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Mark Prior got himself a nice Christmas present as Ken Rosenthal is reporting today that the Padres have signed him to a one year deal. There's no word on how much money Prior will be getting, but given his extreme injury history and the fact that he didn't throw one major league pitch for the Cubs last year, I imagine this is a pretty low-risk situation for the Padres.

Realistically, someone was going to take a chance on Prior and it makes a lot of sense that it's the Padres. They could probably use one more starter behind Chris Young and Jake Peavy, especially depending on how Randy Wolf works out, and Petco Park is a great place for a pitcher to try and find himself. I'm certainly not saying things are going to work out differently for Prior in San Diego, but if he's going to get himself together anywhere, San Diego is probably the most likely place for it to happen.

This move gives the Padres one of the most interesting rotations in the NL. They've got Young and Peavy at the top followed by Greg Maddux (who's going to be 42 shortly after opening day), and then a bunch of question marks in guys like Wolf, Prior, Justin Germano, etc. etc. If Prior and Wolf work out, they could be head and shoulders above everyone else in the National League. If not (and that seems more likely), they might not even be the best rotation in their own division (remember that Dan Haren is joining forces with Brandon Webb in Arizona).