Mark Prior is a Free Agent and Other Bullets

Feels like it’s been ages since the Cubs played a double-header.

  • So, Mark Prior is once again a free agent. The 31-year-old former Cub was released by the Red Sox, for whom he’d been pitching in relief at AAA this year. He was striking out a ton of guys (13.7 per 9), but also walking an absurd amount (8.3 per 9). What are your thoughts on a low risk reunion with the Cubs? Setting aside that connection, doesn’t Prior seem like the kind of guy that Theo and Jed would be looking to snap up for AAA? No, there isn’t a high probability that he’d be able to contribute effectively out of the pen this or even next year at the big league level (where he hasn’t pitched since 2006), but there’s no real risk. And it’s clear that he still has good stuff – he just can’t control it. Some team is going to take a chance on him, and with a new front office in place, it just might be the Cubs.
  • Dale Sveum thinks at least part of the reason Travis Wood was knocked around last night is because he was facing the Reds for the second time in a row, and he had gotten himself so amped up for the first outing that he didn’t have much left this time around. “I think he just probably spent everything he had last outing against his old team and tonight he came out and he didn’t really have a whole lot on the ball,” Sveum said. “Everything was flat. He didn’t have the velocity or anything. He was out there basically in a gun fight with a knife I think tonight.”
  • Albert Almora and his Boise Hawks came in for some love on Baseball America’s hot sheet yesterday. “Almora spent his first three weeks in the Arizona League, where the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft came as advertised. Upon his promotion to the Northwest League, Almora homered in his first game with Boise on Wednesday. It’s been an auspicious debut for Almora, who has hit .353/.367/.518 in 20 games between the two levels. If there is such thing as a stacked short-season lineup, it has to be Boise, where the Hawks now have Almora, first baseman Dan Vogelbach, third baseman Jeimer Candelario and second baseman Gioskar Amaya. The best of the group, though, is Almora, whose feel for hitting is beyond his years.”
  • Ryan Dempster has been scratched from his upcoming start in Toronto, reportedly, because he lost his passport. Dempster is Canadian. I don’t really have the words on this one.
  • Hope you guys enjoyed the fantasy contest last night. I had a decent showing, finishing in the top 1/3, but I wasn’t among the top ten: BBenny629, reeeveey10, dizzydofpa, TayoSanto, robert007, pistons20, dfcochran16, chastang8121, blackmamba10, and billg. Congrats!
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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