Hart up and Wuertz down per ESPN1000

[CubColtPacer]

Everyone here assumes that it is Lou but it could just as likely be a nagging injury, Hart's potential to pitch more innings, or the fact that righties are batting .292 against him.

 

Funny how you dont mention what lefties are hitting against Wuertz. And if it was a nagging injury then put him on the DL, you dont send him to AAA to continue pitching. And why would Hart being able to throw more innings mean anything? We already have 3 long men in the bullpen. Wuertz is and has been a better option than Kevin Hart.

 

I would agree that Wuertz is a better option overall, but neither one was going to pitch this weekend unless an emergency happened, and Hart is a fresher option for such an emergency. He'll be sent right back down over the break for Eyre.

 

It will be interesting what the Cubs plan to do about this pitching situation though. They want Harden to get the extra day as much as possible, and even skip some of his starts. So I imagine they'll want Marshall to take a turn or two in the rotation occasionally in order to push Harden back. Do they keep Marshall on the major league roster for that purpose?

Do they play the shuttle with him and two relievers? Since each reliever has to stay down for 10 days, they would need at least 2 to do the shuttle correctly. They could bring Marshall up and send reliever 1 down. Then after that game, they send Marshall right back down and bring reliever 2 up. 10 days later, Marshall comes back and starts again, replacing reliever 2. Then after the game, reliever 1 comes back and replaces Marshall.

 

I don't think they know yet what they're planning to do though.

 

Harts fresher than Wuertz? Wuertz just had 7 days off going into Thursdays home run derby, Im not sure how Hart is fresher than Wuertz when Hart has been starting and throwing alot more pitches. Also Wuertz is alot more acclimated to pitching out of the pen than Kevin Hart.

 

Like you said though, it will be interesting to see how they handle the pitching situation. Personally I want Marshall back at AAA when Eyre comes back so he can stay stretched out in case of an injury, or a Marquis implosion.

 

7 days off before Thursday doesn't mean as much for the next 3 days. Wuertz threw 39 pitches on Thursday. That means he was likely unavailable yesterday. Today, he could possibly go 1-2 innings.

 

Hart, meanwhile, hasn't pitched since Sunday. He could have gone 3-4 innings yesterday if the Cubs needed him to, or he could do the same today. Hart definitely gives you more innings in an emergency this weekend than Wuertz could have.

[Keener98]

But again why do we need somebody in the pen who can go multiple innings when we have 3 long men in the pen right now?

[CubColtPacer]

But again why do we need somebody in the pen who can go multiple innings when we have 3 long men in the pen right now?

 

Because the Cubs had 4 different relievers go 20 pitches or more on Thursday, including 2 of their long men.

 

The great likelihood is that Hart won't see the field this weekend. But if Marquis had gone 2 yesterday, they probably would have had to use pitchers like Marmol and Wood in a blowout loss just to get all the innings in. Hart being up insures they wouldn't have to do that. Then you add in that he came up at the expense of a pitcher who they weren't going to use in any close games this weekend and was unavailable yesterday. It was a small potential reward move with no risk.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The real question is why do we need 13 pitchers. If they wanted to send Wuertz down, fine. But, they should have brought up Hoffpauir or Dubois instead of Hart.

[ChiCubsFan]

Good call on this one.

[Sammy Sofa]

Would have been awesome to have a guy who's been a really good reliver and gets a lot of groundballs an K's when he pitches anything even close to regular.