Prior's just in that gray area where he has options, he doesn't have enough service time to refuse getting optioned, but he's been around long enough to have to pass through revocable waivers, which he should be able to do.

[Balsa]

I still don't understand how Prior getting "mean" is going to help his control.

Duh, mean pitchers have mad skillz. If you want to win, you gotta get ANGRY.

 

Look at all the successful angry pitchers like Farnsworth and Sisco.

 

Or all the unsuccessful non-angry pitchers like Greg Maddux.

 

DUH GUYS. If you wanna be a good pitcher, you gotta be a JERK.

[Lefty]

I hope today we see angry Prior, the pitcher with a huge mean streak, we have not seen him since the line drive game. So here to Lou getting under Marky Marks skin and waving the triple A bus ticket in his face.

 

Prior would be the best pitcher in baseball if he just started hanging out with Big Z. Angry, crazy Prior would dominate, like Clemens( the secret is ICEY HOT on the privates, no lie). I 100% believe that all Prior problems right now are mental and a little motivation or pressure from the manager might change things.

 

It is interesting that you mention "angry". When I watched him last Thursday, I noticed he just looked totally pi**ed when he started the second innng. And that is when he started getting results. It seemed to me that he was just fed up with what has happened to him and finally let it all go. If that works for him, great. I will eagerly monitor Game Threads this afternoon.

[3Dog]

I don't know if "getting angry" is the prescription, but I agree with the spirit of the comment in that Prior may fall victim to overthinking things and worrying about unforeseen circumstance. If he concentrates on the batter/situation at hand and maintains good mechanics then he'll be OK.

[rawaction]

For the long term, I don't think there's any way a healthy Prior goes to AAA and re-signs with the Cubs when he hits free agency in a couple years.

[98navigator]

For the long term, I don't think there's any way a healthy Prior goes to AAA and re-signs with the Cubs when he hits free agency in a couple years.

 

Ditto. Then again, if a healthy Mark Prior wants to get a longterm deal from any team, he'll have to have a big showing for the Cubs in 2008. Otherwise, he might be looking at a one year deal or a very low rate (relatively speaking) longterm contract--3years/$21M. :wink:

[Sammy Sofa]

I hope today we see angry Prior, the pitcher with a huge mean streak, we have not seen him since the line drive game. So here to Lou getting under Marky Marks skin and waving the triple A bus ticket in his face.

 

Prior would be the best pitcher in baseball if he just started hanging out with Big Z. Angry, crazy Prior would dominate, like Clemens( the secret is ICEY HOT on the privates, no lie). I 100% believe that all Prior problems right now are mental and a little motivation or pressure from the manager might change things.

 

It is interesting that you mention "angry". When I watched him last Thursday, I noticed he just looked totally pi**ed when he started the second innng. And that is when he started getting results. It seemed to me that he was just fed up with what has happened to him and finally let it all go. If that works for him, great. I will eagerly monitor Game Threads this afternoon.

 

On the flipside, I've seen plenty of bad games with him, especially last year, where he was visibly angry and frustrated.

[Mizzou]

So how was Prior today?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

So how was Prior today?

 

Better than last time out (and we felt that was a good game), according to Bruce. The defense really failed him. Bruce opined that Prior is about 3 weeks away from being big league-ready.

 

3 IP, 0 ER, 3 R, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 2 WP, 60 pitches (37 strikes)

[Mizzou]

So how was Prior today?

 

Better than last time out (and we felt that was a good game), according to Bruce. The defense really failed him. Bruce opined that Prior is about 3 weeks away from being big league-ready.

 

3 IP, 0 ER, 3 R, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 2 WP, 60 pitches (37 strikes)

Thanks. How was his velocity?

[Laura]

Bruce Miles posted in the gamethread:

 

There are no radar readings readily available here. We'll have to get the readings later, but [Prior] looked appreciably better this time out. His defense let him down, ran up his pitch count and probably cost him an inning of work.

[Mephistopheles]

My spider senses tell me Mark didn't throw over 90 MPH. He hit 90 a couple of times.

[David]

My spider senses tell me Mark didn't throw over 90 MPH. He hit 90 a couple of times.

 

Does this actually mean anything? Or are you just making something up?

[Mephistopheles]

My spider senses tell me Mark didn't throw over 90 MPH. He hit 90 a couple of times.

 

Does this actually mean anything? Or are you just making something up?

 

What? Do you think I'm a spider or something? Of course I'm making it up! It's an educated guess based on the past.