Good while it lasted, which was not long
The end of an era in Chicago sports is upon us.
As eras, go, it was a short one, but it was memorable nonetheless.
Unless both sides are willing to come together on some sort of agreement, Mark Prior's days as a Cubs pitcher will end today at midnight.
Dec. 12 is the deadline for teams to tender contracts to their players, and it appears the Cubs are not willing to do that with Prior under the current circumstances.
Prior has five-plus years of major-league service time, meaning he is eligible for salary arbitration if the Cubs choose to offer him a contract. The 27-year-old right-hander missed all of the 2007 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in April.
The Cubs paid Prior $3.575 million to rehab, and if they tender him a contract, they can cut his salary a maximum of 20 percent. Prior can take the Cubs to arbitration, and in theory he can ask for a raise.
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry would like Prior to accept a one-year offer at far less than $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. The Cubs' viewpoint is that they rehabbed Prior in 2007 and will do so for part of 2008, and they want protection against him leaving as a free agent if he comes back and does well.
Prior's view is that it's not his fault he got hurt and he owes it to himself to test the market as a free agent after he has six full years in the big leagues.
We'll have to side with the Cubs on this one. Prior appeared in only nine games in 2006, when the shoulder began acting up. Since his 18-6 campaign in 2003, Prior worked in 21 games in 2004 (when elbow stiffness sidelined him) and 27 games in 2005.
There appears to be little interest from other clubs in trading for Prior. Like the Cubs, they'd be in the same situation with having to risk big bucks on Prior for next year while hoping for a fully healthy Prior by 2009.
Ah, but there were some great moments early on. The Cubs took Prior out of USC with the second overall pick in the 2001 draft after the Minnesota Twins went with catcher and hometown boy Joe Mauer. The Twins were roundly criticized for being cheap, but things turned out pretty well for them.
Prior showed glimpses of brilliance in 2002 when he arrived with the big club. It was pure magic in '03, when Prior went 10-1 in August and September in helping to lead the Cubs to the National League Central title.
He pitched back-to-back complete games against the Dodgers in August 2003 and tossed 8 innings of shutout ball against the hated Cardinals in a key Sept. 1 victory at Wrigley Field. One of his most impressive performances came in a loss. On June 26, Prior fell 5-3 to the Brewers, but he struck out 16 in 8 innings.
In 211½ innings, Prior struck out 245 and walked only 50 while looking simply unhittable on many days.
Interestingly, Prior threw "only" 116 and 118 pitches in each of the 2 complete games against the Dodgers, but down the stretch, manager Dusty Baker rode him hard. In his 6 September starts, Baker allowed Prior to roll up pitch counts of 131, 129, 110, 124, 131 and 133.
In Game 2 of the National League championship series, Baker left Prior on the mound through 7 innings and 116 pitches even as the Cubs led the Florida Marlins 12-2.
Who knows whether it all caught up with Prior or if Baker should have gone to the mound to settle Prior in the fateful eighth inning of Game 6, when the Marlins scored 8 runs and then dashed the Cubs' World Series hopes the next night.
In any event, Prior's elbow started aching the following spring. In 2005, he began the year on the DL again with elbow problems, and then Colorado's Brad Hawpe lined a ball off the elbow, causing a small fracture.
But really, Prior hasn't been the same since 2003. Back then, most experts, and probably Prior himself, figured he'd be making upward of $15 million a year by now with a chance to cash in at record numbers in free agency.
But after today, he may have to settle for whatever a team out there offers.
Who'd have thought?
bmiles@dailyherald.com