March 17, 2006
BY MIKE KILEY Staff Reporter Advertisement
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Cubs have become fairly adept at rating the severity of physical setbacks.
So when Dr. Lewis Yocum's examination of pitcher Mark Prior on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., found a posterior strain in Prior's right shoulder, that raised hopes that the injury isn't as serious as it might have been.
"For us, it's pretty good news,'' Cubs trainer Mark O'Neal said Thursday. "I'm very pleased. There's extremely bad news that could come out of it. Right now, we're going to deal with it like you would a hamstring strain. Unfortunately, it's in the shoulder.''
O'Neal gave the same optimistic assessment after an MRI taken Thursday morning showed a moderate strain in Prior's subscapularis, a muscle in the rotator cuff. Prior will be shut down for seven to 10 days, O'Neal said, but surgery isn't being contemplated.
TAKING THE FIFTH
With injuries to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, the pitching rotation is unsettled. So who will join Carlos Zambrano, Glendon Rusch, Greg Maddux and Jerome Williams? The candidates:
O'Neal added that Prior underwent an arthrogram, an X-ray to view bone structures by injecting a contrast fluid into the joint area. If fluid leaks into areas it doesn't belong in, it can detect ligament tears or cartilage abnormalities.
Prior will meet with O'Neal, Yocum and Cubs orthopedist Stephen Gryzlo on Saturday in Mesa to determine when he will resume a throwing program.
"We need three or four days to put everything together and see where we are at,'' O'Neal said.
The Cubs have ruled out Prior being ready to start the season. Manager Dusty Baker announced that left-hander Glendon Rusch will replace Prior for an April 5 start in Cincinnati, the second game of the season.
Baker said Carlos Zambrano will start Opening Day on April 3 in Cincinnati, with Greg Maddux pitching the home opener April 7 against the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by Jerome Williams.
The Cubs plan to go with a four-man rotation until April 15, the first time a fifth starter is required. Baker named left-handers Sean Marshall and Rich Hill and right-handers Angel Guzman and Jae Kuk Ryu as candidates for that slot.
All four are likely to open the season in the minor leagues, with one of them recalled just before April 15 to make the start. That should permit the Cubs to open the season with an 11-man pitching staff, then reassign a position player to the minors when a fifth starter is needed.
"We've got guys who are going to get an opportunity to get stretched out down here in spring training,'' Baker said. "They'll get a couple of starts where they are going, and we'll decide at that time whom we'll call up.''
Zambrano knows that not having Prior or Kerry Wood on the Opening Day roster is a downer. Wood is rehabilitating from shoulder surgery last August, as well as knee surgery last week, and might not make his season debut until May. Wade Miller (shoulder rehab) also might return in May.
"It's going to be hard to win without Wood and Prior,'' Zambrano said. "We have to do the best possible.''
Baker didn't agree that the temporary loss of Prior might be a blow to his teammates emotionally.
"I'd say no,'' Baker said. "The guys have been seeing the whole scenario the whole time. Everybody else has to pick it up, and we have to find a way.''
Despite reports that Prior came into spring training with shoulder problems, team officials insist he never had complained about any shoulder pain until he was throwing in the bullpen Tuesday.
"I can't answer why it started the other day and hadn't prior,'' O'Neal said. "There's not a pitcher out there we don't treat for soreness whenever they are throwing.
"But Mark was describing this as a pain. That's when you make a change in the way you approach it. We have never really dealt with any shoulder issues with him. We monitored him all offseason. This has nothing to do with anything he has done this offseason.''
O'Neal was asked about a timetable for Prior's comeback.
"We'll try to push him as much as we can without jeopardizing any setbacks,'' he said. "To get to this level, you have to be able to distinguish between soreness and pain that is going to cause injury. Mark felt uncomfortable enough not to push it beyond that.''
Zambrano said critics who have blamed the injury problems of Prior and Wood on Baker allowing them to throw too many pitches are misguided.
"It's up to you as a pitcher if you want to keep going,'' Zambrano said. "You are a grown man. You have the decision.
"It's the same thing that everybody said about [former Cubs manager] Don Baylor, that he pitches us too much. I don't think it's up to the manager.''
Baker said he expects to get blamed.
"That's how it has been, so it doesn't surprise me,'' he said with resignation.