In what has now become an official yearly tradition, like the Kentucky Derby, Christmas, and St. Patrick's Day, Mark Prior is injured yet again. In his last rehab outing, Prior threw 10 or 15 pitches and had a feeling "like a firecracker going off in the back of his shoulder."
That's, uh, never good. Prior is also going to be seeking a second opinion on his shoulder from noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews. By the way, any time you see "pitcher" and "Dr. James Andrews" in the same sentence, that's usually code for "your career is over."
Obviously it's been quite a frustrating career for Prior who started out with so much promise. Here's a list of injuries, at least all the ones we know of.
- Midseason 2003 - Shoulder after on-field collision with former Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles. Time missed: 3 Starts
- Preseason 2004 - Achilles tendon injury. Time missed: 2 months.
- Preseason 2005 - Elbow strain. Time missed: Several weeks.
- May 27, 2005 - Throwing elbow from comeback line drive off the bat of Brad Hawpe. Time missed: Several Weeks
- Preseason 2006 - Strained shoulder. Time missed: 3 months.
- July 14, 2006 - Strained left oblique in batting practice. Time missed: 2 starts.
- August 1st, 2006 - Struck by lightning. Time missed: 1 start.
- August 14, 2006 - Shoulder tendinitis. Time missed: Rest of season.
- Spring Training 2007 - Shoulder surgery. Time missed: Whole season.
- March 26, 2008 - Shoulder surgery recovery. Time missed: Still has yet to play.
Of course the question now is, when will people just give up on him? Or the better yet, why haven't teams given up on him already?
more
