Cubs to Announce Rotation & Bullpen Roles Tomorrow

[UMFan83]

Would anyone else be content with going with a six man rotation for the first 2 months of the season? Or atleast come up with a schedule that rotates all Lieber, Marquis, and Dempster equally? Seems like it would be a good way to keep all 3 of them fresh for the entire season.

 

Although I guess you could say that Lou's plan of using Lieber as a long reliever could do a very similar thing. However, wouldn't have made more sense to use Dempster in the long relief role?

 

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly?

 

Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games.

 

Obviously you chose not to read the entire post. I was throwing out 2 options to help keep those 3 fresh. So we can actually get the best out of them.

 

How exactly would you choose to "keep all of them fresh" without taking starts from Z, Lilly, or Hill? You can't send them down to the minors and just bring them up whenever its time to make a start. 2 out of the 3 will get regular work and Lieber will have to get his work on the side to ensure that if he has to start, his arm will be able to go 5 or 6 innings.

 

My Prospoal works something like this. We keep 12 pitchers on the roster. You will have each one pitch 2 in a row then pull them for a week and do a 3 man rotation. The one out of the rotation at the time will be in the pen available certain days for some relief work.

 

Or we trade one of them and if another of the pitchers gets hurt, we move Marshall into the rotation.

[Clem Fandango]

Well... Theriot at the lead off spot is a bit unexpected. And disappointing

 

Unexpected? Theriot at leadoff has been about the only clear-cut Lou decision for the past couple weeks.

 

Then color me uninformed. I was expecting to see Soriano and Theriot swapped

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Someone tell me Lieber lost velocity or something, because otherwise this seems to be a rotation based on salary.

 

Also, while I'd like to see Lieber in the rotation, if we remove Hill from it before, say, ever, I'm going to put my hand through a wall.

[A New Era]

Well at least Lieber doesn't walk much?

 

Why would he sign here to be the long reliever? I'm sure they are going to trade Marquis, and having him "win" a rotation spot will only help his trade value.

 

This is what I want but I'm really REALLY pessimistic about that happening. I just don't think it's gonna happen.

[CuseCubFan69]

Someone tell me Lieber lost velocity or something, because otherwise this seems to be a rotation based on salary.

 

Also, while I'd like to see Lieber in the rotation, if we remove Hill from it before, say, ever, I'm going to put my hand through a wall.

 

Make it sheetrock because a brick one will really hurt.

 

I'm not going to jump to any conclusions until the season starts to develop. I think the bad players will start to weed them selves out and be replaced.

[jmajew]

Would anyone else be content with going with a six man rotation for the first 2 months of the season? Or atleast come up with a schedule that rotates all Lieber, Marquis, and Dempster equally? Seems like it would be a good way to keep all 3 of them fresh for the entire season.

 

Although I guess you could say that Lou's plan of using Lieber as a long reliever could do a very similar thing. However, wouldn't have made more sense to use Dempster in the long relief role?

 

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly?

 

Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games.

 

Obviously you chose not to read the entire post. I was throwing out 2 options to help keep those 3 fresh. So we can actually get the best out of them.

 

How exactly would you choose to "keep all of them fresh" without taking starts from Z, Lilly, or Hill? You can't send them down to the minors and just bring them up whenever its time to make a start. 2 out of the 3 will get regular work and Lieber will have to get his work on the side to ensure that if he has to start, his arm will be able to go 5 or 6 innings.

 

My Prospoal works something like this. We keep 12 pitchers on the roster. You will have each one pitch 2 in a row then pull them for a week and do a 3 man rotation. The one out of the rotation at the time will be in the pen available certain days for some relief work.

 

Or we trade one of them and if another of the pitchers gets hurt, we move Marshall into the rotation.

 

Yes lets trade Marquis for a low level prospect and have to pay 60% of his contract. Marquis is valuable. What we need to do is trade Dempster to Detroit.

[NOLA]

I hope Eyre needs tommy john

Tommy John probably doesn't feel the same way about Eyre.

OK, that's pretty funny!

[Soul]

Well at least Lieber doesn't walk much?

 

Why would he sign here to be the long reliever? I'm sure they are going to trade Marquis, and having him "win" a rotation spot will only help his trade value.

 

This is what I want but I'm really REALLY pessimistic about that happening. I just don't think it's gonna happen.

 

I don't see it either. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[David]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

[TruffleShuffle]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

 

so does lieber.

[Schwarber Fan]

Is Lou insane? Lieber has the spring of his career, not to mention he is already better than both Dempster and Marquis, and he gets sent to the bullpen? This year's rotation is looking worst than last year's.

[javy knows my name]

Is Lou insane? Lieber has the spring of his career, not to mention he is already better than both Dempster and Marquis, and he gets sent to the bullpen? This year's rotation is looking worst than last year's.

That's probably because it is

[jersey cubs fan]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

 

He's also a good bet to eventually implode with disaster start after disaster start. And he's guaranteed big money this year and next. I want him traded ASAP. But I can live with him in the rotation right now, assuming he does maintain that halfway decentness.

[javy knows my name]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

 

He's also a good bet to eventually implode with disaster start after disaster start. And he's guaranteed big money this year and next. I want him traded ASAP. But I can live with him in the rotation right now, assuming he does maintain that halfway decentness.

The question is, do we want to pay him to suck for us or to suck for someone else?

[CuseCubFan69]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

 

He's also a good bet to eventually implode with disaster start after disaster start. And he's guaranteed big money this year and next. I want him traded ASAP. But I can live with him in the rotation right now, assuming he does maintain that halfway decentness.

 

The problem is if he is pitching well the Cubs will keep him around until he does implode. If they actually traded when he was pitching well they could possibly get something decent out of this along with possibly not paying a big part of his contract. If he stinks up the joint right out of the shoot, it's going to cost the Cubs some big money to move him.

[A New Era]

I still don't understand why people are so anxious to get Marquis out of the rotation and the other of Lieber/Dempster in. They all suck.

 

At least Marquis has a chance to be halfway decent for a decent chunk of the season.

 

I agree but I think most of us are preferring Leiber over Dempster not Marquis. I'll speak for myself atleast. Ofcourse Demp over Marquis 2nd half I'll take any day.

[GvilleCub]

I'm not so worried about Lieber being relegated (unfairly) to the bullpen since at least he will be available once the Dempster "experiment" comes to its likely end but lets not kid ourselves: Lieber is not likely to be much more than mediocre for any extended stretch of time at this point. And it does enhance Marquis' trade value if he is moved before the regular season since he "won" the starter competition. It is just too bad that the Cubs are so committed to Dempster in the rotation that they couldn't go with Lieber and Marquis from the start since Dempster in the bullpen is not all bad: his splits vs. righties continue to be very impressive going back over the past 3 years.

[Soul]

The problem is these sucky pitchers give us the willies and we don't trust them for crap.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm not so worried about Lieber being relegated (unfairly) to the bullpen since at least he will be available once the Dempster "experiment" comes to its likely end but lets not kid ourselves: Lieber is not likely to be much more than mediocre for any extended stretch of time at this point. And it does enhance Marquis' trade value if he is moved before the regular season since he "won" the starter competition. It is just too bad that the Cubs are so committed to Dempster in the rotation that they couldn't go with Lieber and Marquis from the start since Dempster in the bullpen is not all bad: his splits vs. righties continue to be very impressive going back over the past 3 years.

 

I think he may be able to manage a bit of average to above average for a while. But your point stands. He was never going to make 33 solid starts.

[davearm2]

Meh. Not sure why this is Marquis/Dempster/Lieber situation is generating so much hand-wringing. You can throw a blanket over all three guys.

[Soul]

'Cuz it's fine to complain about things, that's why :D

[Mizzou]

While I don't like him in the bullpen, Lieber is a lot better than most other teams 6th starters. Nice to have depth there.

[Vanilla Ice]

Is Lou insane? Lieber has the spring of his career, not to mention he is already better than both Dempster and Marquis, and he gets sent to the bullpen? This year's rotation is looking worst than last year's.

That's probably because it is

 

I think this year Opening Day rotation is better than last year's Opening Day rotation. Remember, last year the number five was Wade Miller. All we did was replace Miller with Dempster with Hill likely to take a big step forward and Lilly going a little backwards.

[SouthSideRyan]

This whole Dempster to the rotation is the dumbest thing the Cubs have done since they put Dempster in the rotation in '05.

[Roast]

This whole Dempster to the rotation is the dumbest thing the Cubs have done since they put Dempster in the rotation in '05.

 

Neifi waves hello.