Its a good fit really. After this last season, Ive grown to hate the San Diego pitching staff. Peavy and Boomer. Ive also grown disgusted with Mark's obvious desire to want to play somewhere else. I hope we beat the dog pile out of him were he to ever pitch against us.

Cant believe he took a deal we were going to give him from the Padres...Im disgusted. Fukodome you Mark Prior.

While it's obvious (based on the agreed upon San Diego offer), that Prior just didn't want to return to the Cubs. I have a bad feeling though that this may come back to bite us down the road. I hope I'm wrong.

What could be done though, right?

Matt,

I second your first post here.

I think the odds of him making a difference for the Padres in 08 are low. While it is not known how severe the damage was labrum surgery has a lengthy recovery and most do not return to past form. The 96 MPH fastball pinpointed on the outside corner made Prior great in 03. Imo, that won't be there even if he does pitch meaningful innings in 08. We can thank Cubs management for not recognizing what kind of person they were dealing with from the start. And to think of it Jack McDowell may have been right to imply his tendons were stressed from oversized muscles perhaps ehanced with PEDs. Prior's lack of sincerity throughout the whole Cub experience implies to me he is not a truthful person. While its impossible for fan to know what is going to happen with a player my guess is that he is never again the Mark Prior of 2003, except for his lousy attitude personality and character.

I still think he's a steroids casualty

Last week on one of the talk shows, Tom Sherer, a former sports anchor for NBC 5 Chicago mentioned how disliked Mark Prior was in the Cub Clubhouse. He said that his teammates considered him
"aloof,smug and gutless."

Lou, I feel the same way. I’m sorry, I’m still not over Prior but this was the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to brake up with the pretty girl that could’ve rocked your world, but you always seem to be waiting for it to happen and it never did! I think this was a good decision, for the first time JH has learned how to cut his losses short. Move on.

Awful signing by the Padres IMO. He will not hurry back to the field, especially since he has shown everybody that 08’ will be a year to build up value and get a big contract and if he succeeds, the Padres have no shot at signing him long term.

My guess is that he will pitch the last 2 months of the season and will be mediocre but good enough to get a [Silva ] like contract. Write this down; his fast ball will never again be over 92mph. He still will be a good #3 starter on any team but never again an ace.

I really wish he proves me wrong and that he becomes for another team that girl we all expected and wanted. I have nothing against him and wish him success…But if I had to bet money it would be against him 100%. Sorry Mark….good luck.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and happy holidays....

Anyway, I think all of you make very good points...

I just wanted to comment on what Bryan said.....I think the tendency for some of us (myself included before) was to worry about another Maddux-esque situation to happen and bite us in the future. However, the fact is, Prior most likely will never that hard again, and all signs point to PED's (performance enhancing drugs), especially with his connections to Tom House.

As I've said before, shoulder injuries are the kiss of death for most pitching careers...It ended my college career, and my pitching coach, who was a first round pick of the Yankees in the late 90's, Mike Sirotka, Jim Parque, etc., etc., and the list goes on. Most guys that overcome shoulder injuries and achieve the same level of success were NOT power pitchers before.....and I know there are exceptions like Kerry Wood, but they are few and far between and I don't think Prior took his rehab as seriously as Wood did.

All this being said, I'm really surprised the Cubs haven't made any more moves...I'm a little disappointed. We should definitely take a flier on Colon after we lost Prior

Don't let the door hit you on the way out Miss Prior. We lost nothing. He will never be anywhere near his former self. He's Jason Marquis now but can't throw as hard or have as good of stuff. Real class acts like Kerry Wood are a rarity in sports. Mark Prior's are a dime a dozen.

I wonder if his contract includes a clause for wearing slippers so many hours a day, since thats all he's done for us for the last 2 years. I for one was rooting for the guy, but I guess '03 was his one good year for us. At least we didn't spend a lot of money on him.

Aaron,

I hear you on the shoulder injury thing. Mine was so bad I couldn't even write, and was forced to drink beer left-handed. Still bothers me today almost 10 years later, and I wasn't even a pitcher. It ranks right up there with broken ribs, which I also have had the pleasure of having. Given the violence of the pitching motion, I can't believe more guys don't have problems regardless of wheather they are power pitchers or not.