Bullpen issues

[TruffleShuffle]

right now marmol seems to be the only reliable reliever, but it's really not going to be good for the club in the long run if you end up pitching him every game because everyone else sucks.

 

 

gotta hope that:

 

1. angel develops confidence in his stuff - it's good enough to get hitters out at this level - starts throwing strikes to big league hitters rather than nibbling like he did against hart and braun.

2. heilman is a good, reliable bullpen arm rather than the poor pitcher he was last season.

3. a decent lefthanded starter can be acquired from a team that knows it's going nowhere. cotts isn't good, doesn't have good control and really isn't better against LH than RH batters. possible options:

-joe beimel, from the nationals.

-san diego doesn't have much LHP help, but cla meredith and duaner sanchez could be useful additions.

-jamie walker, from the orioles, is overpaid and was a disaster last season, but had been consistently good before that. is he worth the risk? the o's also have danys baez, but he's pretty much not good.

-the blue jays have 3 LH relievers right now, including scott downs, who's been really good the last two years. jesse carlson also had a nice year last year. ricciardi is notorious for demanding a lot in the trade market, however.

 

4. vizcaino can be serviceable against RH batters. his 3-year splits (.217/.305/.379/.683) suggest he's a pretty good option against RH's, but should never ever be allowed to face a LH batter with any sort of power. he actually can be useful in a ROOGY role, provided that the manager uses him properly.

5. gregg throws enough strikes to at least be an adequate closer - the cubs should be good enough to get by with an average closer.

6. patton needs to be able to contribute to some degree in close games. the cubs should be one of the better teams in baseball; teams with aspirations of winning a championship really don't have room on the roster for your classic rule five guy who sits around and does mop up duty when games are out of hand. the exception would be if you have a johan santana-type of rule five pick, but patton just doesn't have that high of a ceiling. If patton can't be a real contributor, then pitch him back to the Rockies and get someone who can.

7. Find a guy from Iowa who can help. Ideally, we could keep Samardzija down there to work on his secondary pitches; with the rotation we have it's important to keep the option of a 6th starter on layaway. Hart and Wells are possibilities; Esmailin Caridad could be a sleeper.

[Hall7810]

Ascanio?

[Post Count Padder]

I wasn't able to watch, but Heilman didn't seem bad. Right now he and Marmol are the only ones I trust. Yeah, it's early, but the other guys need to step up.

[TruffleShuffle]

Ascanio?

 

i left him out because he sucked at iowa and with the big club last year, and didn't have a good spring training.

[Hall7810]

Ascanio?

 

i left him out because he sucked at iowa and with the big club last year, and didn't have a good spring training.

 

I guess all I remember was him striking everyone out during ST.

[Hall7810]

Is Chad Fox an option?

[Yeti]

Lou needs to stop trotting Cotts out against Fielder just cause he's a lefty.

[XZero771679666304]

Lou needs to stop trotting Cotts out against Fielder just cause he's a lefty.

 

Especially when Prince has a .750 avg against him.

[TruffleShuffle]

Is Chad Fox an option?

 

i suppose he could be. at one point in his career he was pretty good, but he hasn't been on the mound much the last 3 years and i can't really say much about what kind of stuff he has. he's probably a guy who's best to leave at iowa for a month or two and see how his arm holds up and what kind of velocity he has.

[Cubswin11]

Patton will probably get a chance to get into some higher leverage situations if guys continue to suck. He looked pretty good in Houston IMO.

[TruffleShuffle]

I wasn't able to watch, but Heilman didn't seem bad. Right now he and Marmol are the only ones I trust. Yeah, it's early, but the other guys need to step up.

 

yeah heilman threw pretty well, gave up a hard single through the middle that scored 2, but struck out 3 guys. guzman and cotts' walks meant he was coming in in a tough spot. if he pitches like he did from 2005-07 he's a good reliever and certainly a guy who can pitch in close games in the 7th/8th. if he pitches like he did last year then he's pretty worthless. considering the makeup of the cubs' pen right now, i think they just have to assume that heilman is "good" again unless he proves otherwise.

[Cubfanintheknow]

It usually takes several weeks for bullpen roles to get figured out. Sometimes these things just kind of figure themselves out on their own. Keep in mind Carlos Marmol is the only guy from last year's pen (unless you want to count Neil Cotts' short stint with the club last year). So it's a matter of figuring out who's going to work best in certain situations.

 

Not saying everything is going to be just fine, though. Some guys also need a few chances to show they don't belong. Like Neil Cotts last year.

[SpongeWorthy]

Gooz looked great when he initially came in and was painting the corners. Maybe it got into his head that he was exhibiting good control and just lost it from there.

 

Cotts looks completely worthless.

[BCVM22]

I like the way tonight shook out, honestly. If Marmol has to be used to put out a fire in the 7th/8th, fine, let Gregg try to close it out. If he's still available when the 9th rolls around, put him in and unleash the fury.

[cubsfan26]

I'm not really concerned yet, Heilman has pitched pretty well overall. Kevin Gregg hasn't been good, but he will get in a grove at some point. Angel Guzman I think will be already, he had some control issues after he faced Weeks. But he pitched well before tonight, and I think he will be alright. Neal Cotts is crap, he will have some good moments but he's really inconsistent and is gonna suck half the time. As long as Gregg, Marmol, Heilman and Guzman do well this pen will be fine. It just had a shakey two games, but overall it will be alright.

[A New Era]

Over the long run, these are the guys I trust to be successful.

 

Marmol

Heilman

Patton

Greg

 

in that order. The other parts could be addressed with trades during the season.

[Yeti]

Lou needs to stop trotting Cotts out against Fielder just cause he's a lefty.

 

Especially when Prince has a .750 avg against him.

and all his hits are homers

[Little Slide Rooter]

I dont understand why they refuse to give Papelbon a shot at Iowa to see what hes made of. Maybe he could be that loogy we're missing. Hes a career 15-7 with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.147 WHIP in 3 years in A-AA. At the age of 26 which is in his late 40's-early 50's in prospect years, theres no reason not to make that move.

 

ETA-Just for fun, I took a look at his big brothers minor league stats. He also spent 3 years in the minors, skipping from AA to the big leagues. 19-13 3.05 ERA 1.075 WHIP.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Little Slide Rooter

[CubColtPacer]

I dont understand why they refuse to give Papelbon a shot at Iowa to see what hes made of. Maybe he could be that loogy we're missing. Hes a career 15-7 with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.147 WHIP in 3 years in A-AA. At the age of 26 which is in his late 40's-early 50's in prospect years, theres no reason not to make that move.

 

Very few prospects ever skip AA. That's the one and only level that pretty much every player goes through. Papelbon needs some time at AA and then the Cubs can decide if he deserves to go to Iowa or Chicago.

[erik316wttn]

Over the long run, these are the guys I trust to be successful.

 

Marmol

Heilman

Patton

Greg

 

in that order. The other parts could be addressed with trades during the season.

 

It shouldn't have to be, though. Hendry had all offseason to build a bullpen and this is the best he could do? I find that hard to believe.

[Cynosure]

Our Bullpen has an ERA of 4.02... you take out Gregg's 13.50 (2IP 3ER) and it goes down to a 2.61.

 

I'd be focusing directly on the closer issues and not the overall BULLPEN issues.

 

That being said, I think Gregg turns it around.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Over the long run, these are the guys I trust to be successful.

 

Marmol

Heilman

Patton

Greg

 

in that order. The other parts could be addressed with trades during the season.

 

Between Hart, Fox, Samardzia, Ascanio, and hopefully Papelbon, we have the pieces in the system, and they'll probably give some of these guys a shot before looking elsewhere, unless of course theres a mass exodus to San Diego.

[YearofDaCubs]

And in the meantime Wuertz has looked very good for the A's. We should have never traded him especially if we were not to resign Wood.