Mark Prior is scheduled to start this afternoon for the Chicago Cubs in concrete-crumbling Wrigley Field against the Philadelphia Phillies. It could be the most important start of the season for the Boston Red Sox.

The Major League Baseball trading deadline, before players must pass through waivers to be moved, is 4 p.m. Saturday. The Red Sox and Cubs are discussing a deal that would send Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs for Matt Clement and shortstop Alex Gonzalez. The Sox would also like a prospect.

Offensively, the Cubs are dying in the vines. They began the season with what many saw as the best rotation in the game, with Clement, Prior, Victor Zambrano, and Kerry Wood

The W’s have not resulted because they can’t score runs. The Cubs find themselves out of the Central Division race with the Cardinals racing toward another title. The NL wild-card spot is a six-team dogfight, with the Cubs included.

The Cubs are convinced that without more offense, they will be home at the end of September, a blow to the stomach based on preseason hopes. They want help.

Gonzalez provides no offense from the shortstop position, thus, the interest in Garciaparra.

The Sox are out of the division race as well, with the Yankees roaring again. They, too, must seek a wild-card spot. The Sox need starting pitching, since they are less than .500 in games not started by either Pedro Martinez or Curt Shilling.

Clement is a game below .500 in the W-L column, but he is in the top 10 of the NL in opponent batting average and ERA. The Cubs have scored few runs for him in his starts of late, otherwise he would be making a run at a 20-win season.

Garciaparra is a free agent at the end of the year, and despite the sparkling career offensive numbers with the Sox, there is every indication he is ready to move to the West Coast next year.

Perhaps Chicago is close enough to California to satisfy Nomar, or he could be a rent-a-player for the rest of this year with Chicago and seek a spot on a West Coast roster next year.

The Cubs would still have Prior, Wood, and Zambrano as core starters if they trade Clement. They can live with that.

That brings us back to Prior’s scheduled start today. Both Wood and Prior have had injury problems this year. Wood is back and appears fit to finish the year. If Prior were to look the same in today’s start, the Cubs would feel comfortable enough to make the Clement move.

Clement is scheduled to start on Saturday, so the timing for the deal from that aspect is perfect for both teams. Glendon Rusch would be moved into Clement’s spot and Clement could be in a Sox uniform by Saturday, ready to start.

There is shared misery between Sox and Cub fans. How ironic it would be if this were the deal that ended the curse on both their houses.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.