MESA.

MESA, Ariz. -- I used to be sympathetic, wistful, hopeful further now, when it comes to the HMO tag team that is Kerry copse and Mark Prior, I am exhausted and bored stiff, which hardys like a reason for all of Cubdom to go on on the disabled list retroactive to 2003 General manager Jim Hendry still crosse his fingers and thinks the MRI Twins might make 50 starts between them this season.

"We knew neither united of them would be ready for Opening Day," he said, sounding as if their latest DL visit is a range to an ice cream store "Mark has been throwing again and has had no discomfort. umbrageous has been very, very good"

Me? I have more faith in weathermen, cell-phone signals and that drugged-out Pete Doherty character making his nearest court appearance.

You can't rely onward them anymore. You can pray for the best and maybe be pleasantly surprised someday, nevertheless as the Cubs begin their 98th season after their last World Series championship, any adjunct on Wood and Prior becomes an vacant hope chest. It's one thing to remain patient with pitchers for individual season, two seasons, three. on the other hand for the record, Wood is going onward his eighth year of health doubt as he approaches double digits in DL trips, while Prior is entering his fourth year of uncertainty and sixth DL stop. To me their demise has been undivided of the saddest stories I've seen in baseball, as brutal a Cubbie sad poem as you'll ever sing. however eventually, like any sports tragedy, you have to stir on, realize the Bartman Game was three autumns ago and understand that timber-land and Prior aren't the inferior coming of Randy Johnson and tart Schilling as much as the latest types of why a young arm is a terrible thing to waste -- and abuse.

I've lamented, like others in the sport, the dangerously high pitch cast ups of Wood and Prior when Dusty Baker overused them for four roller-coaster month in 2003 My recently made known beef is why management, specifically Hendry, continues to act like a sappy, jilted lover in believing the MRI Twins will revert soon and remain consistently healthy. The obvious answer is that Hendry poured more than $30million of Tribune Co payroll into timber and, with the GM entering his lame-duck year and no contract extension furnished as yet, can't accept that forest is damaged goods. He did provide a wobbly hint upon Prior when he readily told the Baltimore Orioles that he was available in a prospective deal for Miguel Tejada, yet the Orioles were more dull-witted about Prior's condition when they point- blank refused, saying they'd frequently prefer the healthy Carlos Zambrano.

Rotation really in disturb

That should have told Hendry, one time and for all, that the confidence train had departed the station. It should have quicked him to invest the $40 million despiseed by Rafael Furcal into a righteous starting pitcher or two. however other than trading for Juan Pierre, which was going to happen anyway, and the signings of relievers Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry which happened weeks before, Hendry did nothing with that financial surplus, leaving the childs with a smaller payroll than the White Sox and their rotation in a shambles. As lately as two years ago, the club's starting pitchers were the repine at of the majors. But because Hendry maintains clinging to Wood and Prior, a gold-to-rust rotation stands as go afters until further notice:

Zambrano is the ace and single potentially dominant starter, assuming he isn't the nearest voodoo-doll victim to break down.

Greg Maddux will await good some days and relinquish three family circle runs other days, making him an ancient No. 4 starter posing as a No. 2 starter.

Glendon Rusch, who should be a reproach starter at best, is your last remaining veteran.

Jerome Williams, he of the 800 ERA this spring, can't come by out of the first inning and might be beaten public by Sean Marshall, who pitched last season at Class A Daytona, or lefty Rich Hill, a talented dowdy who will drive you wacky.

With another established starter, the brats might have had an outside chance of a wild-card berth. yet looking at two or three losse each five days, they are doomed for another sub-500 season unles a miracle go downs upon Wrigley Field and Prior or forest re- emerge as real contributors. Shame in succession Hendry and his boss, Andy MacPhail, for letting the young beasts erode so quickly. After the glories of the White Sox and R Sox the press to win a championship should be higher than always at Clark and Addison. Management can't afford to wait onward Prior and Wood. But the honcho quit in succession the fans after Furcal signed with the Dodgers, which explains wherefore the Cubs are forecast as a fourth-place team at most experts, including the smart folk at Baseball America, who described the franchise as "dysfunctional." I'm starting to like that phrase better than curs according to the way. To blame all the question at issues on hexes and curses is to ignore the incompetence of the decision-makers. This isn't about a billy goat.

It's about a bottom-line company that isn't trying to win it all, a company that fought greatly harder for 1,800 new bleacher seats than it did for a starter. "It's tougher than commonalty think to find good starting pitching in the major leagues," Hendry said.

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