John Kruk doesn't follow baseball

[Cubbie Swagger]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4378078

 

Did I just hear him say that the Cubs BABIED Mark Prior, watched his innings, and limited his pitch counts? He's actually shocked that Mark Prior ended up having injury problems. Unbelievable.

[BCVM22]

Pretty sure Kruk doesn't follow anything not laden with food or beer.

[hotshot13422]

If prior was babied, what is harden considered?

[NCCubFan]

If he looked at 2002 and nothing after that he'd be right.

[jersey cubs fan]

If he looked at 2002 and nothing after that he'd be right.

 

How? 6 starts in AA, 3 starts in AAA, 19 starts in the majors, 167 pro innings which was 30+ more innings than he threw the year before, at the age of 21. He was in the major leagues less than a year after he was drafted. Threw 124 pitches in his 4th major league start, and had 7 outings with more than 110 pitches, including 4 in a row that ended with a 135 pitch outing. He had only 5 outings under 100 pitches. He finished the year on the DL, in what could be construed as protecting him, but he was hardly babied that year. He was thrown into the fire with a lame duck manager and then an interim moron that was more concerned about trying to win the job than the longterm healt of the franchise.

[daske17]

Last night, he also came up with the Nobel-worthy idea of taking Dempster out of the rotation to become our closer. Apparently, we're so deep in our rotation that we can pay Dempster $52 million to go into the bullpen.

 

God bless him, but I think those years playing with Darren Daulton are beginning to affect him.

[circlecitycub]

Last night, he also came up with the Nobel-worthy idea of taking Dempster out of the rotation to become our closer. Apparently, we're so deep in our rotation that we can pay Dempster $52 million to go into the bullpen.

 

God bless him, but I think those years playing with Darren Daulton are beginning to affect him.

 

If Gregg can't pull it together and we have 5 other reliable starters I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a shot. I don't care where the money has been spent it's all been spent with the intent to win a World Series so I say use it as such.

[jersey cubs fan]

Last night, he also came up with the Nobel-worthy idea of taking Dempster out of the rotation to become our closer. Apparently, we're so deep in our rotation that we can pay Dempster $52 million to go into the bullpen.

 

God bless him, but I think those years playing with Darren Daulton are beginning to affect him.

 

If Gregg can't pull it together and we have 5 other reliable starters I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a shot. I don't care where the money has been spent it's all been spent with the intent to win a World Series so I say use it as such.

 

If Dempster is pitching well, he's worth more to the team starting. And Gregg has been fine for most of the season, at least as good as Demspter would be.

[circlecitycub]

Last night, he also came up with the Nobel-worthy idea of taking Dempster out of the rotation to become our closer. Apparently, we're so deep in our rotation that we can pay Dempster $52 million to go into the bullpen.

 

God bless him, but I think those years playing with Darren Daulton are beginning to affect him.

 

If Gregg can't pull it together and we have 5 other reliable starters I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a shot. I don't care where the money has been spent it's all been spent with the intent to win a World Series so I say use it as such.

 

If Dempster is pitching well, he's worth more to the team starting. And Gregg has been fine for most of the season, at least as good as Demspter would be.

 

So you realistically think we can go with a Zambrano, Lilly, Harden, Wells, Dempster, Gorzelanny rotation for the rest of the way?

[jersey cubs fan]

 

So you realistically think we can go with a Zambrano, Lilly, Harden, Wells, Dempster, Gorzelanny rotation for the rest of the way?

 

What do you mean realistically? I'm going to guess Harden is going to have to miss a start or two, and he should get some extra rest. Wells probably needs a break soon. And we don't even know how Lilly will be when he returns. Zambrano is always an internet session or spoiled banana away from missing a start.

 

I think they need all the starters they can get and should keep all those guys available for starting the rest of the way, and shouldn't even consider for a second the idea of having Dempster close right now.

[NCCubFan]

If he looked at 2002 and nothing after that he'd be right.

 

How? 6 starts in AA, 3 starts in AAA, 19 starts in the majors, 167 pro innings which was 30+ more innings than he threw the year before, at the age of 21. He was in the major leagues less than a year after he was drafted. Threw 124 pitches in his 4th major league start, and had 7 outings with more than 110 pitches, including 4 in a row that ended with a 135 pitch outing. He had only 5 outings under 100 pitches. He finished the year on the DL, in what could be construed as protecting him, but he was hardly babied that year. He was thrown into the fire with a lame duck manager and then an interim moron that was more concerned about trying to win the job than the longterm healt of the franchise.

I was thinking of how they shut him down for about the last month of the season (if I recall they put him on the DL with a groin injury that really wouldn't have kept him out that long under normal circumstances).

[jersey cubs fan]

If he looked at 2002 and nothing after that he'd be right.

 

How? 6 starts in AA, 3 starts in AAA, 19 starts in the majors, 167 pro innings which was 30+ more innings than he threw the year before, at the age of 21. He was in the major leagues less than a year after he was drafted. Threw 124 pitches in his 4th major league start, and had 7 outings with more than 110 pitches, including 4 in a row that ended with a 135 pitch outing. He had only 5 outings under 100 pitches. He finished the year on the DL, in what could be construed as protecting him, but he was hardly babied that year. He was thrown into the fire with a lame duck manager and then an interim moron that was more concerned about trying to win the job than the longterm healt of the franchise.

I was thinking of how they shut him down for about the last month of the season (if I recall they put him on the DL with a groin injury that really wouldn't have kept him out that long under normal circumstances).

 

Yeah, but that was after he was used a lot as a rookie and under the watch of an incompetent desperate interim manager. It was hardly babying. And the season was lost long before he went on the DL.

[circlecitycub]

 

So you realistically think we can go with a Zambrano, Lilly, Harden, Wells, Dempster, Gorzelanny rotation for the rest of the way?

 

What do you mean realistically? I'm going to guess Harden is going to have to miss a start or two, and he should get some extra rest. Wells probably needs a break soon. And we don't even know how Lilly will be when he returns. Zambrano is always an internet session or spoiled banana away from missing a start.

 

I think they need all the starters they can get and should keep all those guys available for starting the rest of the way, and shouldn't even consider for a second the idea of having Dempster close right now.

 

I guess that would give everyone an average of 2 starts off. You make a strong point.

[imb]

God, now I'm just reminded of how Prior's minor league and then major league dominance saved 2002. Sure, we sucked, but it was something to look forward to every 5 days. UGH.

[shnsajax]

God, now I'm just reminded of how Prior's minor league and then major league dominance saved 2002. Sure, we sucked, but it was something to look forward to every 5 days. UGH.

 

ESPN was showing highlights of his minor league games on sportscenter, and showing off his HR's he ws hitting in the minors too.

[Post Count Padder]

We've established Kruk is full [expletive]. Let's not talk about it anymore.

[C.C.]

 

Threw 124 pitches in his 4th major league start, and had 7 outings with more than 110 pitches, including 4 in a row that ended with a 135 pitch outing. He had only 5 outings under 100 pitches. He finished the year on the DL, in what could be construed as protecting him, but he was hardly babied that year. He was thrown into the fire with a lame duck manager and then an interim moron that was more concerned about trying to win the job than the longterm healt of the franchise.

 

My god that's depressing.

[imb]

God, now I'm just reminded of how Prior's minor league and then major league dominance saved 2002. Sure, we sucked, but it was something to look forward to every 5 days. UGH.

 

ESPN was showing highlights of his minor league games on sportscenter, and showing off his HR's he ws hitting in the minors too.

 

Yeah, man that hurts to think about. We were watching Sportscenter at this party we were at, and they started showing Prior highlights. We made everyone shut up, and my buddy was so excited about Prior, that when they showed his face, he exclaimed "MAN, HE'S NOT TOO BAD LOOKING EITHER."

 

Mark Prior was really ugly, but we were willing to look past that.

[SouthSideRyan]

God, now I'm just reminded of how Prior's minor league and then major league dominance saved 2002. Sure, we sucked, but it was something to look forward to every 5 days. UGH.

 

ESPN was showing highlights of his minor league games on sportscenter, and showing off his HR's he ws hitting in the minors too.

 

Yeah, man that hurts to think about. We were watching Sportscenter at this party we were at, and they started showing Prior highlights. We made everyone shut up, and my buddy was so excited about Prior, that when they showed his face, he exclaimed "MAN, HE'S NOT TOO BAD LOOKING EITHER."

 

Mark Prior was really ugly, but we were willing to look past that.

 

Oh [expletive] you, Mark Prior was/is [expletive] hot.

[inari]

Mark Prior is anything but ugly.

[NewUserName]

there should be a stickied post to complain about how stupid ESPN and their band of misfits are

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

Threw 124 pitches in his 4th major league start, and had 7 outings with more than 110 pitches, including 4 in a row that ended with a 135 pitch outing. He had only 5 outings under 100 pitches. He finished the year on the DL, in what could be construed as protecting him, but he was hardly babied that year. He was thrown into the fire with a lame duck manager and then an interim moron that was more concerned about trying to win the job than the longterm healt of the franchise.

 

My god that's depressing.

 

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[Vanilla Ice]

Mark Prior is hot, okay.

[cheapseats]

If he looked at 2002 and nothing after that he'd be right.

 

Think what you will about BP's Pitcher Abuse Points, but Prior was #23 on the list in 2002:

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=104254

 

And Prior only pitched in 19 games that year. Everyone ranked above him pitched in 25 games or more. Most pitched 30 games or more.

 

He jumped to #4 on the list in 2003.

 

I've linked to this before, but here it is again, a Baseball Prospectus roundtable from July of 2003:

 

https://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2054

 

For those of you without a subscription, here are some excerpts:

 

Gary Huckaby: "I give Prior 44 more starts under Dusty Baker, fewer if the Cubs are in a pennant race and the bullpen blows another save or two... I don't care if he's made of liquid titanium. I don't care if his mechanics were designed by Da Vinci. The organization he's in couldn't find its ass with both hands. They've shown no signs of understanding the precepts of not abusing their starters. Recent addition Dusty Baker isn't exactly The Bringer of Light.

 

Prior will likely throw 220 innings this year at the age of 22. We can look for reasons why Prior is an exception to the rules all day long. I prefer to assume he's NOT an exception...

 

Dusty Baker and the Cubs will burn up Prior..."

 

Nate Silver: "On the SportsCenter recap, there was a comment to the effect that Prior felt taxed during the eighth inning, but Baker left him out there anyway.

 

As a Cubs fan, I'm actually hoping that the team overpays for middle-relief help just so it discourages Baker from doing stuff like this. They left Carlos Zambrano out there a long time the other day (123 pitches), during which Chip Caray and Steve Stone commented that Zambrano would have to "take one for the team" since the bullpen was overworked. Isn't that what Shawn Estes is for?

 

Prior does have beautiful mechanics, but that just mitigates the risk, not eliminates it. I try not to be a total fascist about this stuff, and I can see an argument for pushing a guy once or twice a year in the perfect situations, but Baker has done it indiscriminately."

[Geech]

Ugh. So many of the comments about Prior's perfect mechanics just come off as naive these days.