I recently saw on sportscenter that Mark Prior is currently fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation and his fastball was clocked in the mid-80's. What do you guys think of this considering how much potential this guy had?
I doesn't matter how fast you throw, how much movement you have, how intimidating you are, how much potential you have blah blah blah unless you are actually out there pitching.
It's pretty simple in my mind, he could have been good but at this point he is just a liability
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Do you guys want the truth...or do you want to see me hit some dingers?!?
Yea he coulda been one of the most dominant starters in all the majors. However, at this point he is asked only to be the 5th starter. That takes a lot of pressure off of him, and when he was pitching good, it wasn't all because of his fastball, he knew how to pictch. While you can't bet on anything from him at this point, if he comes back and is a fraction of what he used to be, he will be more than an suitable 5th starter. Unfortuanately, unless he wins a cy young this year, which won't happen, he is going to be known as an injury and bust. It's really too bad, and unfortunately the same is true for a lot of guys. One guy off the top of my head I can think of is Ben Sheets. He can be one of the best pitchers in the league, but if he gets injured and tanks again this year, he's in the same boat as Prior.
I think sheets would take great offense to be put in the same league as prior. At least sheets has something in his career to hang his hat (a gold medal) where as prior is known simple as an injury prone could have been.
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Do you guys want the truth...or do you want to see me hit some dingers?!?
And Sheets has had a longer career in terms of innings pitched and has been successful whenever he was on the mound. And being the hero of the Olympics is something you can never take away from him. However, Sheets is beginning to be known as an injury plague. I like the guy, I really hope he comes through with a complete dominating year this year. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong but I think he's only signed through '08 and by then, Mussina and Pettettite will be looking towards retirement and the Yankees will need a big time arm.
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"In big games, the action slows down for him where it speeds up for others. I've told him, 'I'll trade my past for your future.'" -Reggie Jackson on Derek Jeter
Too bad for Prior man, he was just dominating when he was healthy. Im not a big Cubs fan but you gotta feel sorry for a guy whose career was cut short because his body gives out on him. I could be wrong, but I've never heard that he didn't stay healthy because he didn't rehab or work properly. I assume it's just because his body gave out and it was out of his control, which sucks.
Blame Dusty Baker. He had Wood and Prior pitching an ungodly number of innings when they were healthy (regular season and postseason). The all adds up.
Prior is pretty much done as a starter at least. Last season, he wasn't himself and all implications are that he's headed down that road again this year. You can't heal if you don't rest, and that's something Prior didn't do enough of when he started getting these injuries.
I like what the Cubs are doing with Kerry Wood by putting him in the pen, maybe it is an option for Prior, too.
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"It's the fans that need spring training. You gotta get 'em interested." - Harry Caray
I am not sure if Prior is done as a starter for his career, but it is going to take him a while to show the Cubs why they drafted him in the first round. He was just sent down today to AAA-Iowa and even though it may take him a while to get back to the majors, I don't think it will take him the whole year.
