Prior refuses to go down with a fight
MESA, Ariz. -- Mark Prior isn't happy about opening the season in the minor leagues, but speaking about it for the first time Thursday, he said he accepted the Cubs' decision and even found some humor in it, if only for a moment.
''The goal now is to go down and help that team win and try to make the Triple-A All-Star team,'' he joked. ''Maybe I'll get invited to the Futures Game or something. I'm still 26.''
For the second year in a row, neither Prior nor Kerry Wood -- once the co-aces of the pitching staff -- will open the season with the Cubs. The difference this time is that both opened on the disabled list last season, as Wood (shoulder) will do again this year.
Prior, who was optioned to Class AAA Iowa after a three-inning start Wednesday, was told to continue building stamina and strength in the right shoulder that kept him sidelined much of last season.
No timetable has been set for either pitcher to return to the active major-league roster. Prior won't be eligible until 10 days after Monday's opener, which is time for two minor-league starts.
Manager Lou Piniella said the distraction of almost daily questions about Prior and Wood throughout camp was not something he's glad to be rid of.
''They've been important cogs in this organization for a long time,'' he said. ''I can understand the interest. But we said coming in that if we got them ready by Opening Day, it would be a bonus for us.
''Unfortunately, it hasn't happened, but it doesn't mean that they can't help us sometime this summer. And we're looking forward to that situation.''
Until then, for Prior at least, it means being a minor-leaguer for the first time since his first season of professional baseball five years ago.
''It's part of the business,'' he said. ''That's the way I look at it. Not much I can say. I'm a controlled player. I do what I'm told.''
Prior, an arbitration-level player, is making $3.575 million and was on track to be eligible for free agency after the 2008 season. He said he didn't have any leverage to argue the club's decision and wound up in a mostly one-way conversation when Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry informed him Wednesday afternoon.
Asked whether he plans to ask to be traded to seek a fresh start elsewhere, Prior said: ''I'm not even going down that road. I'm under their control until I'm not under their control. It's up to them whether they want me. I'm just an employee.''
If the Cubs keep him in the minor leagues long enough, he'll be ''just an employee'' with no free-agent rights for an additional year. A half-season in the minors would leave Prior short of the service time necessary to become a free agent after next season.
But Hendry and Piniella have been clear about the plan for Prior: Once he shows that he's back to major-league sharpness and stretched out enough to rejoin the rotation, room on the roster will be made for him.
He has thrown better in each of his last two starts, but none of his starts has been longer than four innings, and his fastball has not reached 90 mph consistently.
Still, he said he is close.
''I'm ready,'' he said. ''I can get guys out at this level. I've shown that the last two outings against some pretty decent offensive ballclubs [San Diego and Colorado]. I don't think there's any question of whether I can get the guys out. More than anything they just want to see me go deeper into games.''
The positive, he said, is that he has not had an injury setback all spring.
''Last year wasn't an easy year physically,'' he said. ''It was really trying at times just to get side work in. So it's been really nice to just kind of go through camp and be on a normal schedule.''
He wouldn't characterize the move as a career crossroads.
''You don't know where the crossroads in your career are until probably your career is done,'' he said. ''Now it's just about show up every day and go to work, whether it's here or Des Moines or wherever. Part of playing is just grinding it out through the good times and the bad. So you just show up and play. And that's what I'll do.''
Prior said Piniella was positive about the way he threw the last two starts and said he didn't have a problem with the manager.
''I was fine with everything he said,'' Prior said. ''Again, when you're an employee, you don't really have a whole lot of say in it. I'm not a guy that's going to get all loud and start yelling and stuff. The decision's made. You accept it and you move on.''
He said the repeated references to being ''an employee'' were not meant to imply he wants out. For now, he'll stay in Arizona for a few days and prepare for the start of the Pacific Coast League season while the Cubs head out to open the season Monday in Cincinnati.
''I love every guy in this clubhouse,'' Prior said when asked whether his opinion of the organization has changed. ''They've got a good ballclub. They're going to have a good team. And I think I'll be part of it.''