David,

I was re-enforcing your point, even when we draft right we lose. Ah, but there's always Mark Grace circa round 30 or 40 something.

Kevin,

I do remember the curcumstances of the Prior/Wood picks. The sad part is that those are examples of our more successful picks ... what about Montenez (at #3 overall I believe), Pawelek, Harvey, Brownlie, Christenson, Patterson, Noel, Peterson, Kieschnick, and thw list goes on and on. Just looked at the list and it's hard to to believe it's been almost 20 years since we picked the great Olympian and can't miss future superstar Ty Griffin ... one pick ahead of Robin Ventura.

Here's hoping all of you have a Cool Yule and a Frantic First! With most of the teams' offices closing today for the next 10 days or so, we'll likely have to wait until the new year for there to be much happening.

In addition to the naming rights of Wrigley being on the block, we are also faced with having to educate the new ownership of the Cubs. I hope not, but the revenue likely to be required to pay off the monstor price that will be paid for the team could mean a tight grip on the purse strings. The exception could be Mark Cuban--who has been playing with what he considers to be funny money made because the stock market was stupid a few years ago. He escaped with a billion dollars before the tech crash. He would probably spend to win, but he might also want to play first base. Both could be entertaining

I'm looking forward to being at Ho Ho Kam for the three games during the week of March 10th. Is there any kind of a gathering of the Faithful in Mesa during spring training? I have been known to buy a round at Sluggo's for a few friends. Let's hope the wind is at all or our backs in 2008, and that the wind at our backs is not our own! JimK

Terrible news....Zell plans to sell the naming rights of Wrigley. Unreal

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/707667,mariotti122107.article

I respect the article and the opinions listed here.

Yet, I feel one needs to do what they deem best for themselves. I think Prior did this and for that I respect him and his decision.

I'm going to make an attempt to look at Prior's perspective.

Here's a young man that was bred to be a dominant pitcher. Prior had a great collegiate career in baseball and went to the Cubs likely expecting the same results.

Initially, Prior delivered those results. A 22-year-old (turned 23 in Sept) pitcher help lead the Cubs to the post-season (a season where Prior came back from an injury). Prior's one post-season loss, of course, is the one that hurts the most. He couldn't nail down a win after the "fan incident". I imagine the loss hurt Prior as well.

The next few seasons are filled with Prior being an average pitcher with stints on the DL. I can only imagine how frustrating this had to be for him. Here's a young man that has only performed at a very high level his whole life. Now, he's faced with injury problems and mediocre output for the first time in his life. That's a tough realization any way you slice it.

Now what happened between the relationship between Prior and Cubs is only known between them. Yet, it's obvious something didn't feel right. And being in a relationship means it's a two way street; meaning both sides likely contributed to where it is today.

IMO, "A man has to do what a man has to do."

That's what Prior did.

I say: Good for Prior, and good for the Cubs.

Now, I'm moving on to next season and I'm excited about where the Cubs are headed!

Great point about Prior in the 2003 NLCS Mark. Forget the Bartman ball, forget the gonzalez bobble, Prior has just as much fault for that inning. Maybe ridding ourselves of Prior will be the equivalent of blowing up the bartman ball. World Series here we come. Gonzalez + Bartman X Prior = 8 runs in the 8th. Never mind Dusty never walked to the mound to talk to the 23 year old.

David,

As you remember, the Twins wanted Prior the year they drafted Mauer #1 but were afraid they couldn't sign him (thanks to his dad). Similarly the Cubs got Kerry Wood rather than Helton under the same circumstances if memory serves. I know pitching wins championships but in those cases it would have been nice to fill in the line up card everyday with those 2 rather than the relatively few times we had both pitchers healthy. Helton might be borderline but Mauer looks to be on his way to the HOF. Kerry's in his 10th year at least with the Cubs and hasn't won 80 games yet, I love his heart and loyalty but......

Everyone have a great Christmas and Happy Holiday!

Prior's biggest problem is that he's out for Prior. He and Sheffield have the same problem. Nobody respects them (in their mind) and they've never gotten fair shakes. But a lot of it was brought upon themselves.

I agree with JimK that some of Prior's problems stem from the training staff and Baker's feigned innocence of what was going on. Baker was the worst thing to happen to the Cubs, regardless of what you may think about 2003.

David - Great points on the Twins scouts. Couldn't agree more.

JimK,

I'm completely with you on both of the Cubs 21st century personnel disasters you mention.

As a "big market" team with a high payroll, why can't we afford to bring the best talent evaluators? The Twins (with a small payroll) are able to find scouts who help make great personnel decisions (e.g. develop Mauer, Morneau, Hunter, and Cuddyler; pick Johna Santana in Rule 5 draft, trade Pyrzinski for Nathan, Liriano, and Bonsor) ... why can't we just hire those type of scouts/talent evaluators away with higher salaries?

Brian, Nice Article.....

Jim, Tinley Park...you crack me up. Lousy Christmas was great.

Maybe the protests about Prior are excessive--born out of our long suffering hopes for the Blue. Which is not to say that Mark couldn't have handled his nightmare string of real injuries differently. He could be an introvert like Kofax--who said little most of the time--and nothing about his arm issues. Sandy just quit one day. When asked why, he said his arm had been hurting for some time, and he did not comment beyond that. He wasn't heard from again for several years.

Could what happened to the "Chicago Heat" have been avoided? Kerry goes down with a rocket arm and "bad mechanics" and Mark goes down with a rocket arm and "perfect mechanics". Prior wins 18 at age 23, and there is strong suspicion that high pitch counts at an early age did him in. Wood sets a strikeout record at a similar age--also with high pitch counts. Nobody did anything about Kerry's mechanics, and he too pitched until his arm fell off. It took until 2007 for Dr. Andrews to reveal that Prior's shoulder damage was never properly diagnosed or treated by the Cubs. At least, Prior is consistent. He's holding out for the same one-year contract with the Padres and Astros that he wanted from the Cubs, and so far he doesn't have it.

Maybe the Cubs handling of pitchers has been the biggest personnel disaster of the 21st century. Another candidate (for me) is our first round draft picks. Could we have done better than Pawelek and Harvey, for example? JimK

Thanks Prior for CHOKING in the 2003 playoffs, and getting hurt every freaking year, you big wimp!!! Stop listening to your Dad and you might become a man some day.

GOOD RIDDANCE!

I couldn't agree with Brian more. Happy Holidays everyone.

Augustin, well said.

And Happy holidays to all of the CCO.

Ditto that Jim.

**Yet Kerry had the better fastball and the sickest slider**

I was too really surprised Prior or any current Cub were not mentioned on the report. Nothing will change how I feel for the game and for the Cubs, much less the steroid era who I blame mostly on the owners and the league for not knowing then how to deal with it at the right moment, not 20 years later…and then looking the other way because the game was coming back to life, the money was rollin’ in and why ruin that eh?

Accept it or not, the steroid era strongly helped baseball get to this unthinkable prosperous time we are at. And now that baseball is “saved” and swimming in revenues, we can all go back, get a respectable person to write a nebulous report that is as arbitrary as the strike zone in little league and that singles out a lot of people based on word of mouth? I don’t like Bonds but the guy took and has taken the thick portion of the heat on steroids and it seems kind of unfair because now they [management] are ready to move on?

I say it again…this report was a smoke Bull S… bomb to wash the commissioner’s hands that the only productive thing that will come out of is the idea of baseball turning the page. That could have been done 10 years ago with a lot less asterisks.

Hey guys @ the CCO; [wait till next year?]

It is almost next year!!! Merry Chrismas and Happy New Year!

Brian, good article....

Mark Prior is another example of the million dollar arm and the ten-cent head. Unlike most of them, he isn't a flake or unable to control his mouth or temper; but he lacks maturity and he lacks the ability to deal successfully with adversity. He rides the sick list; he is self-absorbed; he lacks loyalty and selflessness in a team sport.

The talent is there. The head is not. Maybe he's a late-bloomer who will suddenly wake up at age 30 and put in some productive years of baseball. Maybe he's a late-bloomer who will wake up at age 50 and discover those years are all gone.

A few thoughts on Prior:

* I was really surprised that he wasn't outed on the Mitchell report.

* Compared to Kerry Wood, I thought that Prior was the better over all pitcher in regards to stuff, control, mechanics.

* Compared to Wood, Prior has NO heart, No honor, No code. Godd riddance you prima donna, I don't wish you a speedy recovery and have a lousy Christmas as well.