Cubs will allow Prior to walk

[Sammy Sofa]

For the record, according to BR, Prior made ~15M while pitching for the Cubs. He certainly more than earned the salary he took from them. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing about how Prior was stealing money from the Cubs while rehabbing after being one of the best pitchers in the majors in '03 and being damn above average in '04 and '05.

 

This whole thing just sickens me.

 

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"?

 

I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average."

 

Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004.

 

I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms.

 

Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO.

 

Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up....

 

Really? For a pitcher as young as he is, with a ceiling as high as his and as much money as this organization has, that's nothing. I'm not looking for "magic" at all...I was hoping tha this club would be able to take a chance on an injured pitcher, as they have many times, for relatively little money, in the hope of some return. The upisde of tha with Prior, as opposed to others they've done it with (Dempster, Williamson, Miller, etc.) is that his ceiling is so high that even a Prior with reduced capability would be incredibly useful, especially at that price. Combine that wih him finally having surgery where something was determined to be wrong and ideally "fixed," it's not too much of a stretch to think he could have possibly been productive at some point in 2008, and cheap. Unfortunately, it appears something gummed up that idea.

 

Please explain what is so fantastic about this. Few people were expecting him to come back and pitch like he did before 2004. But to talk like anything less is useless, especially at how little he would cost, is absurd.

 

I think what you're failing to understand, is that money was offered to Prior. Everybody in the world knows that. He didn't accept. For whatever reason Prior walked. If Prior wanted to stay in Chicago, and Hendry turns him down, thats a different story.

 

Prior flat out, wanted a raise. And he was rejected.

 

How and where are these details available?

 

Hometown discounts like the ones Aramis and Wood took are not the norm in baseball. This is these guy's jobs and this is the level they negotiate at. Prior is potentially looking at his career being done at a VERY young age if he can't come back, so is it really all that surprising that he's trying to get as much as he can? I disagree with the people who declare that it's impossibe for him to get more money elsewhere. On the MLB scale, he's barely being paid anything as it is.

 

What's most frustrating is calling him things like a "mooch" implies he wanted to get paid for a minimum of work, and I just don't see that. The guy showed that he wans to pitch time and time again. He didn't pitch only when couldn't pitch, not because he decided not to pitch.

[cubbyvirus00]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

[Hosak8]

For the record, according to BR, Prior made ~15M while pitching for the Cubs. He certainly more than earned the salary he took from them. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing about how Prior was stealing money from the Cubs while rehabbing after being one of the best pitchers in the majors in '03 and being damn above average in '04 and '05.

 

This whole thing just sickens me.

 

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"?

 

I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average."

 

Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004.

 

I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms.

 

Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO.

 

Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up....

 

Really? For a pitcher as young as he is, with a ceiling as high as his and as much money as this organization has, that's nothing. I'm not looking for "magic" at all...I was hoping tha this club would be able to take a chance on an injured pitcher, as they have many times, for relatively little money, in the hope of some return. The upisde of tha with Prior, as opposed to others they've done it with (Dempster, Williamson, Miller, etc.) is that his ceiling is so high that even a Prior with reduced capability would be incredibly useful, especially at that price. Combine that wih him finally having surgery where something was determined to be wrong and ideally "fixed," it's not too much of a stretch to think he could have possibly been productive at some point in 2008, and cheap. Unfortunately, it appears something gummed up that idea.

 

Please explain what is so fantastic about this. Few people were expecting him to come back and pitch like he did before 2004. But to talk like anything less is useless, especially at how little he would cost, is absurd.

 

How do you know what his ceiling is? I mean, how do you really know?

 

Look, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here.

[Sammy Sofa]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

[PrimeTime]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

Screw off ,Princess Mark...

[Sammy Sofa]

For the record, according to BR, Prior made ~15M while pitching for the Cubs. He certainly more than earned the salary he took from them. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing about how Prior was stealing money from the Cubs while rehabbing after being one of the best pitchers in the majors in '03 and being damn above average in '04 and '05.

 

This whole thing just sickens me.

 

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"?

 

I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average."

 

Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004.

 

I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms.

 

Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO.

 

Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up....

 

Really? For a pitcher as young as he is, with a ceiling as high as his and as much money as this organization has, that's nothing. I'm not looking for "magic" at all...I was hoping tha this club would be able to take a chance on an injured pitcher, as they have many times, for relatively little money, in the hope of some return. The upisde of tha with Prior, as opposed to others they've done it with (Dempster, Williamson, Miller, etc.) is that his ceiling is so high that even a Prior with reduced capability would be incredibly useful, especially at that price. Combine that wih him finally having surgery where something was determined to be wrong and ideally "fixed," it's not too much of a stretch to think he could have possibly been productive at some point in 2008, and cheap. Unfortunately, it appears something gummed up that idea.

 

Please explain what is so fantastic about this. Few people were expecting him to come back and pitch like he did before 2004. But to talk like anything less is useless, especially at how little he would cost, is absurd.

 

How do you know what his ceiling is? I mean, how do you really know?

 

Look, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here.

 

Well, anything that even sniffs 2003 would have been incredibly useful, so we could use that as his ceiling for the sake of the discussion. That season actually happened, and he actualy pitched as amazing as he did that year...why couldn't that work as a gague of what he's theoretically "most" capable of?

[Omar]

Prior is being selfish... Sure... But this will come back and bite them right in the ass. Far from a "good riddance."

[Sammy Sofa]

Many, many, many pitchers have come back from surgeries to have productive careers. It's not like we're looking at some fluke thing here that rarely happens. It's also not like we're looking at someone who likely asked for an insane pay bump. People are responding like he was asking them to double his salary, or more. I seriously doubt that was the case.

[cubbyvirus00]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

 

 

I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008.

 

BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs.

[PrimeTime]

Prior is being selfish... Sure... But this will come back and bite them right in the ass. Far from a "good riddance."

 

I agree..Selfish..Didn't we pay him a 10 Mil bonus when we drafted him? Plus all the millions while he was injured? If he wanted to show any loyalty to this origanization, he wouldv'e given us the '09 option..I remember, before he was drafted, he wanted to be on a team that could win and preferred the west coast...Dont blame Henry or the Cubs..He just didn't want to be here..

Edited December 13, 2007 by PrimeTime

[cubbyvirus00]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

 

 

I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008.

 

BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs.

 

Judging from the article, he wanted at LEAST 3.5 mill. He prolly would have settle for 5 mill. Which in my opinion is total crap. For one year of rehab? No thanks.

[Sammy Sofa]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

 

 

I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008.

 

BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs.

 

He IS negotiating for the next step in his career, since he's still very young and only has one year left on his contract. There's a good chance he wanted to secure his future as much as possible. Again, we're not talking on the level of most major MLB contracts...you keep going on like he was undoubtably asking for a huge payday. Unless it was some massive increase, it was likely a raise requested still within the context of someone who has something to prove, but wants to secure his income at this level as much as possible, just like almost any other player in that spot with his demonstrated capabilities and potential recovery would do. He's not some kind of isolated incident in this regard. People keep talking like he was robbing the Cubs blind with some massive contract.

[Sammy Sofa]

Judging from the article, he wanted at LEAST 3.5 mill. He prolly would have settle for 5 mill. Which in my opinion is total crap. For one year of rehab? No thanks.

 

Nobody has any idea if it's for a year of rehab. The best we have to go on is his agent saying that it may take a few extra months "IF ONE WANTS TO BE CONSERVATIVE." I think that's him making a statement based on his client's unfortunate history until this point, not as a declarative statemen as to when he will definitely be ready to pitch. Yes, Prior unfortunately has a history of delays, but those were also when a problem couldn't be identified or anything really done about it. The surgery is a huge x-factor. Obviously, this is all my opinion, but it's hardly anything outside of the realm of very good possibility.

[PrimeTime]

I'm just an employee"

 

Who's unemployeed now???

[Clem Fandango]

Good riddance. Drama queen.

 

2003 was an amazing year for Prior, but you know what, 2003 was one of the hardest years of my Cub fandom, so I could care less if he had an amazing regular season, cause ultimately it didn't mean squat in the end because the team blew it. Ever since, he's been useless, so screw him

[cubbyvirus00]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I highly doubt any quality pitcher in this league would do what Prior's doing. Big market team drafts you, sticks with you, pays you, rehabs you, and then opting out of this situation for a marginal contract upgrade.

 

 

Yes I'm bitter, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan

Edited December 13, 2007 by cubbyvirus00

[Hosak8]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

 

 

I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008.

 

BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs.

 

He IS negotiating for the next step in his career, since he's still very young and only has one year left on his contract. There's a good chance he wanted to secure his future as much as possible. Again, we're not talking on the level of most major MLB contracts...you keep going on like he was undoubtably asking for a huge payday. Unless it was some massive increase, it was likely a raise requested still within the context of someone who has something to prove, but wants to secure his income at this level as much as possible, just like almost any other player in that spot with his demonstrated capabilities and potential recovery would do. He's not some kind of isolated incident in this regard. People keep talking like he was robbing the Cubs blind with some massive contract.

 

Why are you so quick to question what others write, and then in the same breath, turn right around and offer NOTHING but your own pure speculation, and treat it as though your speculation should be treated as fact?

 

I'm sorry, but you don't the details of what Prior asked for any more than you'd know what a hummer from Jessica Alba would feel like. And you sure don't know more about the details of this deal than anyone else on this site, so why do you try so hard to act like you do?

[VanceJergins]

Man, this is sad. It was always nice to have that hope that 03 Prior would come back. I think this is the most disappointed I've been about losing a player.

[PrimeTime]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I highly doubt any quality pitcher in this league would do what Prior's doing. Big market team drafts you, sticks with you, pays you, rehabs you, and then opting out of this situation for a marginal contract upgrade.

 

 

Yes I'm bitter, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan

 

Exactly...Look at Kerry Wood..Loyal, Dedicated guy...Mark Prior...Bottle and bib..

[Guest]

Wow. Talk about some sour grapes in this thread.

 

Might want to read this post about the mooch, Prime Time:

 

For the record, according to BR, Prior made ~15M while pitching for the Cubs. He certainly more than earned the salary he took from them. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing about how Prior was stealing money from the Cubs while rehabbing after being one of the best pitchers in the majors in '03 and being damn above average in '04 and '05.

 

This whole thing just sickens me.

[Sammy Sofa]

FROM CHICAGOSPORTS.COM

 

The Cubs offered Prior a one-year, incentive-laden contract with an option for 2009, hoping Prior wanted to stay enough to delay free agency by a year and thus reduce the Cubs' risk. But the proposal never was considered seriously and, after accepting a salary cut last winter after filing for a slight raise in arbitration, Prior realized the road was greased for his departure.

 

Upon his demotion to Triple-A Iowa near the end of spring training in March, Prior repeatedly answered questions about his Cubs future by saying: "I'm just an employee."

 

 

FROM MLB.COM

 

The Cubs would've preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season's $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. Negotiations on a possible 2008 deal for the arbitration-eligible pitcher were unsuccessful. His agent, John Boggs, said Andrews expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that "if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that."

 

 

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least.

 

No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career.

 

 

I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008.

 

BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs.

 

He IS negotiating for the next step in his career, since he's still very young and only has one year left on his contract. There's a good chance he wanted to secure his future as much as possible. Again, we're not talking on the level of most major MLB contracts...you keep going on like he was undoubtably asking for a huge payday. Unless it was some massive increase, it was likely a raise requested still within the context of someone who has something to prove, but wants to secure his income at this level as much as possible, just like almost any other player in that spot with his demonstrated capabilities and potential recovery would do. He's not some kind of isolated incident in this regard. People keep talking like he was robbing the Cubs blind with some massive contract.

 

Why are you so quick to question what others write, and then in the same breath, turn right around and offer NOTHING but your own pure speculation, and treat it as though your speculation should be treated as fact?

 

I'm sorry, but you don't the details of what Prior asked for any more than you'd know what a hummer from Jessica Alba would feel like. And you sure don't know more about the details of this deal than anyone else on this site, so why do you try so hard to act like you do?

 

Which is why I put this in the post I made immediately following the one you quoted:

 

Obviously, this is all my opinion, but it's hardly anything outside of the realm of very good possibility.

 

I don't know why you bolded that final part. It's talking about people ranting like he's had a huge contract over the last few years. He hasn't. How is that speculation or even opinion on my part? The first part of that bolded section is also referring to what he was making with the Cubs, not theoretically what his new contract would have been. That second part of that part was a guess on my part, hence why I said "likely" instead of stating it definitively. In that post you quoted, I specifically attempted to not use definitive statements because I'm well aware it's only my opinion.

 

Analyzing the situation as a whole, it seems like a safe guess that Prior wasn't asking for a massive contract increase. No I don't know for sure, but it's highly unlikely that he did so, especially based on his previous negotiations. Ranting like he did ask for the moon has no basis in anything.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Sammy Sofa

[Guest]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I highly doubt any quality pitcher in this league would do what Prior's doing. Big market team drafts you, sticks with you, pays you, rehabs you, and then opting out of this situation for a marginal contract upgrade.

 

 

Yes I'm bitter, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan

 

Exactly...Look at Kerry Wood..Loyal, Dedicated guy...Mark Prior...Bottle and bib..

 

Yeah, heaven forbid a guy doesn't have loyalty for as team that fanned rumors of his "wussiness" which ended up delaying a surgery he needed for two years.

[Hosak8]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I highly doubt any quality pitcher in this league would do what Prior's doing. Big market team drafts you, sticks with you, pays you, rehabs you, and then opting out of this situation for a marginal contract upgrade.

 

 

Yes I'm bitter, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan

 

Exactly...Look at Kerry Wood..Loyal, Dedicated guy...Mark Prior...Bottle and bib..

 

Yeah, heaven forbid a guy doesn't have loyalty for as team that fanned rumors of his "wussiness" which ended up delaying a surgery he needed for two years.

 

Yeah, the Cubs probably knew he needed surgery, but instead of allowing him to have it (and more quickly returning to his 2003 level), they let his arm rot off, all the while spreading info that Prior was a giant sissy, just to keep him pitching at his 2004 level.

 

Seriously... do some of you guys really believe this?!?

[cubbyvirus00]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I highly doubt any quality pitcher in this league would do what Prior's doing. Big market team drafts you, sticks with you, pays you, rehabs you, and then opting out of this situation for a marginal contract upgrade.

 

 

Yes I'm bitter, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan

 

Exactly...Look at Kerry Wood..Loyal, Dedicated guy...Mark Prior...Bottle and bib..

 

Yeah, heaven forbid a guy doesn't have loyalty for as team that fanned rumors of his "wussiness" which ended up delaying a surgery he needed for two years.

 

Could it be, that maybe he opted for surgery because he didn't want to pitch in the minors? Sounds silly, but yes I am questioning his character.

 

The team decided he needed more time, and he was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on March 28. Prior maintained his sense of humor about the demotion.

 

"I'll go down and help that team win, and try to make the Triple-A All-Star team and maybe I'll get invited to the Futures Game or something," he said.

 

The right-hander never reported. He ended an outing in extended Spring Training early, and eventually needed arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in April. The procedure, done by Dr. James Andrews, included a debridement of his right rotator cuff as well as repairing the labral and capsular injuries. Prior started his throwing program in mid-September.

[CubbieSouthpaw II]

For the record, according to BR, Prior made ~15M while pitching for the Cubs. He certainly more than earned the salary he took from them. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing about how Prior was stealing money from the Cubs while rehabbing after being one of the best pitchers in the majors in '03 and being damn above average in '04 and '05.

 

This whole thing just sickens me.

 

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"?

 

I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average."

 

Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004.

 

I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms.

 

Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO.

 

Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up....

 

Really? For a pitcher as young as he is, with a ceiling as high as his and as much money as this organization has, that's nothing. I'm not looking for "magic" at all...I was hoping tha this club would be able to take a chance on an injured pitcher, as they have many times, for relatively little money, in the hope of some return. The upisde of tha with Prior, as opposed to others they've done it with (Dempster, Williamson, Miller, etc.) is that his ceiling is so high that even a Prior with reduced capability would be incredibly useful, especially at that price. Combine that wih him finally having surgery where something was determined to be wrong and ideally "fixed," it's not too much of a stretch to think he could have possibly been productive at some point in 2008, and cheap. Unfortunately, it appears something gummed up that idea.

 

Please explain what is so fantastic about this. Few people were expecting him to come back and pitch like he did before 2004. But to talk like anything less is useless, especially at how little he would cost, is absurd.

 

I think what you're failing to understand, is that money was offered to Prior. Everybody in the world knows that. He didn't accept. For whatever reason Prior walked. If Prior wanted to stay in Chicago, and Hendry turns him down, thats a different story.

 

Prior flat out, wanted a raise. And he was rejected.

 

How and where are these details available?

 

Hometown discounts like the ones Aramis and Wood took are not the norm in baseball. This is these guy's jobs and this is the level they negotiate at. Prior is potentially looking at his career being done at a VERY young age if he can't come back, so is it really all that surprising that he's trying to get as much as he can? I disagree with the people who declare that it's impossibe for him to get more money elsewhere. On the MLB scale, he's barely being paid anything as it is.

 

What's most frustrating is calling him things like a "mooch" implies he wanted to get paid for a minimum of work, and I just don't see that. The guy showed that he wans to pitch time and time again. He didn't pitch only when couldn't pitch, not because he decided not to pitch.

 

As I've said before. Prior is looking out for #1(himself). He doesn't care about the team or any one on this team. If he did and believed he had a chance at coming back to a level of service to get the big payday then he would have taken the Cubs offer. I would'nt say he's a "mooch", but he's without question out for himself.

He thought he was god's gift coming out of college and with a broken down arm, he still believes that.

Bash away if you must but go back and read comments in past articles. They say it all!!!

See ya Mark, hope you can mature enough to stick with another team.