When Soriano comes back up - who goes down?

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I can't see Murton hanging around. He never sees the field when Soriano's injured. What's the point of keeping him on the bench as a 6th OF (he's clearly behind Fukudome, Soriano, Pie, Johnson, and DeRosa)? If Pie keeps playing well and Reed is going to be the platoon/4th OF, I think Murton is still back to AAA. Fontenot's bad, but he gives us a lefty and Lou and Jim both want more of those. At least if they send him to AAA and he starts mashing, he might have some trade value.

[bukie]

Cub front office think: Currently the Cubs' offensive balance looks like this: 9 righties, 4 lefties. Soriano is a righty, so it only makes sense to send down another righty when he comes back. Blanco is necessary as a backup C, Cedeno is necessary as a backup SS and is hitting the cover off the ball, so that leaves Murton to go down.

[CubColtPacer]

If they made the decision to start the season to send down Murton, I think they'd have to see something to reverse that. So far, his .680 combined OPS between AAA and the majors is probably not enough to change their minds. Of course, if he gets some starts over the next 5 days, that could change, but I don't see it. Not from the liberal way Lou uses his bench late in games, and with both corner OF positions blocked with players who aren't going to be coming out of games in the 7th inning, Murton would be strictly a pinch hitter (in games he doesn't start) and nothing more. I don't think Lou is willing to make 2 of his 4 non-backup catcher bench players to be that way, and so Ward's spot on the bench pushes Murton off. Murton's exclusion is a lot less of a big deal right now with Cedeno and Johnson both hitting well if Lou will push Fontenot to the 25th man spot. I think Lou's overuse of Fontenot is the bigger issue right now.

[CuseCubFan69]

If they made the decision to start the season to send down Murton, I think they'd have to see something to reverse that. So far, his .680 combined OPS between AAA and the majors is probably not enough to change their minds. Of course, if he gets some starts over the next 5 days, that could change, but I don't see it. Not from the liberal way Lou uses his bench late in games, and with both corner OF positions blocked with players who aren't going to be coming out of games in the 7th inning, Murton would be strictly a pinch hitter (in games he doesn't start) and nothing more. I don't think Lou is willing to make 2 of his 4 non-backup catcher bench players to be that way, and so Ward's spot on the bench pushes Murton off. Murton's exclusion is a lot less of a big deal right now with Cedeno and Johnson both hitting well if Lou will push Fontenot to the 25th man spot. I think Lou's overuse of Fontenot is the bigger issue right now.

 

Yeah, it has to be he wants a lefty bat pretty bad because Fontenot is no defensive whiz by any means. He's Lou's Lenny.

[bukie]

Here's my line of thinking (not to be confused with the Cubs' front office line of thinking):

 

Sean Marshall is barely being used right now, thanks to the rotation stabilizing itself. The Cubs already have two long relievers available besides Marshall that are pitching well anyway (Hart, Lieber), and the lack of a lefty in the pen hasn't hurt them (in fact, it keeps Lou from using relievers like tissues to play the lefty/righty matchups).

 

Also, the way Lou manages, the Cubs are regularly out of available position players well before the 9th (heck, they were winning 8-1 yesterday and had to use Marquis to PH), so having an extra position player available, even simply in a PH role, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

 

In addition, it was pretty obvious that Ward has no business as a backup OF from the one time he was used there. He's strictly a PH/backup 1B at this point.

 

So then, putting it all together, it would make sense to send down Marshall, get him some use as a starter to stretch him out as an available starter when the Cubs need one, and leave Murton up, giving the Cubs 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

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Here's my line of thinking (not to be confused with the Cubs' front office line of thinking):

 

Sean Marshall is barely being used right now, thanks to the rotation stabilizing itself. The Cubs already have two long relievers available besides Marshall that are pitching well anyway (Hart, Lieber), and the lack of a lefty in the pen hasn't hurt them (in fact, it keeps Lou from using relievers like tissues to play the lefty/righty matchups).

 

Also, the way Lou manages, the Cubs are regularly out of available position players well before the 9th (heck, they were winning 8-1 yesterday and had to use Marquis to PH), so having an extra position player available, even simply in a PH role, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

 

In addition, it was pretty obvious that Ward has no business as a backup OF from the one time he was used there. He's strictly a PH/backup 1B at this point.

 

So then, putting it all together, it would make sense to send down Marshall, get him some use as a starter to stretch him out as an available starter when the Cubs need one, and leave Murton up, giving the Cubs 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

 

I agree that Marshall is being mis-used. But I don't think Murton or Marshall has a place on this team. I'd like both of them starting in AAA. Murton's never going to see the field with Soriano up and he's not a very good PH. I'd prefer Marshall get regular starts in AAA than ride the bench too. Of course, Fontenot also doesn't deserve to be on the team. Can we send all 3 down and bring up 2 bench players that could PH and don't suck?

[bukie]

I agree that Marshall is being mis-used. But I don't think Murton or Marshall has a place on this team. I'd like both of them starting in AAA. Murton's never going to see the field with Soriano up and he's not a very good PH. I'd prefer Marshall get regular starts in AAA than ride the bench too. Of course, Fontenot also doesn't deserve to be on the team. Can we send all 3 down and bring up 2 bench players that could PH and don't suck?

 

Despite the fact that I believe Fontenot shouldn't be starting, he IS a better hitter than he's been this year. Murton is a perfectly serviceable backup RF/LF that should be able to get on base at a .360+ clip over the course of the year, even with PH duty. Both can be useful bench pieces (more useful than some light-hitting defensive whiz that would probably take up the 25th spot otherwise). Until Eyre comes back, I don't see the problem with having 14 position players and 11 pitchers on the roster when you already have 3 long relievers. The Cub relief corps has already settled into defined roles with 2 long men (Hart, Lieber), 2 stopgap short guys (Howry, Wuertz) and 2 game finishers (Marmol, Wood).

 

Marshall doesn't have a clear role in the pen other than LOOGY, which is a waste of Marshall. Much better suited to someone like Eyre (if he can come back effectively), while Marshall starts in AAA to give the Cubs a clear, valuable starter for when one of the five currently in the rotation (personally, my money's on Marquis first) implodes, gets traded, or gets injured. Much better than simply banking on those five to come through over the entire year with no hiccups (see: 2004).