link <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mark Prior, cut loose by the Cubs earlier this month, has agreed to terms with the San Diego Padres. An announcement is expected to come sometime Wednesday. Prior, 27, last pitched in the big leagues in 2006, and had shoulder surgery in April of 2007. The second overall pick in the 2001 draft, Prior went 18-6 for the Cubs in 2003 before experiencing a series of physical problems. He was born in San Diego and lives in San Diego County, and the Padres' hope is that he is able to join a rotation that already includes Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf.</div>
He's still young, but there's been no sign in Chicago that he could overcome his recurring injuries and a bad wing. It's really a shame, too, as he was immediately one of the dominant starters in the league at a young age and should have been the Cubs' stopper for at least a decade.
Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren</div> I don't see how this makes it competitve. Prior is a shadow of his former self and there's nothing that's happened recently that shows any improvement.. Jones is horribly inconsistent, fat, can't play defense anymore, and Kuroda is an average bottom of the rotation pitcher.. Arizona totes the best young talent in baseball and they're coming off a division championship. They've added a quality #2 starter and didn't really take a hit. Despite giving up Valverde, they open the door for Perez, who should be a top closer in baseball for the next decade.. The D'Backs were a little ahead of schedule last year, but they weren't a fluke. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Braves-like run out of them over the next 10 or so years.
As a Mets fan, I'm glad we didn't sign him. He won't even be able to do anything for half the season, and then who knows. He's toast.
West was competitive last yr when Rockies, Dbacks and Padres are vying for the division and wild card. Dodgers were til they flamed out at a certain point. Who knows about Prior? New scenery might do him some good. Padres probably view this as a low risk/high reward.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dissonance19 @ Dec 26 2007, 03:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>West was competitive last yr when Rockies, Dbacks and Padres are vying for the division and wild card. Dodgers were til they flamed out at a certain point. Who knows about Prior? New scenery might do him some good. Padres probably view this as a low risk/high reward.</div> His arm is destroyed. Scenery doesn't change that. The Rockies went on a crazy streak at the end of the season. They were way, way over their heads. The Dodgers just don't have the offense. Kent is old. Nomar is worthless, and Andruw is extremely overrated. His defense is actually poor at this point, and he's got a very heavily SLG weighted OPS. That = inconsistency. The Diamondbacks on the other hand, have made the biggest addition. They were already the most talented team in the division by a long shot. They're just extremely young. They'll be improving exponentially over the next several years, and as someone who isn't a D'Backs fan, this scares me. They could win 100 games next year, and that's just the tip of the iceberg for their organization. Josh Byrnes is the best GM in baseball. He's running circles around the dinosaurs in the NL.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 11:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren</div> I don't see how this makes it competitve. Prior is a shadow of his former self and there's nothing that's happened recently that shows any improvement.. Jones is horribly inconsistent, fat, can't play defense anymore, and Kuroda is an average bottom of the rotation pitcher.. </div> Well I don't know about you but Jones could still hit HR's, something the Dodgers needed last year and adding Kuroda will give the Dodgers more depth in there pitching depth.And plus the emergence of Loney, Kemp and Billinsley the Dodgers will be a hell of a team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 11:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren</div> I don't see how this makes it competitve. Prior is a shadow of his former self and there's nothing that's happened recently that shows any improvement.. Jones is horribly inconsistent, fat, can't play defense anymore, and Kuroda is an average bottom of the rotation pitcher.. </div> Well I don't know about you but Jones could still hit HR's, something the Dodgers needed last year and adding Kuroda will give the Dodgers more depth in there pitching depth.And plus the emergence of Loney, Kemp and Billinsley the Dodgers will be a hell of a team. </div> An inconsistent hitter who provides little outside of his slugging % hardly makes up ground on a 90 win team that is running circles around the competition in their development.. And while that team added an above average #2 pitcher (albeit a tell-tale BABIP and giving up too many home runs), the Dodgers threw $13 million at a back end pitcher. Imagine Loney and Kemp all over the roster, and filling up your farm system too. That's the D'Backs. Again, Byrnes is pwning the NL. They're going to dominate for a long time.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 04:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 11:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren</div> I don't see how this makes it competitve. Prior is a shadow of his former self and there's nothing that's happened recently that shows any improvement.. Jones is horribly inconsistent, fat, can't play defense anymore, and Kuroda is an average bottom of the rotation pitcher.. </div> Well I don't know about you but Jones could still hit HR's, something the Dodgers needed last year and adding Kuroda will give the Dodgers more depth in there pitching depth.And plus the emergence of Loney, Kemp and Billinsley the Dodgers will be a hell of a team. </div> Again, Byrnes is pwning the NL. They're going to dominate for a long time. </div> So are the Dodgers, Byrnes may be pwning the NL right now but in a few years your going to have Loney and Kemp hitting HR's and pwning the NL.
Jones only had 26 HR last year, IIRC. He's getting 18 million per for that. You know it's not good when a Yankee fan is bitching about over payed players.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 08:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 04:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 26 2007, 11:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Dec 26 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wow, the NL West will be competitive as hell next season. You have the Dodgers adding Jones and Kuroda Arizona adding Dan Haren</div> I don't see how this makes it competitve. Prior is a shadow of his former self and there's nothing that's happened recently that shows any improvement.. Jones is horribly inconsistent, fat, can't play defense anymore, and Kuroda is an average bottom of the rotation pitcher.. </div> Well I don't know about you but Jones could still hit HR's, something the Dodgers needed last year and adding Kuroda will give the Dodgers more depth in there pitching depth.And plus the emergence of Loney, Kemp and Billinsley the Dodgers will be a hell of a team. </div> Again, Byrnes is pwning the NL. They're going to dominate for a long time. </div> So are the Dodgers, Byrnes may be pwning the NL right now but in a few years your going to have Loney and Kemp hitting HR's and pwning the NL. </div> Loney and Kemp. That's cool. I'll take Jackson, Quentin, Upton, Drew, Pena, Callaspo, Owings, Reynolds, Young, Nippert, Anderson, Montero, and Bonafacio. Mark it down. All of those guys, individually, are all-star caliber. This farm system is unreal. They parted with Gonzalez and didn't take a hit.
I don't know that Prior's arm is destroyed, exactly. He may well need rehab and the pressure not to return too soon from that rehab. It may be a decent flier that the Padres took on Prior, but I wouldn't be banking on him being a regular in the rotation anytime soon.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Dec 26 2007, 08:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know that Prior's arm is destroyed, exactly. He may well need rehab and the pressure not to return too soon from that rehab. It may be a decent flier that the Padres took on Prior, but I wouldn't be banking on him being a regular in the rotation anytime soon.</div> The deal is incentive loaded, which puts them in a great situation. But like you said, signing a safe deal doesn't guarantee that he's going to have a major impact. They're already talking about working him and Wolf into the rotation. That could be a disaster.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (choppermang @ Dec 27 2007, 08:25 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Dec 26 2007, 08:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know that Prior's arm is destroyed, exactly. He may well need rehab and the pressure not to return too soon from that rehab. It may be a decent flier that the Padres took on Prior, but I wouldn't be banking on him being a regular in the rotation anytime soon.</div> The deal is incentive loaded, which puts them in a great situation. But like you said, signing a safe deal doesn't guarantee that he's going to have a major impact. They're already talking about working him and Wolf into the rotation. That could be a disaster. </div> I don't think it's a bad thing to let him know he could have a spot in their rotation. Rushing him into that spot would be the disaster. I would love to see the guy succeed, and others whose careers were written off have come back and been successful. He probably needs a full season off to rehab fully.
