Jon

...or paranoid. I'm just happy it's fairly minor. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to say either when both he and Wood have been told repeatedly to let the Cubs know about everything that doesn't feel normal. That's how the Cubs have conditioned him. He's only doing what they told him.

Did anyone see Iwamura get thrown out at home? Was it close?

TV stations don't drop Cubs games. Maybe ESPN wouldn't pick up a single game because they were uncompetitive later in the season, but that's about it. The WGN/CSNC contract is all set and even if Prior was going to be out the entire season, Fox and ESPN wouldn't really treat the team that much differently. As I've posted before, I really can't disagree more about the tickets. If anything, they'd be more concerned about keeping him healthy and not deny him treatment and rehab during spring training in the hopes of having him healthy for the last two thirds of the season and helping to keep the team in contention...which would really help to sell the remaining 300,000 or so tickets.

Logical by categorizing future events without any factual information or even speculation? And since you bumped up the BP thread while referencing only half of what he reported, do you care to comment on the other half?

Pretending that the whole "we have no idea when he'll be ready to pitch, but it'll definitely be by opening day, probably, maybe" spring training ritual doesn't necessarily mean anything. It did mean something. It means Prior wasn't 100%. Not that he wasn't a little behind, or a little sick. It meant he wasn't 100%. That's clear. Do you mean not 100% as in injured? According to Carroll and the Cubs, it was more than just a little sick and everyone knew he was behind, and not just a little bit. If you didn't believe them about him being ready to pitch in Cinci (as I posted in another thread, I didn't think that was going to happen, either), why listen? It's a lot easier and more accurate to just evaluate what Prior actually does and where they see him short term. But that's not really lying, either. The media asks for a timeline, they give their best guess. I don't think they intend it to be taken as a concrete projection and it definitely shouldn't be taken to be as such.

In the Cuba/Puerto Rico game, the Cubans lead 4-1 after 4 on an RBI groundout, a bases loaded HBP, and a 2-run, 2-out throwing error. Oh, and the Yankees are blaming Damon's shoulder tendinitis on the WBC...

If anyone hasn't already taken you up on your offer, I'm interested in seats for 9/2 or 9/1 (preferrably 9/2). Make sure you check the rules about credit card addresses. The address has to match the one you registered with, Garwilly, but I'm not sure if that's credit card address or if it's only the shipping address.

Not every pitcher (especially Mr. quarantine himself Roberto Novoa), but that doesn't necessarily mean anything aside from the fact that he was behind, which I think we'd all agree on. Can we stop pretending? Pretending what? There's really nothing to go on and that this is some Cubs conspiracy or that Hendry somehow gets his kicks by lying to the media? There are so few actual sources and facts being discussed. Carroll's article is quoted often, yet a lot of people are ignoring the fact that his interpretation of the situation was based on something factually incorrect. In addition, he also had this to say: If those are his best sources in Mesa, why are people ignoring this part? I get the sense that some folks here aren't fully considering the effects of his illness in terms of his training and arm strengthening program in December and January. There's a big jump to conclude that Hendry is just lying. Some people may be basing this off of the past, but there's no real reason to think Hendry was trying to lie then, either. There's a lot of reason to believe that they screwed it up and aren't doing the best job right now, but not that they're lying to sell tickets or who knows what else. And we also don't even know what's wrong yet.

You should be in pretty good heckling territory. Dugout Box 26 is the closest to the opposing team's dugout/on deck circle, so 25 is one section over towards home plate. Looks like you could be just about even with the left field line and probably around the edge of the screen, although you'll probably be behind it.

Player with the worst diagnosis has to buy dinner. Doesn't sound too bad. I'm not happy that it's the same problem as last year, but it wasn't a huge deal then. Let's just cross our fingers that he doesn't reaggrevate it in a few months.

Did it have a section number or just seat numbers? Section is BLPN34. Bullpen side. You'll either be right up against the far right fall of the bullpen box section or to the opposite side of that section, but you'll still be on the bullpen side of the bullpen box sections. Of course, if you were on the dugout side of the bullpen box sections, you'd be right by the photographers, not the players. I sat in section 34 row 2 once before the bullpen box seats were added and it's pretty nice (obviously).

Did it have a section number or just seat numbers?

Be sure to give us a review of the new bleacher box seats. You'll be the first to sit in them. Sure thing. Im guessing they'll be like the old family section seats, or are they different? They should basically be the same, but not as nice, in my opinion, since there are going to be more than 3 rows. It'll have a different feel. But it should still be a good place to sit. I picked up a pair of dugout seats right behind home plate in row C for the April 13th game to go to with my younger brother. If I wasn't such an idiot, I would've gotten tickets for the Tuesday, April 11th game so I could've seen a better pitcher (theoretically). The sad part is that for some reason I saw the schedule wrong and thought that the Thursday game would draw the one or two spot in the rotation that the Tuesday game is drawing. Oh, well. It'll be cold, but I can't wait. The only time I've sat that close was when I was right next to the Cubs on deck circle as a youngin', but I can barely remember that. And it rained out in the 6th.

I haven't heard anything. I would have expected to see him in a game by now since he was invited to camp, but he did throw a bunch this winter down in the Dominican Republic.

Were there multiples left? I would have been tempted to go for two for a value date, but I don't think my older brother would want to pay twice as much as what he's paying for the field box infield seat.

Wood continued to pitch in the hopes that he'd help the team get back into the wild card race. If they had Prior continue to throw and pitch for weeks with an injury, that certainly wouldn't help their post season chances. Let's not forget that if they had seen an injury back then, which was about six weeks or more before the season started, they would have had time to shut him down and let him get it treated. It depends how you'd define "injury" in that case. Pitchers going through soreness in camp isn't that uncommon. It's also quite possible that the soreness was because of the different program. With all of the injuries to pitchers, I don't think they've lied. Have they been wrong and have there been setbacks that you can't really predict? Of course. Have they been incompetant with these injuries? Possibly. But that's not lying. Well, I'm not a pitching coach, but they had been saying for a while that it was going to be a different program, not just scaled back. As I say below, he did throw against live hitting. Unless you mean pitch against live hitting in a spring training game, which by all indications, was just around the corner if his throwing session on Tuessday and his simulated game on Thursday went well. Not every pitcher (especially Mr. quarantine himself Roberto Novoa), but that doesn't necessarily mean anything aside from the fact that he was behind, which I think we'd all agree on. Well, let's get this straight. On February 27, he threw 25 pitches off the mound with no hitters involved. On March 3, he threw 50 pitches off the mound with no hitters involved. On March 5, he threw 53 pitches in a bullpen session with no hitters involved. He threw 30 pitches to hitters on Thursday, March 9. On Sunday, March 12, he threw 35 pitches in a simulated game. According to reports, he struggled through the first inning and then looked pretty good in the second inning. He was going to throw a session yesterday and then throw his final simulated game on Thursday unless something didn't go as planned (like this soreness). If you think that there's a difference between simulated games and ST games, I'm guessing you'd admit that there's a difference between throwing off the mound and throwing in a simulated game. I see this as going forward, not backwards.

First row behind home plate. Not a bad purchase.

For the 10AM timeslot? Mizzou- Call up the Cubs (not sure if you'd be better off calling the tickets.com number or the Cubs ticket office) as soon as you can and have them check it out. It's possible they might have to change them to will call if they can't fix it.

Says who? The Cubs? Anyone can say they will start a game in a week. Actually doing it is another matter. For example, I myself will make a Cactus League start in a week. I swear it's true. Do you believe me? He would have thrown enough in simulated games to make a Cactus League start if this didn't happen. He would have thrown enough off the mound. His stamina would have where he needed to be to start a Cactus League game. What else would the next step be, then?

....this probably isn't the last, or the most serious, injury that will come out of the WBC. I would rather have my best player preparing for the season than sitting around for long periods then trying to go full speed at the WBC. Maybe if this thing took place in the *middle* of the season every few years it would be better. I thought these players would treat it as an exhibition. It's clear they are going full speed (which is cool to see, but still). This isn't the right time of year for full speed. That's why we have spring training in the first place. He wasn't even going full speed. And the play is just what you'd see in the spring training game. He just landed awkwardly. And since he isn't playing as much in the WBC, his chances of injuring himself would probably be higher if he were in the Cactus League. The WBC actually gives him more time to workout and practice instead of just playing. Hairston got beaned in the head. McGehee (or was it Moore?) got spiked. Ramirez hurt his finger. These injuries happen. It doesn't have anything to do with the WBC.

I don't think there's any point when Prior doesn't do the towel drill. Other pitchers may not do it, but he does it all the time, whether in spring training or right before regular season starts.

Stupid? I think so. But not that stupid. As I've already said, it was a very different situation. They believed that Kerry wasn't going to injure his shoulder any further by pitching. They also kept him in there because they believed he could help them in the wild card race. With Prior, making him pitch when they know he's injured would not help their playoff chances. Quite the opposite. And pitching while injured would most definitely risk further and more serious injury.

On February 20th (the day Carroll's article came out), he hadn't thrown off the mound either in a bullpen session or in a simulated game. Before today, he had done both and was in the middle of preparing for another session when it happened. He was also on pace to start in a Cactus League game in about a week. That's not holding him back.

As was pointed out, he was already going to be on a different throwing program and he wasn't in shape because of his illness (and I think a couple of pictures would back that up). And the important thing is that it was a throwing program. He was pitching. Pitchers don't do that if they're injured He also had this to say: Prior always does the towel drill. You can see him do it at Wrigley before he pitches. And the "weak and sick" comment just backs up the idea that he was out of shape and still not 100%, thus a different program. To suggest that they knew about this injury over three weeks ago means that they're complete (and I do mean complete) idiots in regards to this whole injury situation. You do not have a pitcher throw and throw off the mound for weeks if you know he has a shoulder injury. That would be nothing short of idiotic (just shy of eating worms during recess). Is that an allegation that you'd really make?

He slid to catch a foul ball. He didn't dive into a brick wall to make a catch because it was the WBC. If Lee had been with the Cubs, he would have been playing a lot more innings in the field than he is in the WBC. The only thing the WBC has done for Lee is limit his risk to injury in the field and limit his ABs. And it's probably not going to be much of a big deal at all.