prior placed on minor league disabled list

this is probably a non-story, dear reader, of which one trusts you are relieved to be availed. but the cubs have quietly moved mark prior to the seven-day minor league disabled list.

The Cubs were required to commit him to the DL when they decided to hold him back from the first week of the season at Class AAA Iowa so he could increase his stamina to at least five innings during extended spring training in Arizona.

The Cubs initially reported Monday that the extended spring move would not include a DL move. The Iowa Cubs open the season Thursday in Round Rock, Texas.

Because Prior was optioned to Iowa when the major-league club cut its roster last week, he'll open on the seven-day minor-league DL.

this only bears watching because of the multiplicity of deceptions that have characterized the cubs under tribco's ownership, particularly as regards pitching injuries. this page has already noted the understated reliance that a winning effort for the 2007 club likely has on prior's health -- and likewise it is here hoped that the move is simply another example of the administrative buffoonery of jim hendry's roster management.