The Padres have signed former Cub pitching prospect and convicted osprey killer Jae Kuk Ryu. Here is what ex-Dodgers GM and current Padres exec Paul DePodesta has to say about the pickup on his blog:

Jae Kuk Ryu is a 25-year old right-handed pitcher from Seoul, South Korea. Originally signed for $1.6 million by the Cubs in 2001, Ryu has spent parts of the past three seasons in the Majors with Chicago and Tampa Bay. His 2008 season ended prematurely, however, as he was shut down in May and had relatively minor elbow surgery in June.

Ryu's fastball sits around 90 mph while reaching as high as 92, and he complements it with both a curveball and a changeup. According to our scouts, all of his pitches grade out as at least Major League average, and he can throw all three for strikes. Given his repertoire and success as a starter in the minor leagues, we believe Ryu can compete for a spot in our rotation or our pen. He has one minor league option remaining.

The Ryu pickup comes a couple days after the Padres re-signed Mark Prior, about whom DePodesta wrote on Tuesday:

A San Diego native, we signed Mark last year to a Major League contract after the Cubs declined to tender him a contract. After progressing well early in the spring, Mark had a setback that required another surgery and cost him the rest of the season.

Mark has now lost the entirety of the last two seasons to injury, but when he pitches he can be dominant. In his first four seasons in Chicago (2002-2005) Mark used the power fastball/curveball combo to pitch 613 innings with a 3.24 ERA.

Mark has been working out all winter here in Petco, and we're encouraged by his progress. If we can get him back and healthy for us in 2009 we believe he could make a significant difference.

"...when he pitches he can be dominant."

Indeed, Paul, indeed.

(By the way, I'm completely distraught that Ivy Leaguer DePodesta would start the Prior passage with a dangling modifier. Harvard should demand that he return his diploma.)

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A year after the Cubs' Class-A Peoria affiliate drew 26,000 fans to a regular season Midwest League game at Wrigley Field, the Triple-A Iowa Cubs will follow suit, meeting Las Vegas in a Pacific Coast League contest in The Friendly Confines on August 9th.

Apart from the major market exposure and a cut of the gate, the I-Cubs, or at least the I-Cub players, will realize another benefit from the game:

(Iowa G.M. Sam) Bernabe said he will transport both teams to Chicago on a chartered airplane.

“I can’t expect them to bus six hours to Chicago after a Saturday night game, and then bus back another six hours Sunday and for a Monday game. The exposure – that’s what makes the trip worth it.”

Cub players, as quoted by Paul Sullivan in the Tribune, wish to absolve Dusty Baker of:

1. Overusing, and thus causing the arm problems suffered by, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior
2. Facilitating the Kent Mercker/Steve Stone kerfuffle
3. Responsibility for the Cubs' collapse in 2004
4. Enabling Carlos Zambrano's temper tantrums and generally juvenile behavior
5. Preventing Ryan Theriot's development by playing him behind Neifi Perez
6. Not being Lou Piniella

That's a lot to not be reponsible for. Good thing we got that cleared up.

Three-Finger Brown, Highpockets Kelly, Home Run Baker, Shotgun Shuba, Injury-Prone Prior.

San Diego native Mark Prior signed a one-year deal with the Padres on Wednesday, joining two other, health-challenged former Cubs, Glendon Rusch and Shawn Estes, in an attempt to make manager Bud Black's staff for 2008.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says Prior is only guaranteed to receive $1MM from his new team, but that he could earn up to $3.5MM in bonuses, "including $1 million for being on the Padres' 25-man roster throughout the 2008 season and up to another $2.25 million for making 30 starts."

No one--not Prior, not even his agent, John Boggs--has suggested Prior will be ready to return to the Major Leagues by Opening Day, and the contract announced Wednesday is for one year only, with neither side holding an option for 2009, meaning Prior will be a free agent following the season. (Estimates of Prior's return date have ranged from mid-May to August or September.)

Still, looking at things from the Padres' perspective, Prior's upside is obvious and these days, the $1MM investment is neglible. As for Prior, who graduated from University of San Diego High School, he was clearly motivated to make his comeback with his hometown team.

Finally, in case you're wondering, the Cubs and Padres will play one another seven times in 2008, May 12th-15th at Wrigley and June 2nd-4th at Petco. I'm going to say that the chances are at least 50/50 that if Mark Prior ever does pitch against his former Chicago Cub teammates, it will be in 2009 at the earliest.

Outfielder Cliff Floyd, who looked last season like he was clearly in the twilight of his career, is going to a place where twilight guys have historically been most welcome: Tampa Bay.

Floyd, a 15-year Major League veteran, signed a one-year deal for $2.75MM (with incentive bonuses that could earn him another $2MM), plus a team option for 2009. The lefthanded-hitting Floyd will rotate with right-handed hitters Rocco Baldelli and Jonny Gomes in filling the Rays' DH and right field slots.

From espn.com...

While a Gomes-Floyd right field platoon would be subpar defensively, the two players might compensate with their combined production. Gomes has a career .932 on base-slugging percentage against left-handed pitching, while Floyd has an OBP of .859 vs. right-handers.

A graduate of Thornwood High School in South Holland, Floyd, 35, had 9 HRs and 45 RBI in 108 games for the Cubs last season, hitting .284 with a .373 OBP and an OPS+ of 102. Like many of his Cub teammates, Floyd had trouble hitting at Wrigley Field, where he only hit .269 with 3 HRs.

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According to Mark Prior's agent, John Boggs, 11 teams have shown interest in signing the rehabbing righthander to a contract. The New York Daily News reports that the Mets and Yankees have both shown "preliminary interest."

As the Daily News points out...

The Yankees drafted Prior in the supplemental round of the 1998 draft as a high schooler, but failed to sign him - he turned down a $1.5 million offer that the team made a few months after the draft, a signing strategy executives rued afterward. Prior went to college instead...and later signed (with the Cubs) for $10.5 million.

I no longer despise the teams at the top of the salary chart the way I used to, mostly because the Cubs have joined them, but also because, as the Yankees have proven now seven seasons in a row, spending the most money doesn't guarantee you'll be hoisting the big trophy at the end of the World Series.

Where I do think the free-spending teams enjoy a distinct advantage, however, is in a case like Prior's, where a big-budget organization can afford to gamble, hope to hit the jackpot, and not be any worse off if the player turns out to be a bust.

According to mlbtraderumors.com, the Astros and Cardinals might also be in the mix for Prior.

August 10, 2006:

The Cubs were visiting Milwaukee. Aramis Ramirez drove in Juan Pierre with a first-inning sacrifice fly to put the visitors in front, 1-0. The Brewers, however, scored four runs in the home first, then mounted a 6-1 lead by scoring twice more in the third, an inning that ended with Brewers pitcher Doug Davis grounding out.

Now it looks like the one-ball, no-strike pitch that Davis grounded to Cubs shortstop Neifi Perez is the last pitch Mark Prior will ever throw as a Chicago Cub. The Cubs chose not to make a contract offer to Prior before Wednesday's 11pm deadline, making a free agent of the 27-year-old Prior, who is currently rehabbing his surgically repaired right shoulder.

Bruce Miles, writing in Wednesday's Daily Herald before the Cubs officially excised their former golden boy, explained that Jim Hendry wanted Prior to agree to a one-year deal for less than the $3.575MM he was paid last season, plus a club option for 2009. Writes Miles:

The Cubs' viewpoint is that they rehabbed Prior in 2007 and will do so for part of 2008, and they want protection against him leaving as a free agent if he comes back and does well.

Prior's view is that it's not his fault he got hurt and he owes it to himself to test the market as a free agent after he has six full years in the big leagues.

We'll have to side with the Cubs on this one. Prior appeared in only nine games in 2006, when the shoulder began acting up. Since his 18-6 campaign in 2003, Prior worked in 21 games in 2004 (when elbow stiffness sidelined him) and 27 games in 2005.

Prior's career numbers as a Cub: 42 wins, 29 losses, a 3.51 ERA (ERA+ of 123) and 757 strikeouts over 657 IP. His best season was his only complete season in the majors, 2003, when he went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and damn near pitched the Cubs into a World Series.

Unlike his teammate Kerry Wood, whose 21-strikeout effort as a rookie will help distinguish his Cub career forever, Prior may ultimately be best remembered by Cub fans for his spectacular injuries: a shoulder injury resulting from a violent collision with Braves second baseman Marcus Giles that looked like it was straight out of Chicago Bear two-a-days; a fractured elbow which was the result of getting drilled by a Brad Hawpe line drive in 2005.

According to cubs.com, Prior's surgeon, the famous Dr. James Andrews, believes the righthander could be Major League-ready by middle or late May, though Prior's agent admits his client's return could be a month or two after that.

What there is no disputing is that if and when Prior pitches his next Major League game, it won't be for the Chicago Cubs.