IF there is a demise in 2008, it will be the pen

[SouthSideRyan]

Still think the pen will be fine?

 

Oh my God, I totally agree now that there's been 12 more games.

[SouthSideRyan]

Funniest thing is that the relievers coming into today had a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings in May. (Best split I could find at work)

[Keener98]

Still think the pen will be fine?

After a day when our starting pitcher gives up 4 Hr's in 1 inning, you are asking questions about the pen? Are your serious?

[Schwarber Fan]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

[C.C.]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

 

 

The inconsistent offense hasn't helped.

[Keener98]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

Expecting a bullpen to go 7 shutout innings is ignorant. Starting pitching is our major problem right now not the bullpen. If our starting pitchers would quit only going 5 innings damn near everytime out, our bullpen would be fine.

[jersey cubs fan]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

 

Well, Marshall, who has been a loogy all year average under 10 pitches per outing was perfectly fine through 2, but since the started sucked so bad he was forced to go longer, pushing his pitch count to 4 times his average, and that's when he struggled. Plus, Gallagher isn't a reliever, he's been a starter all year. If guys were in the roles they were supposed to be in, perhaps the bullpen would look better. But when your 4th best starter from 2007 becomes the longman (in name only, in actuallity a loogy), your 2nd best starter is treated like a 19 year old on a tryout, and your most inconsistent veteran starters are given jobs they do not deserve, things are going to be messy.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

 

Incorrect.

[Banedon]

Does the starter giving up 4 HRs give the relievers an excuse to give up runs? It hasn't just been tonight either. Outside of Marmol and sometimes Wood, the pen's continued to be brutal.

 

All stats coming into the day:

 

The bullpen has a 3.85 ERA...solidly middle of the pack. Lieber has a 1.86 ERA as a reliever. Sean Marshall has a 2.70 ERA.

[NCCubFan]

Still think the pen will be fine?

Holy overreaction, Batman.

 

Lieber: 5 runs allowed in 2 innings.

Bullpen: 4 runs allowed in 6 innings.

 

Methinks Lieber was much worse than the bullpen today.

[UK1679666180]

They need a #2 starter more than anything else.

[sethuel1]

They need a #2 starter more than anything else.

Hmmm. There;s this guy down in Iowa that I think could come up and really pitch the lights out. What's his name....Hill, I think.

[UK1679666180]

They need a #2 starter more than anything else.

Hmmm. There;s this guy down in Iowa that I think could come up and really pitch the lights out. What's his name....Hill, I think.

 

 

Like I said, they still need a #2. :)

[rawaction]

FYI, Wuertz and Howry have pitched well recently. Wuertz has given up 1 ER in his last 6 innings, and that one was in the 2nd inning of Rich Hill's last game. Given that was probably 90 minutes sooner than he imagined he'd be pitching, I'd say that's not too bad. Howry pitched a scoreless inning today, and was perfect against the Cards for 2 other than balls hit to Soriano.

[Schwarber Fan]

Just thought it would be a good time to revisit this since the BP is clearly our main glaring weakness as I knew it'd be.

 

Stuff in italics are from my original post in April

 

Bob Howry: All he throws is fastballs. Easy to predict. He'll look good against some bad teams, and get clobbered by most good ones. - This still holds true

 

Carlos Marmol: I fear our best reliever is going to be overused. - and he has been, and it's showing

 

Sean Marshall: We've seen him have problems with control in the past. He's basically the LOOGY, so he won't face many batters anyway. - He's looked great at times, but struggled recently. Not sure why he's not the #5 starter and Marquis still is.

 

Kerry Wood: Not worried a whole lot about him, but one injury and.... - yeah...

 

Everyone else who I evaluated back then is now in the minors or DLed. Eyre is basically the left handed Howry and Samardjiza/Gaudin can hopefully be contributors, but I still have my doubts about those guys.

 

IMO, we need to get one more reliever at the deadline, and we should be OK. If not, I still think the pen's gonna kill this team when it's all said and done.

[abuck1220]

congrats on being 1 for 1,000 with your predictions, nostradamus.

[Mizzou]

congrats on being 1 for 1,000 with your predictions, nostradamus.

:roll:

[Soul]

It's OK to drudge up threads from more than 2 months ago now?

 

I just wanna know because I've been chastised for it in the past. If this is allowed to slide then I expect to be able to do it in the future.

 

....just saying.

[anabiono]

It's OK to drudge up threads from more than 2 months ago now?

 

I just wanna know because I've been chastised for it in the past. If this is allowed to slide then I expect to be able to do it in the future.

 

....just saying.

 

i see nothing wrong with bringing this thread back...it is relevant...

 

please hendry, get mahay

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I wonder if the Braves would deal Mike Gonzalez.... :-k

[Soul]

It's OK to drudge up threads from more than 2 months ago now?

 

I just wanna know because I've been chastised for it in the past. If this is allowed to slide then I expect to be able to do it in the future.

 

....just saying.

 

i see nothing wrong with bringing this thread back...it is relevant...

 

please hendry, get mahay

 

From the Member Guidelines:

 

Resurrecting Old Threads

 

In general, if no one has replied to a thread in weeks, please let it die. If you have something genuinely worthwhile to add it's OK to resurrect it, but please don't resurrect it just to emote, spam, or basically say "me too". When in doubt, create a new thread with a link to the old one, and mention that you want to add something new to the old thread.

 

It's been over 2 months, and the reason for resurrecting this one was to proclaim how right he was about something. If that's the way it's done now then fine. I'm saying I've been chastised in the past for this exact same thing, so if this is now OK I'd like a member guidelines clarification.

[Sammy Sofa]

If the bullpen is a consistent problem, it'll be due to Lou's horrible bullpen strategies. Howry being out there today is all on Lou.

[Guest]

The rule remains. If the topic is important, it'd stay active two months later. If the topic isn't active but you feel it's important, create a new thread.