Looking at mark prior stats makes me sad.

[beckdawg]

TLDR was watching a youtube video talking about tragic players like Clemente and such who never got to show everything. Long story short they had Jose Fernandez on it but not Prior. So, as i'm a cubs fan I thought that wasn't right but wanted to double check my memory. Sure enough Prior was as good as I remember. His 2003 season was 7.8 fWAR. For reference, Greg Maddux peak years of 95-98 were like 7.8-8 fWAR. Prior was 22 in 2003.

More over, I went back and looked at seasons in the expansion era(61+) and he was tied for the 61st best season by fWAR. However, if you cut that down to players under 25 he was 13th with only 2 other players having season better from 1990 onwards in Grienke and Ben Sheets in their age 25 seasons. So literally no one under 25 had a better season in the steroid era through present day.

I have now made you all sad too i assume but at least we have each other.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

I always wonder if it was the collision the ruined him or Dusty Baker over using him too early in his career.

 

[Chicagosports89]

I always wonder if it was the collision the ruined him or Dusty Baker over using him too early in his career.

He also had the line drive off his elbow after the collision I believe. That and the collision seemed like when things went south to me. Could be wrong though

 

[knoxville7]

What a rotation they had for a brief moment

Prior
Wood
Zambrano
Clement
Maddux

 

[ijustposthere]

What a rotation they had for a brief moment

Prior
Wood
Zambrano
Clement
Maddux

And missed the playoffs. I was done with Dusty that season. Dude went soft after being tossed early in the season

 

[ijustposthere]

He also had the line drive off his elbow after the collision I believe. That and the collision seemed like when things went south to me. Could be wrong though

It was his form + overuse. I read something a while back that pointed to the inverted W that pitchers were using leading to serious stress on the elbows and shoulders.

 

[knoxville7]

And missed the playoffs. I was done with Dusty that season. Dude went soft after being tossed early in the season

Yep, better record than the season before when they did make the playoffs. Baseball is a funny game sometimes

Also had sosa, alou, and Derek lee smacking balls in the middle of the lineup

 

[ijustposthere]

Yep, better record than the season before when they did make the playoffs. Baseball is a funny game sometimes

Also had sosa, alou, and Derek lee smacking balls in the middle of the lineup

Ramirez too. ll never forget how they blew that lead the last week of the season, which all they had to do was not have an epic collapse.

 

[beckdawg]

It was his form + overuse. I read something a while back that pointed to the inverted W that pitchers were using leading to serious stress on the elbows and shoulders.

Ironically, this is apparently similar to Strasburg's form but by the time he came around teams were smarter about usage.