Your Mark Prior Injury Update: Yeah, He's Hurt - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

When your shoulder makes the sound of a firecracker, that's usually not a good thing. When Mark Prior's shoulder makes the sound of a firecracker, sadly it's just another day at the office. Prior, Padres fans, and those who care about him were hoping that this was just a freak thing and that he'd be all right. But after all, this is Mark Prior we're talking about.

Prior's agent John Boggs confirmed Friday that the right-hander has a tear in the capsule of his right shoulder, the shoulder he had surgery on in April 2007. (...)

"It's a setback, but in terms of how big of a setback, we won't know until you know how [Prior] is feeling," Boggs said. "We just hope it's not a major setback.

"Mark is looking at it in a positive way. He will just lay low for a few weeks and let the shoulder settle down."

I also hope that this isn't a major setback. There's one problem: Every setback that has to do with Prior, who hasn't pitched since August of '06, is major. Because every setback could be the one that convinces (forces?) Prior to reevaluate his desire to rehabilitate and work his way towards standing atop a major league mound again. Hopefully, this isn't that setback, and that Prior can come back after some rest.