Cactus League: 3/14 Angels (Santana) @ CUBS (Dempster) 3:05

[CubColtPacer]

Lou has to be driven crazy by Dempster's lack of control. That's 6 walks and 2 hit batters in 10 2/3 innings this spring. He has gotten some really quick innings as well, but that control is simply not acceptable over the season, no matter how few basehits he gives up.

[big_shooter17]

I don't want to write Dempster off quite yet even though i am pretty frustrated with what i have been listening to today on the radio. I hope that Marquis can be given a fair look after all that happened between he and lou earlier this spring.

This is typical of Dempster. He's a walking machine. I never understood why they wanted him to start any way, back when they tried it (I think in 2005) he was terrible at it. Good thing we have depth there though.

 

well, i agree. i haven't been a big supporter of him in this role from the start, but he had a couple of nice outings before this. i just don't know where you put him. i guess that he could be a middle reliever. i know that money should play a role in the decision as it is a sunk cost at this point, but it'd suck to have 5 million (i know i know, not my money) tied up in some middle relief guy. and if that is where he would go, i would almost rather give a young guy a shot. i say this while liking dempster himself, but i worry about him and although i have no idea, i almost wonder if marshall doesn't end up getting that 5th spot when we're going down the stretch yet. he is capable of the best of the bunch, probably.

[jersey cubs fan]

Lou has to be driven crazy by Dempster's lack of control.

 

And it's only going to continue. Dempster has never had control. He claims he used to be good until getting injured, but he always sucked in the letting guys on for free category.

[YearofDaCubs]

I don't want to write Dempster off quite yet even though i am pretty frustrated with what i have been listening to today on the radio. I hope that Marquis can be given a fair look after all that happened between he and lou earlier this spring.

This is typical of Dempster. He's a walking machine. I never understood why they wanted him to start any way, back when they tried it (I think in 2005) he was terrible at it. Good thing we have depth there though.

 

well, i agree. i haven't been a big supporter of him in this role from the start, but he had a couple of nice outings before this. i just don't know where you put him. i guess that he could be a middle reliever. i know that money should play a role in the decision as it is a sunk cost at this point, but it'd suck to have 5 million (i know i know, not my money) tied up in some middle relief guy. and if that is where he would go, i would almost rather give a young guy a shot. i say this while liking dempster himself, but i worry about him and although i have no idea, i almost wonder if marshall doesn't end up getting that 5th spot when we're going down the stretch yet. he is capable of the best of the bunch, probably.

I think Dempster is in limbo. Lou doesn't trust him as a closer and we all know he will fail as a starter. I think when the season ends we will see Demp in middle relief or traded to another team.

[JGalt73]

I don't want to write Dempster off quite yet even though i am pretty frustrated with what i have been listening to today on the radio. I hope that Marquis can be given a fair look after all that happened between he and lou earlier this spring.

This is typical of Dempster. He's a walking machine. I never understood why they wanted him to start any way, back when they tried it (I think in 2005) he was terrible at it. Good thing we have depth there though.

 

well, i agree. i haven't been a big supporter of him in this role from the start, but he had a couple of nice outings before this. i just don't know where you put him. i guess that he could be a middle reliever. i know that money should play a role in the decision as it is a sunk cost at this point, but it'd suck to have 5 million (i know i know, not my money) tied up in some middle relief guy. and if that is where he would go, i would almost rather give a young guy a shot. i say this while liking dempster himself, but i worry about him and although i have no idea, i almost wonder if marshall doesn't end up getting that 5th spot when we're going down the stretch yet. he is capable of the best of the bunch, probably.

I think Dempster is in limbo. Lou doesn't trust him as a closer and we all know he will fail as a starter. I think when the season ends we will see Demp in middle relief or traded to another team.

 

They should have traded him before his shiny "closer" label got tarnished.

[big_shooter17]

At this point, does Dempster have any trade value, though? As a closer, he isn't in that elite company of guys who may be on the block like a Nathan or others. To teams not in the running, they obviously will go with a young guy. Then in middle relief, I don't think that he'd be good enough that anyone would be willing to give anything more than a box of balls for him with his price tag. I don't know about that, but I wonder how substantiated some of those trade rumours were of him going to Toronto to begin with (or how serious they were if there were talks). Teams also usually, if they are trading for bullpen help, tend to be looking for that dominator. As a starter, if he can't cut it as a 5th starter here, why would anyone else who needs a starter think that he can cut it there. If Boston felt that Marquis wasn't enough for Crisp, how much value does Dempster have? I don't know, I just really wonder what they can do with the guy because they will have to find some use for him somewhere. I know that a lot of my assumptions involve all of these rumours, which who knows the extent of the validity is to many of them after all of the speculation through this offseason.

[TruffleShuffle]

another very nice outing for lieber, 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

[CubsGM]

Is that Henry Blanco I see going deep?

[big_shooter17]

At this point, does Dempster have any trade value, though? As a closer, he isn't in that elite company of guys who may be on the block like a Nathan or others. To teams not in the running, they obviously will go with a young guy. Then in middle relief, I don't think that he'd be good enough that anyone would be willing to give anything more than a box of balls for him with his price tag. I don't know about that, but I wonder how substantiated some of those trade rumours were of him going to Toronto to begin with (or how serious they were if there were talks). Teams also usually, if they are trading for bullpen help, tend to be looking for that dominator. As a starter, if he can't cut it as a 5th starter here, why would anyone else who needs a starter think that he can cut it there. If Boston felt that Marquis wasn't enough for Crisp, how much value does Dempster have? I don't know, I just really wonder what they can do with the guy because they will have to find some use for him somewhere. I know that a lot of my assumptions involve all of these rumours, which who knows the extent of the validity is to many of them after all of the speculation through this offseason.

[CubColtPacer]

another very nice outing for lieber, 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

 

Make that 4 innings now...same other statistics as before.

 

Lieber has had a fantastic ST. Even if all 5 pitchers (Lieber/Marquis/Dempster/Marshall/Gallagher) were in an open competition, Lieber has clearly won the job over the other 4.

Edited March 14, 2008 by CubColtPacer

[PrimeTime]

Lieber with 4 inning of 2 hit ball..ERA is at 1.80

[TruffleShuffle]

no, nobody wants dempster.

 

4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K for lieber.

 

am i correct in assuming that he probably wasn't even scheduled to pitch today? if all went as planned, it would've been dempster for 4, then relievers the rest of the way? or was lieber supposed to go today too?

[big_shooter17]

...Or they expected Dempster to be unable to get out of the 2nd inning and they were able to schedule all of these pitchers without worries.

[BCVM22]

Game over, L 6-5 the final.

[TruffleShuffle]

i was lukewarm about the lieber signing, but the more i think about it, the more it seems like a really astute move. marshall is always an injury risk, dempster isn't good, marquis is at best an average pitcher, and may be significantly worse than average if he reverts to 2006. meanwhile lieber has never relied on power pitching to be effective. while he lost some command last year, he has a pretty long track record with a low BB rate (he actually has the lowest walk rate of any active pitcher with 1000 IP). as long as he throws strikes, he should be okay... the cubs' defense projects to be well above average this year. it's really imperative that lou keeps him on a short leash though; even if he's throwing well, he shouldn't be allowed to go much past 100 pitches, given his age and health history. the cubs should have a strong pen and an adequate long man (hart/marshall?) so they won't lose much by lifting lieber in the 6th.

[CubColtPacer]

no, nobody wants dempster.

 

4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K for lieber.

 

am i correct in assuming that he probably wasn't even scheduled to pitch today? if all went as planned, it would've been dempster for 4, then relievers the rest of the way? or was lieber supposed to go today too?

 

My guess is that they wouldn't throw Lieber today unless they planned to. You always want to give your starters some warning about when to pitch. It probably was supposed to be Dempster for 4/Lieber for 4 and then somebody for the 9th, and the early exit of Dempster meant that a couple extra relievers ended up pitching.