Twins Nearly Took Mark Prior In 2001
How different Cubs and Twins history would have been. Conventional wisdom at the time said that if the Twins had taken Prior, the Cubs would have taken Mark Teixeira, not Joe Mauer.
over 2 years ago
Al Yellon
47 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Do we really need to rehash this?
This is like the Bartman stories, just let it go already.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
Well, it was posted today.
Not a rehash, there’s some new info in there.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Mauer or Teixeira - Cubs would certainly have been a different club.
And we coulda had Josh Hamilton too!!! ;-)
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
I've heard this before.
So if others haven’t, I get why you posted it.
Mauer really wanted to play for the Cubs, if the Twins didn’t pick him.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
Right, and he would have probably wound up as a Ranger.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
I think the logic is the Cubs would have taken Tex in the draft
and the Rangers then would have drafted Mauer.
Hey, it's a new century!
by cowsarecool220 on Feb 17, 2010 12:01 PM CST up reply actions
Not according to this article
“Whoever they didn’t pick,’’ Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said, "we were going to pick the other.
"On offense, your most precious possessions are your 27 outs" - Earl Weaver
by RiskyBusiness on Feb 17, 2010 12:27 PM CST up reply actions
You're not confused, Al is just remembering
that at the time, the conventional wisdom was that Prior and Teixeira were the two best prospects in the draft. Mauer was very highly regarded, but was a uniquely good fit for Minnesota b/c he was marketable as a hometown talent, and cheaper to sign than either the phenom Prior or the Boras rep’d Teixeira.
So, while Hendry says that now, and while we don’t know what he actually would have done for sure, there is a very strong chance they would have taken Teixeira (who at the time projected as a third baseman).
by Orval Overall on Feb 17, 2010 1:20 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed, it's all speculation
No way would Hendry admit to taking for instance Dewon Brazelton even if it were true..
I think
Hendry’s memory is bad. Everything I heard at the time was that the Cubs were going to take Prior or Teixeira. Now maybe they were just blowing smoke for some reason (that happens) but Mauer was considered the #3 prospect in that draft.
Perhaps the Cubs were scared off of Teixeria because of Boras, but I doubt that because 1) the Cubs have never been scared of Boras and 2) the Cubs gave a record bonus to Prior.
by Josh Timmers on Feb 17, 2010 1:31 PM CST up reply actions
Hendry does like to draft up the middle
And Tex dropped to 5th in the draft in 2001. I’m sure some of this signability too.
Wish I could see the draft predictions from before the 2001 draft.
"On offense, your most precious possessions are your 27 outs" - Earl Weaver
by RiskyBusiness on Feb 17, 2010 1:51 PM CST up reply actions
The predictions are online
But it was absolutely about signability. Boras told the Twins there was no way they could afford Teixeira. Then came the Cubs, who took Prior and paid a record bonus to him (i.e., money wasn’t the problem there). The Cubs were followed by the small market Rays, and then the Phillies who at that time had a small market mindset and who had just lost a top overall draftpick (JD Drew) b/c they were unwilling to meet Boras’s demands. So there was no way they were going to pay his price either.
So it fell to the Rangers, who had the cash and the big spending mentality.
by Orval Overall on Feb 17, 2010 2:32 PM CST up reply actions
I doubt it
He probably would have ended up as an Oakland Raider. If the Twins don’t take Mauer, then he goes and plays QB at Florida State.
by Josh Timmers on Feb 17, 2010 12:10 PM CST up reply actions
It may have been a negotiating tactic
but at the time, Mauer was saying that he wanted to go to Florida State and play quarterback unless the hometown Twins took him.
by Josh Timmers on Feb 17, 2010 1:35 PM CST up reply actions
That's not what he says now.
You might not have caught the Chicago Tribune Live show when he was on, but he said he specifically wanted to play for the Cubs if the Twins didn’t take him.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
Shocking, who knew...lol
You will never move forward by looking back....
by By Santo's Grace on Feb 17, 2010 8:53 AM CST reply actions
Anyone who criticizes the Cubs for the Prior pick should keep this in mind.
Obviously, it worked out horribly for them, but at the time, the Prior pick was a no-brainer. League-wide, Prior was the unanimous #1 selection and it was only because of individual circumstances that a team wouldn’t have selected him. Prior made it clear that he didn’t want to sign with the Twins, so they moved on. It probalby would have been too expensive for them anyway, especially at that particular point in time for them.
Sometimes it sux to be a Cubs fan. There is no better example of that than this.
by jerry morales rules on Feb 17, 2010 9:14 AM CST reply actions 4 recs
Rec'd.
Prior was NOT a bad pick. He had two freak injuries (the collision with Giles and taking line drive off the elbow), combined with a bad management led to his downfall.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
It just brings a tear to my eye
to think about what the Cubs would have been like if they could have had the 2003 Prior for the next decade after that. It would have taken the pressure off of Zambrano and had him be a #2. It would have been questionable as to whether the Cubs would have signed Lilly, but Dempster would have been there too.
What a staff that could have been.
by jerry morales rules on Feb 17, 2010 9:30 AM CST up reply actions
I had to go look. Good call they'd still have Dempster.
My memory had them signing Dempster to try to fill the Prior/Wood injury void, but they signed Demp in January of 2004 to the rehab deal before the duo fell apart.
at daver's request, Let's frontload this B**ch!
This is what I'm talking about.
Don’t do this to yourself. Let it go man, let it go.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
Yes, quite.
I just keep re-opening that wound for myself.
It doens’t matter. I’m sure that Starlin Castro is the next Hanley Ramirez anyway.
by jerry morales rules on Feb 17, 2010 10:14 AM CST up reply actions
Exactly
Very few pitchers came out of college more heralded than Prior. If he had not told the Twins I will not sign with you, they would have picked him over hometown boy Mauer, no question. It seemed that the only question about Prior was how many Cy Young awards would he win.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Feb 17, 2010 4:25 PM CST up reply actions
I knew the Twins agonized over
the choice with Prior considered by many the can’t miss, college proven, #1 starter, but with a high contract demand.
What I didn’t remember was the Cubs interest in Teixiera as their other choice.
Choosing Teixiera probably would have altered many decisions in the post 2002 offseason. Are the Cubs ready bring up Teixiera to start 2003 like Texas did? With Teixiera waiting in the wings would Hendry accept Karros as part of the Hundley dump? Does that mean Hundley is still part of the team and impacting the clubhouse in 2003?
Without Prior, do the Cubs make the playoffs or the NLCS 2003? But then again, without relying on Prior, is another guy in as the #2 starter to make the 2004 team a contender?
I see comments above saying they don’t want to rehash this, but the team made the NLCS in 2003. A feat that should continue to be discussed.
That too many can only think of game the 8th inning in game 6 as the defining moment of the series are too focused on the geeky dude in the stands and missing the other goofs in the 7 game series.
If Guthrie could have got one out in game 1, the series would have ended at game 4. If the team could have been tougher mentally and DB hadn’t worn out his starters, they could have won in game 7.
Prior was the most “sure thing” in the draft and proved it with his arm in 2003. What came later with Prior was a debacle.
If anyone is scoring at home, I prefer my team losing in the NLCS to getting swept in the division series as getting to the NLCS and winning is a minor key to getting to the WS and winning there.
at daver's request, Let's frontload this B**ch!
Here's another interesting thought
Teixiera was drafted as a 3B, and was a decent fielder there IIRC, but the Rangers moved him to 1B because they already had Hank Blalock. The Cubs would likely have kept Teixiera at third, so if they draft him the Aramis Ramirez deal probably doesn’t happen.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
by hip2bsquare on Feb 17, 2010 11:50 AM CST up reply actions
Possibly. Tiex is also not a small man.
As I remember, he was projected more at first, but good point.
at daver's request, Let's frontload this B**ch!
Tex
would have had to move to first. We couldn’t have kept him at third.
The issue becomes if we have Teixeira, we might not trade for either Aramis Ramirez or Derrek Lee.
by Josh Timmers on Feb 17, 2010 12:15 PM CST up reply actions
Eventually, yes
But with Hee Seop Choi still regarded as a top prospect at the time, I’d guess the Cubs would try to keep Tex at third for as long as possible.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
by hip2bsquare on Feb 17, 2010 12:37 PM CST up reply actions
I doubt that as 2003 was to be Choi's big year.
After a good start, he was struggling in May before the injury and continued a steady decline after the DL.
Regardless of Prior or Tex, Choi’s ship was sailing.
at daver's request, Let's frontload this B**ch!
Right.
Teixeira could have passed Choi up in the farm system. He might have been in the Arizona Fall League in 2002 or 2003, and been the starting 1B in 2004.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Which means Choi could have been dealt for someone else.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Which raises another interesting "what if" scenario:
What if Choi avoids that freak collision with Kerry Wood and never gets a concussion? I don’t think he was ever diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, but he was very clearly never the same hitter after that. Does he finish 2003 strongly enough that the Cubs decide they don’t need to trade for Lee? Hmmm…
The things we think about while waiting for baseball season to start…
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Interesting ...
Let’s say the Cubs picked Mauer. Clearly, he would have been a great player for many years — but I could see a what-if scenario with Mauer that would have played out badly.
1) Without Prior, even with Mauer, the Cubs don’t win the division in 2003 and nearly make the series. Wood-Clement-Zambrano-Estes-Cruz could have been the rotation, barring other moves, of course. I don’t see that rotation beating Houston or St. Louis.
2) Prior’s overuse in 2003 might have had a secondary effect — saving Zambrano’s arm. I’m not sure what Z’s pitch counts were in 2003, but as the No. 4 starter, they couldn’t have been as high as Prior’s. Without Prior, Z might have been the one with a crushingly short career.
3) The heartbreak of 2003 unquestionably changed the mentality of the franchise and the fanbase. Instead of standing pat, the Cubs traded for Derrek Lee and Michael Barrett before 2004, and signed Greg Maddux and LaTroy Hawkins. The Tribune stopped being tight-fisted, and spent real money (sometimes ineffectively) for the rest of the decade. If the Cubs had finished third in 2003, I’m not sure all of that would have happened.
Would the Cubs be better off right now if they had drafted Mauer? For 2010, probably so. But the what-ifs are enormous.
It won't matter, Geo is taking comeback player of the year
Bob Brenly on Leo Nunez "Dan Uggla just saved Nunez’ life because Koyie would break him into a million pieces"
unless Z beats him for it
Wait for it....POUND SAND Without me this board is Al Yellon talking to himself.....................by BLou
SORI!!!
"That pitch wasn’t down and in, that pitch was down and up." Tim McCarver
by wrigleyrocker12 on Feb 17, 2010 10:17 PM CST up reply actions
And we could have gotten Joe DiMaggio, but...
…we were too worried about his knees. He went on to have a Hall of Fame career.
Oh yeah? What about that Lou Brock trade?
And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.
I weep over the thought of Mark Texiera or Joe Mauer in a Cub uniform
Texiera would have been an absolute MONSTER in Wrigley Field.
The Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup in 2010.
If Prior stayed healthy, no one would be weeping
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Feb 18, 2010 1:03 PM CST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bleed Cubbie Blue
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
Cubs By The Numbers
Cubs By The Numbers is a history of the ballclub by uniform number, but the biographies help trace the history of our beloved team in a new way. For everyone who's a Cubs fan, anyone who ever wore the uniform is like family. Cubs By The Numbers reintroduces readers to some of their long-lost ancestors, even ones they think they already know.
Click here to order your copy, available now!
Recent Stories in Chicago Cubs Game Threads
Recent Stories in Ticket Exchanges
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- College player makes impossible over the fence catch to save tournament game (Video)
- Security!: Camden Yards guard collides with Royals’ Mike Moustakas
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
