While being introduced during the opening of last year’s Cubs Convention, Mark Prior was greeted by a rousing ovation and the chant, “No trade, no trade.”
Responding to media reports that Prior’s name had been mentioned in talks involving Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada, Cubs fans let general manager Jim Hendry know it was too soon to give up on Prior, despite the right-hander’s many setbacks.
One year later, Prior returns to the Cubs Convention with a bull’s-eye on his back and a fresh boot mark from a recent kick in the backside from Cubs management.
It’s rare when a player of Prior’s stature is asked to take a pay cut, but the Cubs offered Prior $3.4 million in arbitration, a 7 percent decline from his $3.65 million salary in 2006. Prior asked for $3.875 million, a 6 percent raise.
The gap of $475,000 isn’t huge in baseball terms, but if neither side budges, it could lead to one of the most interesting arbitration hearings in ages.
Considering he was 1-6 with a 7.21 earned-run average in another injury-plagued season, Prior’s request for a raise seems ludicrous.
Recall that Prior opted to void the final year of his original contract last winter to make more money in arbitration, coming off a disappointing season in 2005.
Hendry’s decision to offer a lower salary is defensible in the real-world workplace, but baseball operates under its own strange, unwritten rules. A player’s salary seldom goes down unless he’s released, non-tendered or becomes an unwanted free agent.
“The arbitration process on filing is just part of the business,” Hendry says. “Obviously, the gap is not significantly far apart compared to most arbitration cases.”
Hendry denies the Cubs’ offer was meant as a slap at Prior, once regarded as a cornerstone of the team’s future. After all, he can’t afford to have Prior on the disabled list with a swollen cheek.
After his disastrous ’06 season, Prior was examined by orthopedic specialist James Andrews, who discovered looseness in his shoulder joints that trainer Mark O’Neal said was genetic. O’Neal said the looseness could cause “arthritic changes” but surgery was not an option for now.
Prior’s injuries to his rotator cuff and subscapularis muscle, along with the strained left oblique muscle from a batting-practice session in July in Milwaukee, sent him to the disabled list three times.
Andrews, surgeon Lewis Yocum and Cubs physician Stephen Gryzlo put Prior on an accelerated off-season strengthening program, the results of which have been encouraging, according to Hendry.
Though he has not been promised a spot in the rotation, the Cubs are hoping Prior will be healthy and strong enough to earn it in competition with Wade Miller, Sean Marshall and perhaps ex-White Sox reliever Neal Cotts.
“O’Neal and [pitching coach] Larry Rothschild have been in constant contact with him,” Hendry says. “They’re optimistic, with the way his bullpen sessions have been coming, that he will come to camp and be ready to go. We would certainly welcome back a healthy Mark Prior. When he’s healthy, he can pitch for anyone.
“At the same time we felt like we had to have enough depth . . . so if Mark had a setback or if he was delayed in his program later in the spring, we would be covered. We certainly have every confidence that at his age (26) he can come back and be very, very successful.”
Despite his recent woes, Prior still has a .591 career winning percentage (42-29) with a respectable 3.51 ERA and 757 strikeouts in 657 innings.
His overall numbers aren’t too far from some of the other young guns in the National League, including Dontrelle Willis (58-39, 3.44 ERA), Brandon Webb (47-45, 3.28) and Brett Myers (54-40, 4.34).
But his reputation as an injury waiting to happen makes Prior the biggest question mark on the team, while putting his long-term future with the organization in doubt.
The ball is in Prior’s court now. How he handles it is anyone’s guess.
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psullivan@tribune.com
