Astros offer a deal to Prior

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Some of the vitriol against Prior in this thread is comical indeed.

 

I think a few things are clear. Prior wasn't happy in Chicago. We may not be privy to all the reasons for that, but the indications are he wanted out.

 

On the other hand, no one should be mad at Prior. Mad at the situation? sure. However, Prior did not choose to end the relationship. The Cubs did. Had the Cubs wanted Prior around, they could have tendered a contract. To the Cubs, the risk Prior would leave as a free agent without providing value on the one year was too great.

 

Why should Prior have taken a 2-year deal? Did it make sense for him to do? In his mind, getting to free agency had value. For him, it was a chance to choose where he would practice his profession. Considering all the crap he's taken in Chicago, I really can't blame him. Should he not attempt to find a better situation because you bought his jersey? Ha ha ha ha! That's great, really.

 

Anyone who thinks that players owe us much of anything need a reality check.

[SaorsaDaonnan]

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

 

 

This is ridiculous. Mark Prior is under no obligation to make positive contributions to your emotional wellbeing.

[treebird]

You guys know why Mark Prior is no longer a Cub?

 

It's because he doesn't want to be.

 

no, it's because the cubs insisted that he take a below market contract for 2009 even though they can only force him to take below market contracts through 2008.

 

i'm sure that's what you meant to say though.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

I prefer to focus on tangible data points. The fact is, as immense as his talent was/is, Mark Prior has NEVER pitched a full season of professional baseball. Not once. Regardless of the reasons for his missing starts, some of which were purely random and accidental (e.g., the Giles collision), I just can't get too worked up about losing a guy that was drafted in 2001, and with 2008 upon us, never gave the Cubs a full season of starts.

 

Cubs made the right choice in cutting him loose if he didn't want to give them an option year.

 

And as for the 2003 stats, we all know how dominant Prior was that year. But in baseball years--especially for pitchers--that was a LONG time ago. Ancient history.

[Smack]

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

 

 

This is ridiculous. Mark Prior is under no obligation to make positive contributions to your emotional wellbeing.

 

We'll see how he feels when he doesn't get a Christmas card from me this year. :roll: Seriously I'm not going to cry myself to sleep. I guess I value loyalty more than most people. It's not like the Cubs were going to give him league minimum.

[BigbadB]

If I'm understanding this thread correctly, we're all supposed to be mad at Mark Prior because Houston offered him a contract which he has yet to agree to?

 

I don't like that Prior is gone, but as long as he doesn't do something crazy like hit Derrek Lee in the knee with a lead pipe on his way out of town, I can't really be upset with Mark.

 

We don't have all the inside info, but it's been pretty obvious to me for quite some time that Prior wasn't happy in Chicago and he wanted out. Whether he wanted out because he blames Cubs management for ruining his throwing arm or the fans have given him a hard time, or a little bit of both, or even something entirely different is uncertain, but what's done is done and that Hendry couldn't work something out for him to come back is not something I'm going to blame Hendry for.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I don't think Prior is ever going to be healthy again, so I'm not all that worried.

[Mephistopheles]

We'll see how he feels when he doesn't get a Christmas card from me this year. :roll: Seriously I'm not going to cry myself to sleep. I guess I value loyalty more than most people. It's not like the Cubs were going to give him league minimum.

 

How's this loyalty: He knows he will never be healthy again and he wanted to make sure the Cubs did not waste another dollar on false hope, so he made sure he was non-tendered for the better of the team. He could have done that for all we know...

[MADD_DOG_31]

I really hope someone else in the Central signs him.....

 

1) He will continue to throw BP fastballs and we will light his Ruschs on fire

 

2) He will remain on the DL and continue throwing Martha Stweart Collection towels

 

 

 

 

A win, win situation for the Cubs

[VVMattVV]

Towel jokes are funny!

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

 

 

This is ridiculous. Mark Prior is under no obligation to make positive contributions to your emotional wellbeing.

 

We'll see how he feels when he doesn't get a Christmas card from me this year. :roll: Seriously I'm not going to cry myself to sleep. I guess I value loyalty more than most people. It's not like the Cubs were going to give him league minimum.

 

I value loyalty to, but Prior doesn't owe me one damn thing, not does he owe you a damn thing. The fact that you or anyone else figures you are entitled to loyalty from Prior is laughable and absurd.

 

The fact is, loyalty is a 2-way street. And the Cubs didn't exactly show Prior much. If you total the money spent on Prior from draft until now, we got our money's worth in 2003 alone. The system in baseball basically screws the player from draft until their arbitration years. After that the advantage starts to shift to the player. Many players long for free agency because it gives them a choice of their workplace and other conditions that most of us have all the time. I'm not going to make it sound like being a baseball player is a bad deal. Hardly from it, but I'm also not going to begrudge one because he chooses to take his work location, etc into his own hands.

 

You talk about loyalty. And certainly, there are some fans who stuck by Prior through it all, but my guess is many of these same fans would not be willing to pay him millions next season if he didn't return until August and had a 6.50 ERA when he did.

 

I'm sure if the Cubs offered Prior a guaranteed 2 year 13 million deal, he would have taken it. That's 3.5 million for this year and 9.5 that a pitcher of his caliber who is healthy might get in free agency. But of course, we didn't do that because there is the risk he won't be a valuable asset in 2009. The Cubs wanted insurance, and frankly I don't blame them. But if they were loyal to Prior, they could have made him such an offer. My guess is if they had guaranteed a market value second year, Prior would have taken it.

[CubinNY]

You guys know why Mark Prior is no longer a Cub?

 

It's because he doesn't want to be.

No actually it is because the Cubs didn't offer him a contract.

 

Wrong again.

[CubColtPacer]

You guys know why Mark Prior is no longer a Cub?

 

It's because he doesn't want to be.

No actually it is because the Cubs didn't offer him a contract.

 

Wrong again.

 

It's both. The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted. Then the Cubs refused to offer a standard contract.

[waffle]

'Stros?

 

O.k., I wish a little less future success for him.

 

It's a high return signing for them.

 

You figure, nobody has more info on his development, attitude, etc. than do the cubbies. They felt it was time to part ways (and it appears it was mutual).

 

I only think there is about a 5% chance he returns to his past success. And maybe only about a 10-15% chance he returns to being a productive MLB pitcher.

 

If it ends up being the 'Stros, at least I won't feel ambivalent about him, rather I will despise him.

[fiver]

The Cubs SHOULD HAVE offered him arbitration. But they didn't. This isn't some great injustice. It was a bad business decision, nothing more.

 

Its ridiculous to try and assign some level of emotional blame to EITHER side in this situation. Prior is not a jerk and the Cubs did not treat him poorly. When he said he was "just an employee," he was right. He was an employee, and when management felt he couldn't do the job anymore, they cut ties with him. Feel free to disagree with the decision (I do), but people on BOTH sides of the discussion who seem to be consumed with placing emotional blame on one side or the other are both being a little ridiculous.

 

To put it simply: this whole situation stinks. It is horrible that we're not talking about how he's had 4 straight years of 20 wins, whether or not he's going to win the Cy Young award this year, and how he and Zambrano are the best 1-2 punch in baseball. I think we all agree that this just flat out stinks. Its natural to want to blame someone for it, I think. But people just need to accept that this is a horrible situation, its over, and we need to move on.

 

I agree with your post except for the emboldened. I'm not sure how one can be confident this is a bad business decision without seeing documents outlining the Cubs payroll budgeting contraints and files detailing Mark's health concerns, prognosis. We would also need to be privy to what conversations Hendry has had with free agents and with other GMs regarding potential trade opportunities. Without all of those items, we're speculating, aren't we?

Edited December 18, 2007 by fiver

[CubinNY]

You guys know why Mark Prior is no longer a Cub?

 

It's because he doesn't want to be.

No actually it is because the Cubs didn't offer him a contract.

 

Wrong again.

 

It's both. The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted. Then the Cubs refused to offer a standard contract.

Sorry, that's not the case. The Cubs didn't want to abide by the "standard" contract so they attempted to get Prior to sign a more "team friendly" deal. After all, he's been stealing money for years and years. When Prior didn't want that they cut him lose.

 

The decision was solely up to the Cubs.

[CUBZ99]

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

 

 

This is ridiculous. Mark Prior is under no obligation to make positive contributions to your emotional wellbeing.

 

We'll see how he feels when he doesn't get a Christmas card from me this year. :roll: Seriously I'm not going to cry myself to sleep. I guess I value loyalty more than most people. It's not like the Cubs were going to give him league minimum.

 

I value loyalty to, but Prior doesn't owe me one damn thing, not does he owe you a damn thing. The fact that you or anyone else figures you are entitled to loyalty from Prior is laughable and absurd.

 

The fact is, loyalty is a 2-way street. And the Cubs didn't exactly show Prior much. If you total the money spent on Prior from draft until now, we got our money's worth in 2003 alone. The system in baseball basically screws the player from draft until their arbitration years. After that the advantage starts to shift to the player. Many players long for free agency because it gives them a choice of their workplace and other conditions that most of us have all the time. I'm not going to make it sound like being a baseball player is a bad deal. Hardly from it, but I'm also not going to begrudge one because he chooses to take his work location, etc into his own hands.

 

You talk about loyalty. And certainly, there are some fans who stuck by Prior through it all, but my guess is many of these same fans would not be willing to pay him millions next season if he didn't return until August and had a 6.50 ERA when he did.

 

I'm sure if the Cubs offered Prior a guaranteed 2 year 13 million deal, he would have taken it. That's 3.5 million for this year and 9.5 that a pitcher of his caliber who is healthy might get in free agency. But of course, we didn't do that because there is the risk he won't be a valuable asset in 2009. The Cubs wanted insurance, and frankly I don't blame them. But if they were loyal to Prior, they could have made him such an offer. My guess is if they had guaranteed a market value second year, Prior would have taken it.

 

The Cubs have been spoiled lately with fan favorites opting to stay in Chicago rather than taking more money in FA. Lee's deal at the time was probably below what he could have gotten on the open market, Ramirez had a bigger offer from the Angels, Big Z would have almost certainly gotten more than he recieved through free agency.

 

We may never know the entire story behind Prior's exit. The Cubs are spinning it like Prior wasn't loyal and wanted to leave. Prior's agent is spinning it like it was a business decision. My guess is that a majority of the fans will buy into the Cubs spin and continue to dislike Prior.

 

That said, why is it so absurd for someone to have an emotional attachment to a team or a player that the person roots for 5 months out of the year? MLB and the Cubs don't make money off of player's merchandise without some sort of connection.

[jersey cubs fan]

Seems like the type of thing a classy guy like Mark would do.

 

why would he feel any obligation not to go to the team he feels he fits best? why is it classless to go elsewhere in the division?

 

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

It's times like this that I'd really like to ignore the board rules and regulations, or just get myself banned from this website.

 

But I'm trying Ringo, I'm trying really hard...............................

[RynoRules]

You guys know why Mark Prior is no longer a Cub?

 

It's because he doesn't want to be.

No actually it is because the Cubs didn't offer him a contract.

 

Wrong again.

 

It's both. The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted. Then the Cubs refused to offer a standard contract.

Sorry, that's not the case. The Cubs didn't want to abide by the "standard" contract so they attempted to get Prior to sign a more "team friendly" deal. After all, he's been stealing money for years and years. When Prior didn't want that they cut him lose.

 

The decision was solely up to the Cubs.

 

Sorry, that is not the case:

 

The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted.

 

From the facts we have its safe to conclude that this was a mutual decision, IMO. The Cubs did not want the risk, Prior did not want to play for the Cubs for any longer for whatever his reasons are.

 

I wish we had him back, but I get why the Cubs made the decision they did. It makes sense on both sides, IMO.

[Soul]

Cubs have moved on. It's time we did, too.

 

No hatred for Mark, but I will always be disappointed because of what could have been. And like I said earlier -- if he takes the mound for the opposing team all bets are off, he's the enemy.

[jersey cubs fan]

The decision was solely up to the Cubs.

 

Sorry, that is not the case:

 

The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted.

 

From the facts we have its safe to conclude that this was a mutual decision, IMO. The Cubs did not want the risk, Prior did not want to play for the Cubs for any longer for whatever his reasons are.

 

I wish we had him back, but I get why the Cubs made the decision they did. It makes sense on both sides, IMO.

 

Sorry, but you're wrong. The Cubs made the decision not to offer arbitration. That's the only fact that matters. The story that they couldn't get Prior to agree to what was undoubtedly an extremely team friendly contract does not make it a mutual decision. If I offer $20,000 for a Mercedes and they don't take it, that doesn't make it a mutual decision.

[CuseCubFan69]

Seems like the type of thing a classy guy like Mark would do.

 

why would he feel any obligation not to go to the team he feels he fits best? why is it classless to go elsewhere in the division?

 

It's a slap in the face to the Cubs fans that idolized him. You know the people that paid for the tickets, bought his jersey, etc. The city of Chicago and Cubs fans made him rich - and we've been waiting (and paying) for a long time for him to get healthy. If he wanted to repay a little bit of what he's been given by all of us he could have taken a two-year incentive laden deal. How about a little loyalty? If he comes back in the 2nd half of 08 pitching for another team in the same division it only magnifies things. Take your smug expressions and get out of town Mark.

 

It's times like this that I'd really like to ignore the board rules and regulations, or just get myself banned from this website.

 

But I'm trying Ringo, I'm trying really hard...............................

 

That's why we love ya you big lug!

[CubColtPacer]

The decision was solely up to the Cubs.

 

Sorry, that is not the case:

 

The Cubs did offer a contract, just not the one that Prior wanted.

 

From the facts we have its safe to conclude that this was a mutual decision, IMO. The Cubs did not want the risk, Prior did not want to play for the Cubs for any longer for whatever his reasons are.

 

I wish we had him back, but I get why the Cubs made the decision they did. It makes sense on both sides, IMO.

 

Sorry, but you're wrong. The Cubs made the decision not to offer arbitration. That's the only fact that matters. The story that they couldn't get Prior to agree to what was undoubtedly an extremely team friendly contract does not make it a mutual decision. If I offer $20,000 for a Mercedes and they don't take it, that doesn't make it a mutual decision.

 

If the dealer has a Mercedes listed for 30,000 that the market value has at 20,000, and you offer 20,000 and the dealer rejects it, is it all your decision?

[TheRaven]

I am just glad he is finally gone. It was time to move on.

[wrigley23]

u of M...you posted prior's '03 stats in response to my original message. what's your point?