Cubs pitcher Mark Prior said he probably won't be ready to start spring training at full strength but plans to be ready to pitch by Opening Day next year and made it clear he wants to do that in a Cubs uniform -- even though it's unclear where he would fit in a Cubs rotation. The former All-Star, who spoke with Chicago writers Saturday for the first time since undergoing surgery April 24, has an appointment with his surgeon, James Andrews, early next month to get a progress report and possibly learn when he can start a throwing program. So far, he said, he's been at or ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation at the team's training facility in Mesa, Ariz., and was relieved to finally have the surgery that revealed ''more [damage] than anyone expected.'' ''Obviously, it wasn't a road that we wanted to go down, but it was a road that looking back and knowing what they found, it's a road that was kind of inevitable,'' said Prior, whose injuries have limited him to just nine starts since the end of 2005.