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Prior forced to hold off on throwing
March 25, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Mark Prior saga continued Wednesday when he was unable to throw in a scheduled bullpen session because of a recurring bout of right Achilles tendinitis.
''It flares up from time to time, so we have to be careful,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said of Prior's ailment, which will force him to start the regular season on the 15-day disabled list.
Rothschild was careful not to characterize the skipped session as a setback.
''No, I wouldn't,'' he said. "We want to get him on schedule, too. That's part of it.''
In other words, the Cubs still have Prior on a regimen that will enable him to make his season debut during the Cubs' first homestand April 12-19. The hope is that he can pitch in simulated games at the minor-league camp by the end of next week.
Rothschild said he wouldn't know until this morning whether Prior's soreness will have subsided enough for him to attempt to throw on the side today.
Prior said Monday that the soreness hadn't bothered him in his last couple of bullpen sessions, but it had cropped up before.
''I have had occasions where it ached a little afterward,'' he said.
The problem obviously isn't gone, and may be an issue Prior will have to deal with all season.
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