Prior might be Cubs' key ... and right now, that's not good news

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MESA, Ariz. -- Eight-thirty in the morning is not the most comfortable time for any baseball player, and it's particularly awkward for a playing-from-behind, would-be ace attempting to catch up with his high-gloss past.

Mark Prior has exhausted the trust Cubs fans once had in him. (Getty Images)

But there Mark Prior was Friday, on a back field at the Chicago Cubs' minor league complex, tightening his mechanics here and trying not to get under his change-up there. At the plate, hitters expected to form the Cubs' Double-A team this summer took their hacks.

How far from prime time is Prior at this late date in spring training?

The first three batters he faced in this intrasquad game each wore No. 15.

Meanwhile, somewhere on Interstate 10, the Cubs' bus rumbled toward Tucson and a Cactus League game with the Colorado Rockies.

"It was better," Prior said of his breaking ball when his 59-pitch Bloody Mary special was finished. "But I still wrapped and yanked a few of them."

The Cubs made a lot of noise this winter, popping for a $300 million remodeling that brought in a new manager and several marquee free agents.

And for all that, you can take Lou Piniella, Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, Mark DeRosa and any of the other new toys in general manager Jim Hendry's garage.

I'll still take Mark Prior as the key to the Chicago Cubs' season.

Again.

(Pause here to allow Wrigleyville residents to put fists through the drywall in frustration.)

There is no guarantee Prior, 26, ever will be the 18-game winner he was in 2003, and with each passing day, the odds stack higher and higher against it.

In fact, watching Prior early on a spring morning is both stunning and saddening: He has regressed to project status. The ace who started Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS is but a distant memory, as real anymore as your senior prom or your first car.