The facts from Mark Prior, Day 2, Post-Pain:
He threw from flat ground in the outfield before the Cubs beat the Brewers 5-0 Saturday and reported “for the most part it went pretty good.”
He is still a “go” for a long bullpen session before Sunday’s game.
But the chances of him starting Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals look very slim.
So there’s the update, but certainly not all you need to know concerning the iffiness of the Cubs starter.
Prior admitted to a WGN Radio audience before the game that the pain he felt during the second inning Thursday was “like somebody took a knife to me.”
Later, he said the word “hurt” he used Thursday “was the wrong word. It was probably discomfort. But it had never been to the point where it was Thursday night to take myself out of a ballgame.
“I think we’re hoping it was just kind of a freak night where the pain was a little bit more than I can handle.”
And yet Prior may have to pitch in pain because of the tendinitis-type trouble in his right elbow.
“You’d like him to be completely pain-free,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “Whether that happens or not, I don’t know.”
Questions are being asked whether Prior is “tough” as a pitcher, whether he can handle the inevitable pain of being a pro athlete, questions that made him bristle.
“To be honest, I don’t really care [what people think] outside the organization,” he said. “So they can make whatever reference they want.
“I know who I report to and who my family is, as far as the organization. They know what’s going on in the locker room and what the facts are. People outside the locker room don’t have an idea what’s going on.”
Manager Dusty Baker was asked about Prior being labeled as “soft.”
“You can’t worry about what people say,” Baker said. “How do people know what’s there? I don’t think that’s the right word for the situation. That’s a word that’s commonly used now, a popular word.”
Baker said playing through pain “depends where it is and how much it is. For a pitcher it’s a lot different having pain in your moneymaker, your arm.”
If pain prevents Prior from starting Tuesday–and the chances of that are excellent–it creates a pain for Baker and Rothschild.
Can they continue to hold a rotation in limbo each time Prior is scheduled to pitch? And who gets pushed back if he doesn’t start Tuesday but does on Wednesday or Thursday?
How long will this uncertainty go on?
“You’re asking me a question I can’t answer,” Baker said. “We’ll try to avoid that. It puts pressure on him; it puts pressure on our bullpen.
“We’re trying to get to the root of [the problem] and hopefully they can find what it is. We’ll do whatever we can to get this young man well.”
The “whatever” could include getting more opinions about how to treat the pain caused from irritation in the lining of the elbow bone.
“We might have some conversations [with other doctors]; I don’t know if I’ll make a physical visit quite yet,” Prior said. “I know there are going to be some conversations amongst the doctors [to] exhaust all avenues and see [about] other cases people have seen.”
Before that Prior will make one big final test in the Cubs’ bullpen in Day 3, Post-Pain.
Then some decisions will have to be made.
“I don’t think it’s all up to me,” Prior said. “We’ll have conversations. I think they’re looking for me to be honest, and I will.”
