Gallagher to the Pen?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

It appears that Gallagher will work out of the pen, at least for the near future.

 

Piniella said he took Sean Gallagher out after five innings Thursday so he could be used in the bullpen, though he didn't say Gallagher would replace Marmol as a set-up man.

 

 

Link

[Joe_Cub]

figured that with his start today and marmol's appearance.

[17 Seconds]

More about it here-

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080703&content_id=3058155&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

 

So dumb.

[Athletics36]

Please don't get me going about this move as "I know folks from the Cubs organization" read these threads...... ](*,)

[Shavo]

Well, since we all know Marquis isn't going to be removed from the rotation, and I'm more comfortable with Marshall then Gallagher, I'm not really upset.

[Jon]

Let's see if putting him in the bullpen meets the four criteria for determining whether or not a young starter should go to the bullpen:

 

-Not pitching him save for a few middle inning relief appearances to minimize his value to the team [check]

-Removing him from any semblance of normal rotation work to delay his development in order for him to "learn" a few big league hitters once or twice a week [check]

-Putting a halt to his increasing value for a possible trade [check]

-Giving a less productive veteran starter with no real future in this organization yet another chance to stay in the rotation despite providing nothing more than what the younger pitcher can already provide [check]

 

Sorry, Mr. Gallagher.

 

Although I will say that Marquis' last 9 starts combined have been slightly better than I would have expected, but he's not going to be much better than Gallagher, if at all. Certainly not enough to justify the decision. Of course, Marquis could be skipped and Lou may want to go with that 4-man rotation whenever he has an off day for some reason.

[YearofDaCubs]

What a dumb move. I'd rather see Gallagher pitch in the rotation over Marshall who I happen to think is mediocre.

[Derwood]

move to the pen permanently, or just between now and the ASB?

[biittner77]

I would have preferred they send Gallagher to AAA to keep him stretched out but this move makes sense on several levels.

 

*This will keep his innings down for the year which should be a concern for a young pitcher. This move avoids making Gallagher Wood and Prior redux

 

*Marshall has been a pretty decent MLB pitcher so it isn't as though they're replacing him with Steve Trachsel or someone of that ilk.

 

*If he actually gets some work as the 6th inning guy it will be a good learning experience in low pressure situations. It isn't as though Gallagher has shown that doesn't have things to work on- like avoiding that 1 terrible inning that he seems to have every start.

 

*The Cubs are stuck with Marquis. They can't put him in the pen and they don't want to eat his contract. There's the way it ought to be and there's the way it is.

[mcgoobs]

move to the pen permanently, or just between now and the ASB?

 

I would imagine he's in the pen until Marshall starts to struggle or an injury causes one of the other four starters to miss significant time.

 

While it's frustrating to see another young player on a short leash, it's hard to say that Gallagher has been more than incrementally better than Marquis this year. The only worry is what happens if Marquis has his usual 2nd half drop-off (2005-07 pre-ASG ERA: 4.41; post-ASG ERA: 5.54). Does Lou leave Marquis in the rotation or finally send him to the pen? I assume the former but hope for the latter.

[Joe_Cub]

if they take the coaching time to focus on pitch selection and opposing batters, this might work out ok in the short term. there's no doubt in my mind that he's a starter long-term. from what lou was saying, if gallagher had stayed in the rotation, he'd get pushed back and bumped a lot. young starters need to pitch, they don't need to sit for 9 or 10 days then throw a career high number of pitches.

 

so while I don't like the move, I like it better than him starting inconsistently.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I can't wait until next year when we have the most dominating pen in the league between Gallagher, Marmol, and Wood. We'll be paying through the nose for starting pitching(in cash, players, or both) even though we have a pair of 2/3 starters in the bullpen.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Calm down Gallagher lovers. If after 2 or 3 starts, Marquis proves hes at his vintage second half self, he'll be sent to the pen or DFAd.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I'd prefer Marshall go to the pen. Not a fan of this move.

[Athletics36]

Calm down Gallagher lovers. If after 2 or 3 starts, Marquis proves hes at his vintage second half self, he'll be sent to the pen or DFAd.

 

At that point Gallagher won't be stretched out. Again not a fan of this move.

[CubinNY]

Calm down Gallagher lovers. If after 2 or 3 starts, Marquis proves hes at his vintage second half self, he'll be sent to the pen or DFAd.

 

At that point Gallagher won't be stretched out. Again not a fan of this move.

Exactly. I think Lou trusts Marquis more because this is not about "stuff". Yesterday Gallagher pitched into some tough luck in the 2nd inning and with the offense sputtering it made it look worse.

 

Jon was exactly right in his assessment. It never ceases to amaze me how much MLb is a good ole boys network.

[NCCubFan]

Calm down Gallagher lovers. If after 2 or 3 starts, Marquis proves hes at his vintage second half self, he'll be sent to the pen or DFAd.

 

At that point Gallagher won't be stretched out. Again not a fan of this move.

Nothing like an objective, unbiased opinion. :wink:

 

Kidding aside, I'm not in favor of it either. I thought he had a very good start last night except for one inning, and even then the last run wasn't his fault (the ball definitely should have been caught). And he rebounded and slammed the door after that. For this season, I think Sean can at worst match Marquis' production, and going forward he should easily be better than Marquis. And Marquis' contract isn't a valid excuse either; the total payroll is exactly the same regardless of which one of them is starting and which is in the pen.

[CubinNY]

And Marquis' contract isn't a valid excuse either; the total payroll is exactly the same regardless of which one of them is starting and which is in the pen.

Yes, but Marquis will sulk and Sean is a rookie and will listen to the F-bombs being thrown.

[SouthSideRyan]

This is really dumb in the way that I was figuring Sean was gonna be the big piece in a trade to get Sabathia/Harden and now we're killing his trade value. What's the problem with putting Marquis in the pen for a few starts? What's he gonna do about it?

 

Sorry to put it that way Mr. G, but after crap like this I'd probably want my son in a different organization anyway.

[NCCubFan]

And Marquis' contract isn't a valid excuse either; the total payroll is exactly the same regardless of which one of them is starting and which is in the pen.

Yes, but Marquis will sulk and Sean is a rookie and will listen to the F-bombs being thrown.

Marquis can sulk all he wants for all I care. If he wants to get paid his millions for sucking he has no choice but to pitch in the role Lou gives him.

[TruffleShuffle]

why? this is stupid.

[Little Slide Rooter]

if the Brewers land Sabathia, any 4-5 combo of Marquis, Marshall, and Gallagher wont be good enough. Parra/Suppan/Bush goes from being a blow average 2-3-4 to being a pretty decent 3-4-5.

[rawaction]

if the Brewers land Sabathia, any 4-5 combo of Marquis, Marshall, and Gallagher wont be good enough. Parra/Suppan/Bush goes from being a blow average 2-3-4 to being a pretty decent 3-4-5.

 

Didn't realize CC Sabathia came with 4.5 games in the standings too.

[Little Slide Rooter]

if the Brewers land Sabathia, any 4-5 combo of Marquis, Marshall, and Gallagher wont be good enough. Parra/Suppan/Bush goes from being a blow average 2-3-4 to being a pretty decent 3-4-5.

 

Didn't realize CC Sabathia came with 4.5 games in the standings too.

 

Over 2-3 months he could.

[rawaction]

if the Brewers land Sabathia, any 4-5 combo of Marquis, Marshall, and Gallagher wont be good enough. Parra/Suppan/Bush goes from being a blow average 2-3-4 to being a pretty decent 3-4-5.

 

Didn't realize CC Sabathia came with 4.5 games in the standings too.

 

Over 2-3 months he could.

 

Could? You pretty much said it would in your original post. FYI, Cubs were 6-8 w/o Zambrano and are 8-11 without Soriano. You are talking about a team that was playing well over .600 baseball before 1/2 of their top 4 players got hurt. Getting those 2 back will be enough to hold off Milwaukee.