Days after Alex Rodriguez said he and Yankee teammate Derek Jeter are no longer best friends, word has leaked out of the Cubs locker room that Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are no longer “bestest buddies in the whole wide world.”
Prior claimed the rift between the two was the result of Wood reneging on a deal they had about whose turn it was to get injured.
“It was my turn to get hurt before spring training and Kerry knew that, but he still goes out and pulls that crap with falling in his hot tub,” said Prior, clearly exasperated. “I had my plans laid out for an obscure, unfathomable injury, and he just screwed me.”
The two pitchers were on the cusp of stardom a few years ago, before a series of injuries caused both to become generally useless. They appeared in a combined 13 games in 2006. Through the injuries, though, they remained friends until now.
“I have no idea what Mark’s talking about,” Wood said after learning of Prior’s comments. “Last I heard was that he may not pitch this year, so I just assumed he was already injured and that meant it was my turn to go down.”
Wood wondered whether jealousy is driving Prior’s decision to cool their friendship.
“To our fans, I’ve been the embodiment of disappointed expectations for nearly a decade, and I think Mark is envious of the limelight,” said Wood. “I also think he wishes he could pull off something as preposterous as a hot tub accident.”
