SAN DIEGO - The Padres did a little belated holiday shopping on Wednesday when they added former 18-game winner Mark Prior.

The former Chicago Cubs pitcher signed a one-year deal with the Padres with a $1 million base salary for 2008. The contract could be worth $5.5 million if Prior - who likely won't pitch in the big leagues until the middle or end of May - hits every benchmark, including making up to 30 starts and staying on the 25-man roster all season.

Prior, a San Diego native, hasn't pitched since Aug. 10, 2006, after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum. The 27-year-old right-hander became a free agent after the Cubs didn't offer him a contract Dec. 12.

"I'm excited," Prior said in a conference call. "There are so many things right about coming home to San Diego. … I want to re-establish myself as a competitive pitcher in this league."

The second overall pick in the 2002 amateur baseball draft, Prior went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA for Chicago in 2003, but has been limited to 57 starts since. He finished 2006 with a 1-6 mark and a 7.21 ERA in nine starts and finally underwent shoulder surgery in 2007.

However, the Padres were encouraged by the progress report of Dr. James Andrews gave them.

Prior is currently throwing from 105 feet on flat ground and will soon move to 120. He said the next move is to throw off flat ground from 60 feet before potentially throwing off a mound by mid-to-late January.

If everything remains on schedule, Prior would begin to throw batting practice five weeks after that, with the ultimate goal of reaching the majors sometime in May.

"I feel now that I have things taken care of," Prior said. "It's going to take time to get the flow going and get confidence back … it takes time and a number of consecutive starts to get your confidence back, your swagger back."

Prior's agent, John Boggs, said as many as 14 teams showed strong interest in Prior, and as many as seven may have offered bigger deals. The Astros, Cardinals, Rangers and Mets were among the more aggressive suitors, according to Prior.

But the Padres were the right situation for Prior, because they're offering him time to heal and are only asking him to step into the No. 5 role in an already strong rotation. The team will also allow Prior to become a free agent in 2009, while several of the Padres' competitors wanted an option year.

"That was all part of the logic of the decision where he wanted to be," Boggs said. "This created the perfect scenario for a great number of reasons. If Mark is healthy and ready, they're definitely, hopefully, going to reap the rewards of that patience."

Even though the Padres seemed like a perfect fit, the front office wasn't sure if Prior was sold on San Diego. General manager Kevin Towers, a neighbor of Prior's, mentioned that he had run into him several times, and Prior had feigned interest in returning home.

But whether it would happen was uncertain.

"We weren't sure," said Jeff Kingston, the Padres' director of baseball operations. "We knew he wanted to come here, but other teams were very aggressive."

What the Padres are certain of is that if Prior is healthy, their rotation would be tough to beat. But manager Bud Black emphasized there will be no rushing of Prior and that no timetable has been set.

"Whenever he's able to take the mound, we feel as though we have an impact guy," Black said. "We feel as though we're very solid (in the rotation) with four guys who will come to camp healthy and ready to go … We feel as though the shoulder and his body will let us know when he's ready to pitch. There's no sense trying to speed up the healing process."

- Contact staff writer Dan Hayes at dhayes@nctimes.com.