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Mark Prior still feels pain in his elbow


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http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpag...ort=MLB&id=6787

Latest News  Mar. 16, 2005 - 3:57 pm et

 

Mark Prior still felt soreness in his elbow while playing catch for five minutes today.

''There's still a little discomfort there,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. ''It's considerably better, which is basically what we expected. We'll let the medication keep working. It's a four- or five-day process to get the inflammation out. We'll let that take its course and keep monitoring it and see where we go once he's gotten all the medication in him.'' Prior may throw again Friday or Saturday. The Cubs remain outwardly optimistic that he'll be ready to pitch during the first week of the season.

 

Source:  cubs.mlb.com

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QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Mar 16, 2005 -> 06:37 PM)
I never like to wish injuries upon someone. I'm not glad, but it doesn't make me feel any worse.

i didnt say i was glad hes injured, i wish no harm torward him....im glad for the cubs.... :D

:fthecubs Go Cards :headbang

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According to Dr. Mike Marshall, yes the former NL CY Young winner, it's something in his mechanics that will haunt him his entire career. I guess it's kind of sad.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg171.html

 

Everyone's an expert on Prior

 

March 17, 2005

 

BY GREG COUCH SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

 

When you're made of titanium, you can be broken, have your gears adjusted or maybe get an oil change. But Robopitcher cannot be hurt. Pain? Swelling? That's for humans.

 

Somehow, we have been fed a load of something with Mark Prior. Since when did robots have ulnar collateral ligaments?

 

When Prior arrived with the Cubs, we were told that he had the perfect motion, the perfect body. He was the poster child for a new wave of science fiction from the computerized, digitally refined world of pitching guru Tom House.

 

And we bought it all, didn't we? Cubs fans never learn. Because now Prior is hurt for the second year in a row with the oldest pitching injury in the book. A sore elbow. We don't know how long he'll be out with what officially is being called irritation of the ulnar nerve and inflammation in the right elbow joint.

 

How?

 

"He has a few really bad flaws in his motion, and he's completely destroying the arm,'' said 1974 National League Cy Young Award winner Mike Marshall, who has a Ph.D. and teaches pitching. "They try to nurse him through, and he's in a cycle of rest and re- injure. That's the worst thing you can do. Resting means atrophy. It's just going to keep getting worse.

 

"The thing is, everybody thinks Tom House knows what he's talking about. But he's an idiot. He wouldn't know Newton's laws from a Fig Newton. And [Cubs pitching coach] Larry Rothschild is worse. The fact that Prior and Kerry Wood are still injured this year proves he doesn't know how to deal with it.''

 

As you might imagine, House didn't agree.

 

"This is typical of what Mike Marshall does,'' House said. "I'm out there with a little attention, so I'm an easy target.

 

"There are things you can worry about with Mark, but mechanics are not one of them. And the Cubs are dead-on with what they're doing. I think it was the first time Mark went Mach 3 this spring, and his elbow just said, 'Too much.'''

 

Who knows which guy is right or whether this is dueling geniuses or crackpots. House has done a lot of research and has been the Texas Rangers' pitching coach and a former major-leaguer. Marshall's doctorate is in exercise physiology, and he has won the ultimate pitching award. But the league doesn't embrace Marshall's ideas. And I once asked one of House's former pitchers if House is a guru or a wacko. He said, "Both.''

 

But when Prior came up, House said: "With motion analysis, blood chemistry, mental-emotional makeup and nutritional makeup, he matches up statistically, objectively. Objectively, he's a can't-miss.''

 

Then why does he keep getting hurt?

 

Here's my unscientific opinion: Arms weren't meant for pitching. And when you do it a lot, you might get hurt based on training or genetics.

 

So if Prior is OK or if this is the beginning of the end, the lesson is for the Cubs, who had something with this incredible starting rotation. You can't believe in tomorrow. It's such a waste to think about the future in baseball, to count on it.

 

How dare the Cubs go into this season -- again -- without a closer. Without one, they were throwing away Prior and Wood, anyway. Exactly what are the Cubs waiting for? Matt Clement is gone, Greg Maddux is getting old.

 

When this type of rotation comes around, you jump, even if it means overspending. The Cubs brag about their huge payroll, but that's just their magical accounting department again. More than 10 percent of it goes to Sammy Sosa in Baltimore.

 

If this rotation goes by without one World Series, with all those revenues and record crowds, then that won't be bad luck, and it will be more than incompetence from Cubs ownership. It will be viciousness to the most loyal fans in the world. Remember, they passed on Jim Thome and Pudge Rodriguez two years ago before finishing a game short of the Series.

 

Marshall said he thinks time might be running out for Prior. And this isn't hindsight. He had been predicting ulnar collateral trouble for Prior on his Web site, drmikemarshall.com, since seeing Prior's and Wood's pictures in Sports Illustrated last spring.

 

"Side-by-side,'' he said, "you could see that they both have extreme forearm flyouts. It's worse for Prior.''

 

He has studied pictures of Prior taken since then. It's not easy to grasp Marshall's talk, but here's my best effort:

 

As Prior gets ready to move his arm forward to throw the pitch, his palm is facing toward the ground with the ball in hand. Also, his elbow is higher than his hand. That means, Marshall said, that he starts his elbow moving forward while his hand is still going backward. That creates a loop with the pitching arm behind Prior's head and puts stress on the elbow.

 

Or something like that.

 

"It circles around and flies away from the body, banging the bones in the elbow together,'' Marshall said. "And he locks his arm out straight. He's losing elbow-flexion range of motion.''

 

House said at least 50 pitchers, including Maddux, have that loop.

 

Whatever. If Prior's career is short and painful, the Cubs had better not cry that a fluke killed their plans. When you have great pitchers together, you don't plan.

 

Sore arms and pitchers go together, in new age and old.

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QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Mar 17, 2005 -> 01:26 PM)
I'm at school right now, my buddy just showed me either on ESPN.com or mlb.com that it's saying neither Prior nor Wood will be ready for Opening Day...

I just heard this on the radio to confirm. They will not be ready for the entire opening series. You really have to wonder if they'll only miss one start too.

 

Zambrano

Maddux

Rusch

Dempster

Mitre

 

Nice opening day rotation, huh? :P

Edited by 3E8
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QUOTE(3E8 @ Mar 17, 2005 -> 11:06 PM)
I just heard this on the radio to confirm.  They will not be ready for the entire opening series.  You really have to wonder if they'll only miss one start too.

 

Zambrano

Maddux

Rusch

Dempster

Mitre

 

Nice opening day rotation, huh? :P

Would they give it to Mitre or go with that minor leaguer Guzman?

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If it helps the Cubs suck and keeps Cub fans from barking in my ear all season, I won't lose any sleep over this. Don't wish injuries on anybody, but he'll still have his millions.

 

He's a hell of a talent though, and the Cubs should do a better job at keeping these guys healthy. It's starting to get past the point of bad luck.

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