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— Cubs Baseball for Thinking Fans

Friday, March 17, 2006

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A little late on this, but here is the most recent set of demotions by the Cubs:

“Optioned pitcher Carlos Marmol and infielder Scott Moore to West Tenn of the Southern League (AA); assigned pitchers Brian Boehringer and Carmen Pignatiello, infielder Brandon Sing and outfielders Buck Coats and Adam Greenberg to minor league camp.” (Source: ESPN.com)

Marmol is an interesting case. A converted catcher, he’s performed well since he started pitching in 2003 at age 20. Although his control has been shaky, he’s averaged a K/IP as a farmhand. If he starts strong for the Diamond Jaxx I expect he’ll be promoted to the Iowa rotation in a hurry.

Will Marquis Grissom make the club? He was awful last year, but he does have a history of lefty-mashing and he’s a Dustyite so, at this point, I think he probably will. Right now I see the opening day roster panning out as follows:

Catcher:

Barrett

Infield:

Lee
Walker
Cedeno
Ramirez

Outfield:

Murton
Pierre
Jones

Bench:

Blanco
Perez
Hairston
Grissom
Restovich
Mabry

Starters:

Zambrano
Maddux
Williams
Rusch

Bullpen:

Dempster
Howry
Eyre
Wuertz
Williamson
Ohman
Novoa/Wellemeyer until Hill or Marshall or Guzman or Ryu is promoted as a fifth starter in mid-April (and until Prior gets back).

Personally, I’d like to see Greenberg get a shot instead of Grissom - he’d add some speed and on-base skills off the bench and is a better defender. However, in addition to being Dusty’s pal, Grissom has acquired the “veteran leader” moniker by default for lasting so long, and we can’t have enough those now can we?

Luke Jasenosky Posted: March 17, 2006 at 06:42 PM | 10 comment(s)
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1. SouthSideRyan(CASEY'S GONE!!) Posted: March 17, 2006 at 08:53 PM (#1904909)

Your roster assumes they'd be logical and use an 11 man staff, especially since they're probably gonna start with a 4 man rotation. Of course they'll go with 12 and Rich Hill will get approximately 1/3 of an inning in weeks.

2. Pops Freshenmeyer Posted: March 17, 2006 at 08:55 PM (#1904911)

If Prior and Wood are both out for extended periods then you think Hill is the fifth starter?

I never thought I would be praying for Glendon Rusch to stay healthy and save the season.

3. Hendry's Wad of Cash (UCCF) Posted: March 17, 2006 at 09:01 PM (#1904916)

I'll be stunned if Grissom doesn't stay on the roster all year. He's a prototypical Dusty guy - old and largely useless, but with the ability to get a fluke hit or make a key defensive play that Baker can point to as a reason to get him weeks of unwarranted playing time (either in the lineup vs "tough matchups for the kid" or as first guy off the bench, Lenny Harris style).

Given the 12-man bullpen (particularly in April, when Dusty actually thinks about not overworking his pitchers), I'd guess one of Mabry or Restovich is odd man out at this point. Though if Cedeno keeps struggling, I could totally see the Cubs sending him to Iowa to start the season and give him a chance to get his swing together without all the media pressure of being in Chicago, and picking up someone like Pokey Reese to play backup (I know, Pokey with personal problems, but that's just the kind of guy I could see Dusty trying to convince Hendry he could take under his wing and straighten out).

4. Luke Jasenosky Posted: March 17, 2006 at 09:07 PM (#1904920)

I really think management will have a harder time justifying a 12 man staff now that Macias is gone. As terrible as he was, he allowed Baker to pretend he had multiple positions covered so he could go with the extra pitcher. The real issue is the number of arms out of the bullpen - until mid-April, the Cubs will only need the four starters, so they can keep seven arms in the bullpen like they did all of last year. It is questionable whether they will stay with seven in the bullpen once they add a fifth starter - I'd like to think they won't because of the Macias issue discussed above, but Baker's fetish for a weak bench and an extra arm fossilizing in the bullpen might win the day. In that case, I do think the battle would be between Restovich and Grissom and, most likely, Restovich would be seeing Des Moines.

5. Hendry's Wad of Cash (UCCF) Posted: March 17, 2006 at 09:10 PM (#1904921)

I never thought I would be praying for Glendon Rusch to stay healthy and save the season.

Look how ugly that rotation is when you take Prior out. You've got Williams (sporadically good last year), Rusch (always a question mark), and then a bunch of very untested kids behind a legitimate ace (Zambrano) and an aging league average guy.

Yikes.

6. SouthSideRyan(CASEY'S GONE!!) Posted: March 18, 2006 at 05:36 AM (#1905369)

7. SouthSideRyan(CASEY'S GONE!!) Posted: March 18, 2006 at 05:37 AM (#1905370)

Which of couse sucks cause Restovich would be the best hitter on our bench.

8. diehard4life Posted: March 20, 2006 at 06:34 PM (#1908997)

No way Mabry doesn't make the team. In Dusty's eyes he's the only backup 3B on the team. And yeah I know it's insane when Team MVP could cover it quite easily.

I don't see any way Restovich makes the team. Seems like Dusty loves Pagan way more than him.

Which of couse sucks cause Restovich would be the best hitter on our bench.

The one year we have a couple of exciting position players everyone would like to see get a shot, they are gonna be circling the tarmac in Des Moines so we can keep that 7th arm out there.

I thought Pagan and Restovich both played pretty well.

I think it's so Crusty can use 4 pitchers in an inning after he's run the starter into the ground with the bases loaded and no outs.

9. diehard4life Posted: March 20, 2006 at 06:38 PM (#1909002)

Team MVP

Sorry to be dense, You are referring to Mr. Perez, correct?

10. Pops Freshenmeyer Posted: March 20, 2006 at 08:05 PM (#1909075)

Sorry to be dense, You are referring to Mr. Perez, correct?

Yeah - good ol' Outy Outerson.

The outinest out in the Outst.

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