Sarcastic

Check the source. I'm not going to worry about a MLBtraderumors.com rumor about Barrett. If they do trade Barrett, they'd better get something good for him. You don't trade one of the best catchers in the league for nothing.

Absolutely. He's been injured. That sucks. But just letting a guy with that much potential walk away for nothing, when all you'd be able to buy with his salary is a crappy stopgap? That is absurd. I'd much rather take a risk and see if he can recover. As I've said before, I doubt Le Duca or any of the commentators know anything more about his situation than we do.

The latest thing is looseness in his shoulder, whatever that means. Its more of a condition than an injury. There is no clear explanation of what the problem is or what the timetable for him is, except for some speculation. I think I heard he was supposed to shut down for 4-6 weeks after the end of the season and then start a program to strengthen his shoulder, but I can't remember where I heard that.

I'm not saying that Prior, Wood or Miller will be back or healthy, but taking this guy's word for their condition seems like a bad idea. He doesn't even attribute his information. That's a pretty basic obligation of a journalist trying to report the truth. It seems entirely possible that he's just basing that off of 3rd party information and his own conjecture. I'm not advocating signing Wood or Miller to expensive deals, but lets not chuck the three of them overboard on the word of one random sports writer.

I'd like to know who this guy's sources are regarding Prior. This is the first I've heard that he definitely is not expected to be ready. All the Cubs have said is that BS about looseness.

When are we allowed to want to move on from depending on him? After 3 dissapointing seasons? 4? Torch every player with a bad season!! WUSSIES Burn them, BURN THEM! Here's my question re: Prior. If we say Prior will never throw another pitch, how does that affect the Cubs offseason plans? It isn't as if they've been holding off on getting an ace because they've been counting on Prior. If they got another pitcher, it would take away from some other area where they need help. The Cubs terrible season has a lot to do with Prior's injuries, but the idea that they sucked because they planned around him is ridiculous. If they hadn't planned around him, they still would have sucked, and whether they plan for a return or not will not affect their record next year either.

Moving back to the actual topic (we don't need ANOTHER thread about how speed isn't nearly as valuable as conventional wisdom says) I think Mark Prior will be central to the Cubs next year, one way or another. I don't think they can possibly contend if the players they already have don't produce more (excepting a major payroll raise, which seems unlikely). Most of that improvement is going to have to come from Prior, since he is the player on this team with the most potential, and generally sucked worse than almost anyone else this season. Whether or not he'll come back successfully is a guesssing game. Who can say? Some people have already writen him off, and will tell you every chance they get, but I'm not ready to say that yet. He is still young, and if he is done, then so are the Cubs, for the next few seasons at least.

Ideally, every team in the MLB (except the Cubs) would contract a non-life threatening disease that would prevent them from playing, and the Cubs would win by default. It would be more fun for them to actually win, but there's no way this team could. In reality, I don't know. Sadly, I may not even watch the World Series this year.

My bad, I was just excited about Hill's start. The kid is looking really good and his recent performances have me feeling much better about our potential rotation next year. If we could land a top of the rotation FA pitcher, I think the staff could be quite good. Z FA -- Zito, Schmidt, The kid from Japan Prior Hill Miller However, I'm not sure any of those acquisitions is realistic. Schmidt is probably headed to Seattle, Zito is going to cost a ton, and the kid from Japan has other more likely suitors. It may be worth it to pay for Zito and I would be in favor of keeping Miller at the back of the rotation to make it work since he would probably come cheap. I really hope we don't go into next season with both Prior and Miller planned in the rotation. One should be the #5 starter the other is the backup plan. If Prior or Miller could pitch 180 innings next season in the #5 slot the Cubs should be in good shape. Like I said earlier, what spot Prior should be put in is pretty meaningless. If Prior can pitch, the rotation could look like: Zambrano Prior FA Hill Miller/Marshall/AAA pitcher That would mean we'd need a good #2 pitcher from FA. If you don't count on Prior for anything, you'd need a good #2, and a good #3. The problem is, what two FA pitchers are out there whose salaries we could pay, and would be better enough compared to the kids to justify getting them instead of spending money elsewhere? Unless you think the Cubs are going to get Zito and Schmidt or completely rebuild, I don't see how the team's offseason plans would be any different with Prior in as the #2 or on the DL. I guess what I'm saying is, how do you think the Cubs should act differently than they would if they assumed Prior would be back?

Jim, I think its time to look at door #2. I agree that, if Prior was healthy, he could be better than Zambrano. I think some people have forgotten his comeback in 2005, before he was hit by that line drive. He hasn't been the same since, but if he starts next season healthy, he could be. Still, I don't think anyone is going to guarantee Prior will be productive next year. The problem is, at this point, that argument is academic. Whether or not you believe Prior is coming back, we still could use a good front of the rotation starter. If you write off Prior, we'd need someone to be the number two. We might need a number three also, but since there really aren't enough available impact pitchers to restock our rotation from the market, it doesn't make a difference. I say, they should see what Prior can do next year, and try to improve the rotation regardless. Hendry had better come up with 2 or 3 starters if he's going to fulfill his promise to "fix this thing" in the offseason. What two or three starters could be gotten from the market that would be a substantial improvement over Hill, Marshall, or Miller? That doesn't seem realistic. Hendry is going to have to get very lucky to turn the team around next year. are the marlins "lucky" this year? how about the twins & the tigers? other teams have gone young and are doing quite well this year. if a few of the young guys like hill, marshall, theriot & murton step up and have good seasons, i dont see why the cubs couldn't contend in 2007. I didn't say they couldn't. That was actually part of my point. Soul said Hendry needed to get two or three pitchers for the Cubs to contend. I said there was no way to get two or three starters that would be significantly better than some of our young guys. I do think that we'd have to get a little lucky with Hill and some of the other new players to contend next year. I do think that it could happen, though.

Jim, I think its time to look at door #2. I agree that, if Prior was healthy, he could be better than Zambrano. I think some people have forgotten his comeback in 2005, before he was hit by that line drive. He hasn't been the same since, but if he starts next season healthy, he could be. Still, I don't think anyone is going to guarantee Prior will be productive next year. The problem is, at this point, that argument is academic. Whether or not you believe Prior is coming back, we still could use a good front of the rotation starter. If you write off Prior, we'd need someone to be the number two. We might need a number three also, but since there really aren't enough available impact pitchers to restock our rotation from the market, it doesn't make a difference. I say, they should see what Prior can do next year, and try to improve the rotation regardless. Hendry had better come up with 2 or 3 starters if he's going to fulfill his promise to "fix this thing" in the offseason. What two or three starters could be gotten from the market that would be a substantial improvement over Hill, Marshall, or Miller? That doesn't seem realistic. Hendry is going to have to get very lucky to turn the team around next year.

Jim, I think its time to look at door #2. I agree that, if Prior was healthy, he could be better than Zambrano. I think some people have forgotten his comeback in 2005, before he was hit by that line drive. He hasn't been the same since, but if he starts next season healthy, he could be. Still, I don't think anyone is going to guarantee Prior will be productive next year. The problem is, at this point, that argument is academic. Whether or not you believe Prior is coming back, we still could use a good front of the rotation starter. If you write off Prior, we'd need someone to be the number two. We might need a number three also, but since there really aren't enough available impact pitchers to restock our rotation from the market, it doesn't make a difference. I say, they should see what Prior can do next year, and try to improve the rotation regardless.

I don't know anything about Moore other than that most people here weren't that excited to get him. What's the deal with him? Is he projected to be an everyday player in the majors, or a bench player?

Don't speak ill of Prior. You're on notice.[/Colbert] He's bringing nothing to the table. All while he claims he's healthy and everything is ok. We can't count on him for the rest of the year, so why should we for next? They should shut him down for the rest of this year, so he's ready for next. Otherwise, we're playing games with actually thinking we can count on him. I was making a joke, actually.

Don't speak ill of Prior. You're on notice.[/Colbert]

He's definitely been throwing curveballs. In his last start, they looked pretty decent. Today, they didn't have much movement and he had no control on them.

When was he ever a power hitting pitcher? In 2003 he batted .250, but other than that he hasn't really been noteworthy at the plate, even for a pitcher.

Prior with a much better, much faster second inning. This could have been a good start if the fielders hadn't screwed it up.

Yeah, he should have given up 2 runs that inning. How? Walk, flyout, Walk, flyout, flyout. The inning should have been over wildness or not. I don't know if the ball hit to Pagan was routine, but the first one definitely should have been an out.

Unless he's hurt, shutting him down isn't going to help.

The defense hasn't been stellar, but it looks like Prior is pitching on fumes in the first inning. This is pathetic.

Yeah, it would be 4-0 instead of 6-0. Zambrano really didn't have anything today, and neither did the rest of the team, apparently.

Neither would have scored if Zambrano hadn't given up the home run.

Where do they find the money to add Tejada, Matsuzaka, Zito, and a good slugging OF?

Prior had nothing left in the 6th. Why the hell didn't Dusty pull him when he walked the bases loaded?