It's only been 11 times on the DL for Wood? Seems like so many more....I suppose because the stints are usually extended.

I was at Wrigley during 2003 and Wood threw 140 or so pitches in a game vs. the Cards - granted, it was a tight game. But it was in May, and Wood was clearly laboring after 120 or so...Rolen hit a homer in the 8th, and they hadn't been able to touch him all day.

Just a tragedy that Dusty was allowed to do that to both Wood and Prior for one year that's probably caused Cubs fans more misery that any other year this decade.

All that season I just remember feeling so sorry for Cub fans, both the smart ones that knew what was happening and the dumb ones who didn't. Which was worse, I wonder. . . having that foreboding all the way through the year, savoring every last drop because you know they're driving with the engine light on? Or blissfully enjoying gem after gem from your "horses," completely unaware that each hour of joy was the price for another thousand of misery?

I sure as hell hope Justin Verlander doesn't wind up this way.

Liriano has already wound up that way, I guess, though TJ is not nearly as bad as what Wood and Prior have, whatever that is.

2006 Verlander - age 23 - 186.0 IP - 776 PF
2003 Wood - age 26 - 211.0 IP - 887 PF
2003 Prior - age 22 - 211.1 IP - 863 PF

So he wasn't worked quite as hard. Still, a lot of workload.

Ya'know, I don't buy into this "Dusty ruined Wood and Prior stuff", I mean I probably didn't help, but if Kerry Wood can't take throwing 140 pitches at age 26, Kerry Wood doesn't dserve to be called "the next Roger Clemens" ok?

Dusty Baker keeping you in 3 batters too long doesn't cause 11 DL trips, some pitchers are just injury prone.

All I see are two pitchers who have no future in baseball, there's 1000 others like them out there, yet we don't have to suffer through endless talk about all their futile comebacks.

The only thing I associate with Prior and Wood is how annoying Cubs fans and media are for acting like they're the only team who's young pitchers don't pan out.


You just signed one of the most exciting players in baseball, you have a guy in Zambrano who's already leaps and bounds above Wood and Prior combined, and the team has to suffer through more injury reports and false hope.
I kinda like Lou Pinella, and think he has enough sense to stop all the BS and just cut or trade these guys and be done with it all.

Wood was already a DL vet by the time Baker came to town.

In addition, we're talking about a pitcher, who even before this, had already hurt himself this spring in the following ways:

a) bruised his chest by slipping in a hot tub
b) strained his tricep by attempting to avoid a hole in the pitching mound

blaming Dusty Baker here is sad and pathetic.

I suppose Dusty picked up Mark Prior and threw him into Marcus Giles too.
Dusty Baker hit that line drive at Priors elbow .. please ...

no wait .. I will do you one better.

George W Bush Ruined Kerry Woods chances at a HOF career.

what an idiot

Sure, Wood is pretty fragile, but Dusty's "walk it off" medical theories didn't do him any good. Besides, since they KNEW Wood were injury-prone, shouldn't he not have been throwing 120+ every other start? It's pretty tough to argue Dusty didn't have anything to do with this. And Prior is a whole different story.

Look, I'm a Cards fan, so it's not like this keeps me up at night. But still, it hurts a little as a baseball fan to see two guys with epic potential run down without any care given their brittleness. With is also probably epic.

And I'd hardly say there are 1000s of washed up pitchers who had a 175 ERA+ at 22. Or struck out 20 in a game at the msjor league level.

Or even at the MAJOR league level.....it's late.

6. Gambling Rent Posted: March 27, 2007 at 04:24 AM (#2318696)

blaming Dusty Baker here is sad and pathetic.

I suppose Dusty picked up Mark Prior and threw him into Marcus Giles too.


NO, but sending him back out to pitch the next inning was a bad idea, considering he spent pratically the next month on the disabled list

Just a tragedy that Dusty was allowed to do that to both Wood and Prior for one year that's probably caused Cubs fans more misery that any other year this decade.

Yeah, it's a tragedy what he did to Wood, especially because Wood was the picture of perfect health before that, too. Oh sure, there was the Tommy John surgery, and being rushed back in for a doomed playoff game against a great Braves squad, and the terrible throw-across-the-body mechanics, and the times his high school pitching coach had him throw over 190 pitches a game, but if you just overlook all that it's clearly Baker's fault that Wood's having problems now.

It's just like I was telling a friend of mine the other day. It's a damn shame about Mayor Richard M. Daley. Chicago used to be such a clean government town before he showed up.

The only thing I associate with Prior and Wood is how annoying Cubs fans and media are for acting like they're the only team who's young pitchers don't pan out.

I think this is unfair. We are looking not at just two young pitchers that didn't pan out this is a little more than that. We are looking at two top of the rotation pitchers that fell off the face of the Earth. Not young with potential but proven. This doesn't compare to the guy who lights it up in the minors and doesn't do well in the majors or gets hurt before reaching the majors. I don't think there is another team that has lost two top of the rotation starters for 3 strait years.

I am tired of hearing about it too but not because of the reasons you give but because it just plain sucks.

Ya'know, I don't buy into this "Dusty ruined Wood and Prior stuff", I mean I probably didn't help,

Don't be so hard on yourself, you helped plenty!

All that season I just remember feeling so sorry for Cub fans, both the smart ones

Who is the other one?

I am tired of hearing about it too but not because of the reasons you give but because it just plain sucks.

I, for one, have finally let it go. I don't care about Wood and Prior anymore. I'm looking forward to a much more interesting season than we've had the past two, and I don't anticipate either Wood or Prior being a significant part of it. If they somehow manage to contribute anything, terrific. But I don't care anymore.

"cone of silence". New CIA-inspired flavor from Ben&Jerry;'s?

Beginning August 26, 2003, here are the pitch counts for Prior and Wood for their starts for the remainder of the season.

Prior
116
130
129
110
124
131
133

Wood
125
120
122
113
125
122

In the postseason Wood started four games and Prior three. I didn't get pitch counts for those games, but they both went deep in all of them, and I remember specifically there was that deal where Baker left Prior in too long in the sixth game of the NLCS and Bartman caught that ball. You remember.

You can't put it all on Dusty, but that's some nasty usage.

"cone of silence". New CIA-inspired flavor from Ben&Jerry;'s?

Never seen GET SMART?

Beginning August 26, 2003, here are the pitch counts for Prior and Wood for their starts for the remainder of the season.

Prior
116
130
129
110
124
131
133

Wood
125
120
122
113
125
122

In the postseason Wood started four games and Prior three. I didn't get pitch counts for those games, but they both went deep in all of them

Here are the postseason pitch counts:

Prior
133
116
119

Wood
124
117
109
112

Have we mentioned that this was Prior's first (and only) full season? And that he led the league in pitches per start in the regular season by a wide margin? No one should be surprised that he fell apart, and in my opinion, he takes too much of the blame in the media for his decline. Maybe he still would have fallen off a cliff if he had been handled appropriately, but the Cubs never gave him a chance to find out. Wood was already in trouble before 2003, but being second in pitches per start and first in Pitcher Abuse Points per start couldn't have helped his long term outlook. I now hope that Zambrano can continue to defy the odds as yet another young pitcher who has endured a ridiculously high workload relative to the rest of the league.

Spahn and Sain, Pray for Rain

Wood and Prior, Doctor bills Higher

or

Prior and Wood, Tape 'em Good