It’s the Same Old Story in ChiTown

Ahhhh…..the weather is getting warmer.  The snow has begun to melt.  You’re breaking out your shorts and flip-flops, and you may even begin to start the process of opening your swimming pool.  It’s spring…and it’s also baseball season.

Fans in baseball towns around the country – from Seattle to Boston to Miami – are preparing for a new baseball season.  The smells of the fresh-cut grass on the field and the sounds of the bat hitting the ball are ringing loud and true.

And yet, the north side of Chicago is experiencing the same thing they’ve experienced the past few seasons – star players on the disabled list.Several years ago, the names of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood would make Cub fans jump for joy.  Having either one of them on the mound meant almost certain victory, and fans would flock to Wrigley Field just to see them easily strike out their opponents.

Now, when the names of Prior and Wood are heard, fans are hoping that the news is good.  Fans are hoping that either one of them are hitting the mound….period.  These days, Prior and Wood are synonymous with the disabled list, and two young careers keep spiraling downhill.

MARK PRIOR

Mark Prior was drafted in the first round of the 2001 amateur draft as the second overall pick.  What many do not know is that Prior was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round (43rd pick) of the 1998 amateur draft, but did not sign.  Good news for the Cubs, right?  Well…

Mark Prior’s first season with the Cubs was in 2002.  He pitched to a 6-6 record, but earned an ERA of 3.32 and struck out 147 in 116 2/3 innings.  That’s approximately 11 strikeouts per nine innings, and that, my friends, is pretty impressive.

Prior’s best season, to date, was in 2003, when he was 18-6 and he struck out 245 batters.  That’s right….245.  He would finish third in the Cy Young voting.

2003 would also be Prior’s first brush with the injury bug.  In a game a few weeks before the All-Star Game, Prior would end up in a collision with Atlanta’s Marcus Giles.  Prior would end up the DL with a bruised shoulder.  Both Prior and Giles would miss the All-Star Game, and this was just the beginning of Prior’s mishaps.

The bad luck would continue for Prior as he was forced to miss the first two months of the 2004 season due to an achilles tendon injury.  He also had tendonitis in the right achilles.  Prior would be on the disabled list from late March to early June with these injuries.  After coming off the disabled list, Prior did not seem to be what he had been before the injury.  The 2004 season was subpar by Mark Prior standards, as he would finish just a 6-4 record and an ERA slightly over 4.

Prior would start the 2005 season on the DL again with an inflamed right elbow; however, after returning from the DL, he pitched very well in the early part of the season.  As he began to pick up momentum, Cub fans, and perhaps most of the baseball world, thought that the luck of Mark Prior was turning for the better.  Wishful thinking…

On May 27, Prior was hit on his right elbow by a 117-mph comeback line drive off the bat of Colorado’s Brad Hawpe, giving him a compression fracture. Prior would again miss time; however, luckily for Cub fans, the injury was not as severe as originally thought, and Prior returned.  He would finish last season 11-7.

Finally, we’re here in the present: Spring Training, 2006.  A new season awaits and Cub fans are trying to get excited.  However, the bad news just keeps on coming.

After feeling stiffness in his throwing shoulder, Prior went to Los Angeles to get an MRI. Though final results weren’t expected until March 18th, it was announced on the 16th that Prior had a strained shoulder.  And today, March 29, the Cubs placed Prior on the disabled list once again.  There is no set timetable for his return, but one thing is for sure: he’s hurt once more, and the concern in the Cubs organization continues to grow.

KERRY WOOD

Kerry Wood was the fourth overall pick of the 1995 amateur draft, drafted in the first round by the Cubs.  It didn’t take long for Wood to make a name for himself.

Wood is known for his fastballs in the mid- to upper-90s and knack for striking out the opposition seemingly easily.  Along with Mark Prior (see above), many would hope that the 1-2 combination of Prior and Wood would dominate the National League for years to come.

Kerry Wood got off to a dynamic start.  In just his fifth major league start, Wood fanned 20 Houston Astros on May 6, 1998 in a one-hit shutout.  Wood would miss the last month of the 1998 season, but would still win the NL Rookie of the Year Award with a 13-6 record.  Cubs fans and management had a feeling that Wood would be a force for years to come.  He had the arm to prove it, and it was just a matter of fighting off the injury bug and, perhaps, the Billy Goat Curse.

That injury bug?  Yeah, that wasn’t easy to fight off.  In spring training of 1999, Wood underwent Tommy John surgery to repair damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Returning in 2000, Wood struggled to an 8-7 record, and had an ERA of almost 5.  The road was becoming bumpy for such a potential superstar.

Wood would pitch through two mediocre seasons in 2002 and 2003, even though Wood would be selected to be an All-Star in 2003.  While the numbers for Wood might not have been what fans and management had expected, 2002 and 2003 saw Wood pitch to a combined record of 26-22, while striking out 483 batters.  Wood’s strikeout total in 2003 would be an astonishing 266, partly making up for the mediocre win-loss record.

The injury bug was back for Wood and the Cubs in 2004, when he would miss two months with strained biceps.  Wood would finish with a record under .500 – 8 wins and 9 losses.  The ERA was once again reaching the 4 range (3.72, to be exact).

Due to Wood’s late injuries and the Cubs’ struggles in 2005, on August 31, Wood would undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder.  He would start just 10 games in 2005, and would pitch the tune of an un-Kerry Wood-like 3-4 record.

Earlier this month, Wood underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair a minor cartilage tear.  And today, March 29, the Cubs placed Kerry Wood on the disabled list to start the 2006 season.

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Injuries aside, the tandem of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have put up numbers that boggle the minds of some statisticians.  In 11 combined seasons (4 for Prior, 7 for Wood), the two pitchers have struck out a combined 2,005 batters.  Considering the fact that the oldest age of the two players is 28 years old (Wood), each player has the potential for at least 10 more years in the league.  The keyword here is POTENTIAL.

Mark Prior has struck out 719 batters in four seasons, while picking up 41 wins.  If you pan those numbers out to, say, 12 seasons in the big leagues (without injuries), Prior has the potential for as many as 200 wins (that would be 20 wins a season from here on out) and 3,000 strikeouts (that would be 2,500-3,000 strikeouts.  With the injury bug plauging Mark Prior, however, those numbers just appear to be fantasies.

Flip those numbers over and you see even better numbers from Kerry Wood.  In 7 big-league seasons, Wood has fanned 1,286 batters and he has accumulated 70 wins.  If you give Wood, say, 10 more years (without injuries, of course), Wood has the potential to easily strike out 3,000 batters and win at least 200 games.  Critics will point out, however, that Wood has never won more than 14 games in a season…

So, while the White Sox fans on the south side of Chicago are celebrating a World Series championship (and are looking for another), Cubs fans continue to hold their breath and hope their golden boys of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood fight off injuries and perform like they were expected to when they were drafted.

Without Prior and Wood in the rotation, the Cubs opening day pitching rotation will consist of: Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux, Glendon Rusch, and Jerome Williams.  They might not be THAT bad, but they’re no Mark Prior or Kerry Wood.

So, as you baseball fans sit down to watch your favorite team get back into the “swing” of things, give some sympathy to the Chicago Cubs, for the bright futures of their star players continue to hang in the balance.