Sammy Sofa

So it shall be written...so it shall be done.

What about those comments make him soft? Did you hear him accepting responsibliity and saying that he has more work to do to get where he needs to be? No, he was trying to make a veiled point with his repeated use of the word "employee". What has he shown you in the past almost half decade to make you think that he has an ounce of mental toughness? How about actually going back on the mound after getting a 100MPH screaming line drive STRAIGHT to his right elbow. Seriously some people go waaay overboard with this "prior mental toughness" stuff. . Or getting rocked on the basepath. Or pitching a huge amount his first full year. Nooooooooooo, "Prior's soft."

Lock him up, magically make Prior get better and then trade Z for ARod!

What good is getting "his fire back" gonna do when his curve doesn't break and his fastball is too slow? This is getting ridiculous.... Yep, it's completely ridiculous to think that his mental state has an impact on the way he pitches. :roll: His fastball was gaining velocity, and his curve was improving slightly. Which is exactly what happens in spring training. I was pointing out that he looked like a whipped puppy when he pitched out there. His mental state is obviously affecting the way he pitches. Obviously?

Hell, we still don't have a #5 hitter. Actually we do, but he's leading off. We have a few options for leadoff too. Oh well, I think a team needs the right balance of pitching, defense, and offense to be really good. Defense is going to make a bigger impact than 10%. Case in point Alex Gonzalez and his "defense" could have helped the Cubs get to the WS in 2003. Tell me I'm wrong. Gonzalez, if I remember correctly, wasn't bad defensively. That one horrible play isn't the best example for your overall argument.

I know I'm a broken record over these lately, but please, shrink your damn avatar. It's obnoxiously huge and throwing off the page layout.

He is an employee, and his bosses are doing what's best for him based on his job performance. They've said that when he's ready to go, he'll be back up.

Man, I'm most pissed that none of those Cuban players were meant for the Cubs.

There's a lot of evidence to show that he was bad last year largely in part to how infrequently Dusty would use him due to the team being so bad. When he was used on an even somewhat regular basis, he did pretty well. His bad periods typically came after Dusty sat him at least 3 games or more.

The craps tables are calling. I can only imagine Z gambling. Imagine being the dealer when he loses.

WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SIZE OF YOUR AVATAR.

Random question...is that Paris Hilton in your avatar? If it is, she makes me sad. Hah yes it is. Booooooooooooooooooooooo.

Random question...is that Paris Hilton in your avatar? If it is, she makes me sad.

I am so danged ready for meaningful games. Moi aussi.

I am and always will be a huge Woody fan, regardless of the outcome of his career. The man has too much good character to be rooted against. Get better soon, Kerry! Its tough to listen to that. You can tell the guy wants to play so bad, you can tell. NO WAI, D00000D!1!!! HE WANTZ 2 B TEH HURT AND GIT PAYZ 4 NOTHIN'1!!11!!!11!!1!11one!!!!11 Poor Kerry. I hope he has at least a little glory this year.

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.

That's wishful thinking (especially with respect to today's outing). A few days ago we thought Prior had a small chance to win a spot in the rotation but that isn't reality right now. Marquis can't be traded before June 15, as such, he isn't going anywhere. In fact, an argument can be made that he won't be moved period (regardless of performance). If Marquis pitches poorly, no team will want to be saddled with his three year contract. If he pitches well, Hendry won't consider trading him--because he's "only" making $7M a year. If Prior is able to regain a spot in the rotation, in the future, it will most likely be at the expense of Wade Miller. If, IF, Miller pitches along the lines of his last outing and Prior improves, I don't give a flying crap how much Marquis cost. If Marquis sucks, and he likely will, and Miller and Prior are MUCH better, Marquis better become the expensive swing man. Yeah, it's bad he costs so much, but I'd prefer to go with talent as opposed to being led around by the pocketbook. Swing man is a possibility. I was responding to the idea that Marquis would be shipped out. I agree with that part of it. The only way the Cubs move him is if they pick up a chunk of the tab.

17 million a year is not little.... If it's on the $75 million dollar end of the deal it is. Getting Z for $15 million a year when he probably could get $18 million per is alright by me.

That's wishful thinking (especially with respect to today's outing). A few days ago we thought Prior had a small chance to win a spot in the rotation but that isn't reality right now. Marquis can't be traded before June 15, as such, he isn't going anywhere. In fact, an argument can be made that he won't be moved period (regardless of performance). If Marquis pitches poorly, no team will want to be saddled with his three year contract. If he pitches well, Hendry won't consider trading him--because he's "only" making $7M a year. If Prior is able to regain a spot in the rotation, in the future, it will most likely be at the expense of Wade Miller. If, IF, Miller pitches along the lines of his last outing and Prior improves, I don't give a flying crap how much Marquis cost. If Marquis sucks, and he likely will, and Miller and Prior are MUCH better, Marquis better become the expensive swing man. Yeah, it's bad he costs so much, but I'd prefer to go with talent as opposed to being led around by the pocketbook.

If Hendry manages to get him for that little, the man is a freakin' genius.

By window of opportunity I mean their opportunity to succeed in the big leagues. If after this season they both amount to the same low amount of games as last year, why continue to waste time and money on two pitchers that have proven to be lost causes? Lou is not a fool, however he isn't stupid either. How many seasons must a team wait for two once-aces to come back around? It's frustrating as a fan to watch them go through injury after injury, but there's a time when a team just has to throw in the flag. Realistically thinking, I truly think that will happen after this season if nothing happens with them two. However I truly am still hoping for the best of them both. With Wood, that might be the case if he shows that he simply can't stay off the DL throughout the year, mainly because of his age and the nature of his health problems being so hinged on his lifelong mechanics. Prior, on the other hand, is much younger, and so far hasn't shown to have the same problematic mechanics as Wood. His DL history has, outside of last year, been linked primarily to two fluke onfield accidents. He has a much better chance of being able to fight back and find success again due to his youth, his mechanics and the nature of his health issues. In short, you can't just lump them together because they've been on the DL too much in the last few seasons.

There is no window to move them now. Their value is as low as it can get. They're both incredibly cheap through this season, so there's zero reason for the Cubs to trade them, buy them out, or whatever other brilliant idea people have. Lou is proving himself to not be a fool, therefore the odds of him "getting rid" of Prior and Wood seem slim to none. This thread was the most essential thread of all time.

I'm praying for a decent Prior start. It's all up from here!

Adam Dunn is Batman and he lives on Mars.

Holy crap...Wuertz and Hill got hammered by the ROYALS?!? Ech. Get that kind of junk out of your system now, boys.