Interesting Cub Info

Cubs say Mark Prior will miss season
By Associated Press

CHICAGO — Oft-injured Cubs pitcher Mark Prior will miss the entire 2007 season after surgery on his right shoulder, the biggest setback yet in his once-promising career.

The 26-year-old Prior had surgery Tuesday by noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. Andrews also worked on Prior’s rotator cuff.Prior has been beset by injuries since his first full season in the majors in 2003, when he almost pitched Chicago into its first World Series since 1945.

Prior was not on the Cubs’ active roster to start the year and was optioned to Triple-A Iowa after a poor spring training. He instead went to extended spring training in Arizona, but pitched only two innings there April 12 before reporting discomfort in his shoulder.

The right-hander went to Dr. Lewis Yocum in California before going to see Andrews, who told Prior last October he had genetic looseness in his shoulder joints.

Prior is 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA in the majors. He made just nine starts last year for the Cubs after three trips to the disabled list and took a slight pay cut this season, from $3.65 million to $3.575 million.

Prior finished third in NL Cy Young voting in 2003, when he 18-6 with a 4.24 ERA and struck out 245 in 211 1-3 innings. He was the overall No. 2 pick in the 2001 draft by the Cubs.

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How much are they paying out to Prior and Woods combined to do... NOTHING!?!?!? And this is how many years in a row have they are being paid how much combined to do... NOTHING!?!?!?

In 2006 Wood was paid $12,000,000 and Prior was paid $3,650,000; Wood pitched in 4 games (19.2 innings) with a win-loss of 1-2 and Prior pitched in 9 games (43.2 innings) with a win-loss of 1-6. In 2005 Wood was paid $9,500,000 and Prior was paid $3,550,000; Wood pitched in 21 games (66 innings) with a win-loss of 3-4 and Prior pitched in 27 games (166.2 innings) with a win-loss of 11-7. In 2007 Wood is being paid $1,750,000 (strangely enough seems to be more appropriate compared to what he was paid previously) and Prior is being paid $3,575,000.

Does anyone really think these two are worth what they're being paid? What could the Cubs have gotten 2-3 years ago if they would have listened to fans (I'm not referring to myself here as a fan, though, just an interested baseball fan) and dumped these two for productive players?